COVID-19 Continues

Since the lockdown has been placed on California residents, the Wayside Team will no longer be meeting in person. The project will be completed virtually on Solidworks. There will be no more work done on the physical project. Thus the project now has the capability to expand beyond previous budget limitations. The Wayside team will have the ability to aim higher since the project can't physically be built. More robust material can be used in the assembly. 

The mechanical team has decided to change the springs to constant force springs. Force sensors will be added. Adjustments will be made accounting for the wear on the contact shoe (Figure 1). 

Figure 1. Arm mechanism

The electrical tabletop setup (Figure 2, 3) current flow issue has been resolved. The current flow issue we had previously was due to the power supply we were using. We switched out the power supply and now the system works.

Figure 2. Tabletop setup

The tabletop setup (Figure 2, 3) works and now the electrical team needs to work out how to scale up the system using a 36V power supply. 

Figure 3. Tabletop setup

The electrical team will design 3D harnesses (Figure 4) for the assembly via SolidWorks Electrical. This will be accessed through desktop.sjsu.edu which gives access to ME lab computers. Electrical schematics will show where sensors will go. 

Figure 4. Example of 3D electrical harness

Written By, 
Aryamitra Bake

COVID-19 Halts Wayside Power Progress

The Wayside Power Team continued to work on the project during the increasingly worsening pandemic. Unfortunately, for safety reasons the team will no longer be able to physically meet to construct the wayside power system. All project developments moving forward will be limited to design work.

Prior to the complete halt on physical development the team completed work on the third rails.

The team also picked up linear actuators, however due to the unfortunate circumstances the team will have to follow the lock-down procedures and continue work remotely. The team will restructure the current project plan to proceed with predominately calculation and solid model work during remote work sessions.

Written by:
Alex Ng

Covid-19 Stalls Progress

Over the weekend, electrical team has begun researching the motor and motor controller left by the last year's team. The motor is a SOFN model from a company called XOFO. We will learn its mechanisms by reading any information from the manufacturer or the reports of last year. The motor controller is a Kelly Controls that can handle up to 48V motors. There are datasheets online for this controller and its interface. The problem will be in distinguishing the wires of the controllers interface and assembling a suitable housing for them. The mechanical team continued 3D printing shoe containers to perfect the CAD. We are planning to use a type of acrylic for the final containers, so the CAD must conform to those properties. The third rails will be almost fully assembled by next week, so the pictures below are only an update on what they look like this week.
During the weekdays of this blog, SJSU announced that the risk of contracting and spreading Covid-19 at school was too high, so they cancelled all classes for the week to prepare for the transition to fully online classes beginning next week. As a result, we did not meet in-person on Wednesday, but continued to work remotely. The 4 in. linear actuators that we ordered arrived, but they may be too large so we are debating on whether to go down to 2 in. The third rail is almost complete; they just need some more screws. The T-slot idea is still in the works. We need to find the materials that would make it possible.

Current state of third rails

XOFO's SOFN Drawings

Third rail update and shoe enclosure design update.

This last week has been very busy with the wayside power team. The team decided to order two 4" linear actuators with brackets that will be attached to the current collector shoe. Designs were finalized for the third rail assembly and brought to a welding shop in San Carlos, A & D Welding, so the aluminum and steel rails could be laid out and the holes drilled in them. On Saturday the holes were drilled in the rails by Shane. Further work on the rails includes countersinging the holes for the hardware after the hardware is provided and then assembly.
Further design work was done on the shoe encloser to add rigidity. The sharp corners were filleted, and side walls were added. End tabs with holes were also added for the lid attachment.
Work in the future includes final shoe mount fitting into the shoe enclosure, shoe lid design and fitment, design of the attachment method from the shoe to linear actuator to the bogie, and third rail assembly.

Drawing of the aluminum rail 

Drawing of the stainless steel rail

Image of the rendered shoe enclosure

Written by Shane Sharp