Sustainable Mobility System for Silicon Valley Project

This week we finished up on assembling the vertical and horizontal columns. We are pretty much finished with our structure, and will just need to install the track as well as horizontal bracings to prevent the majority of the flexing. The next steps we will have to complete this weekend are to finish mounting our tracks onto the supports, as well as finding a way to secure these horizontal supports onto our vertical columns. After that we will just need to install additional 2x4 pieces of wood onto our horizontal beam. This is due to our length of the structure just being a couple inches shorter than the solar canopy. To accommodate for this we will need to extend it so that their supports will line up with our horizontal column and mount onto it.

Today we finished up on working on our tracks. We attached our vertical columns made up of 3 2x4s to the track. The use of 3 2x4s helps with the strength of the structure as well as its ability to resist a bending moment. The smaller block attached perpendicular to this column was used in order to help the column easily align with the track, as well as provide additional load bearing strength. Instead of creating a moment when the column is directly applied to the track, weight will be transferred onto these blocks providing additional support. These are the finished track beams which will be later inserted into the horizontal columns of our main structure's supports.

Today we continued to work on making our track section of our structure. With some rough sketches completed, I was able to figure out how to set up all the material and how they would all be assembled together. These rough sketches were also to be used to send to Futran, letting them know that the structure we were building did not violate the NDA signed with them as we will be needing to bring it to MakerFaire for display. The vertical columns are made out of simple 4x4 beams and no longer utilize the Solomon's knots. The track section is only composed of several pieces of wood held together horizontally and vertically. This design does not incorporate any of Futran's track designs so should not have any affect towards the NDA signed. Focusing on the track section, we used 4 pieces of 10 feet 2x6 wood, clamping two with each other through using wood screws and glue. In addition, we added blocks near the ends of these beams for reinforcement as well as areas

Over the weekend, we drafted a couple ideas on how to create this structure out of wood. Because of the given time constraints, we are set on using half-inch plywood, along with 2x4 beams to create the track as well as columns. After talking with the other teams on how to integrate their parts together, we came up with a canopy like design that will hold the track section on one end and freeing up space on the other. This way during our time in Maker Faire, people would be able to go under to have a closer look at our track while also having room for some shade.  Our initial plan was to go out and purchase 4 by 8 feet of half-inch plywood, however looking around the shop I was able to gather unused wood which can be applied to make the structure. These pieces will be cut using a power-saw provided in the Superway and assembled using nails and wood glue. So far, we will only need to purchase 6 8 feet 4x4 pieces of wood for the columns. If necessary, extra materials can be p

This week we had our second presentations, which discussed our progress over the past few weeks and during our spring break. I went through a couple revisions for the clamping mechanism of our track, and in the end have decided to work with steel plates and threaded rods. These offered enough simplicity and availability for ease of manufacturing as well lowering costs. In addition to this, the past few weeks we have been reviewing and modifying our designs after finally receiving quotations from Vanderbend. Some of the parts we now have re-evaluate and redesign due to over-budgeting costs as well as too long of lead times. Because of this, many of our parts may need to be fabricated out of plywood instead of sheetmetal to obtain as an accurate as possible representation of the actual designs. Two things that are required of us are: i) Conducting a thorough design review of the current drawings, and to produce a second revision of the full-scale structure drawings in wood. ii)

This week we have finished dimensioning the 2D drawings and have sent them in for review to Vanderbend. We are hopeful in receiving a quotation for all the parts by Friday, and can begin purchasing early next week. We also had a meeting this week with Futran highlighting our progress as well as addressing what we need to finish. So far I am responsible for revising the part drawings of the Solomon's knot columns that Lalith had sent over to Vanderbend in order to use them for the full-scale drawings. Afterwards I will finish up the column-track clamping design after Keon has finished implementing his third rail design into the system. Once these are completed, we can start running tests for the finite element analysis of our new structure.

This week we finalized the 2D drawings as well as PDFs that will be sent over to Vanderbend later this week. Hopefully we will get a quotation soon so that we can begin manufacturing on all the necessary parts to create our full scale structure. We are hoping that while these parts are being manufactured, other things can be researched such as the clamp design and the proper bolts that we will need for this structure. In addition, we will need to prepare for a bi-monthly meeting where we will need to meet with Gary via Skype. We will need to present our progress on our Statement of Work with drawings, PDFs, and other files to verify that we are on track. We will also review the SoW to address any issues with Gary that has come up as well as answer any questions he may have regarding our progress.

A new design revision will need to be made for our track design. Instead of incorporating an L shaped column design to mount the track system, we will have to revert to the old concepts of a U shape with vertical supports on both sides of the track. This will be done to ensure that including the solar panel system would not affect the structure under high wind conditions. In addition, the height will be adjusted to 2.5 meters to clear the bogie system better. After these changes are made, the 2D reference drawings will be completed using ordinate dimensioning and sent to Vanderbend for manufacturing. These drawings will be completed by the end of the week.

This past week we reviewed our designs, while also simplified our Scope of Work that will be sent to Futran for funding. The scope of work will also need to be accompanied with fully manufacturable drawings for each part that will be used in our track. In addition to our Statement of Work, these two weeks were the beginning of our first presentations. For this presentation we discussed our current design progress, fabrication plans, as well as a budgeting timeline that we will need for manufacturing.

Today we reviewed our statement of work, and reviewed other prime design ideas that can be incorporated into the track. To make things simpler, we have decided that the Solomon’s knot beams will no longer be cut into 1m sections, but manufactured into the desired lengths for the height as well as the width. This will greatly reduce the stress and analysis requirements needed to be performed on our fruction clamps. In addition, Futran is asking for a finalized statement of work by next wednesday. This will include the necessary components discussed during our meeting. Futran’s main goal is to create a manufacturability analysis anf prototype of their Solar racking idea. Because of this, the track team will work closely with solar in order to accomodate their design changes and requirements. Once these changes have been met, we can submit our designs to Futran for funding as well as Vanderbend for manufacruting.

This week we had our lightning talk. We went over our progress from last semester and discussed anything else that we had not completed so far for the track. After the presentations, we contacted our client Futran in order to get a better understanding and idea for the funding and project specifications. They have requested a scope of work which we are working on, detailing our current designs, timeline of completion for these designs, and the budgeting required to manufacture these parts. All designs and progress from now on will need to be logged for R&D, and must have a manufacturability analysis in order for Vanderbend to produce. Many other problems will need to be addressed such as vibration analysis, grounding solutions, wire management, and FEA for the track assembly.

For our first meeting of the semester, we were requested to present our Bill of Materials created during our previous semester. The Bill of Material covered all the costs from materials of each individual parts, to estimations of costs for labor.  The estimations for constructing the 9m track is currently around $13,500. Due to the limited amount of funding, Ron Swenson and Professor Furman suggested reducing our costs by approximately 10%.  In order to do so, some major revisions may need to take place in our designs to reduce the amount of material and labor required to manufacture these parts. An idea to avoid this problem that came up during our meeting for cost reduction was to  shorten the overall length of our track. Plans to reduce our 9m track down to 3m have been taken into consideration, which will allow us to keep most of our design concepts without the need of a major revision. Ron also has plans in contacting Futran to request additional input on the project as well as