Full Scale Bogie - Controls Team

Today the team had the opportunity to talk to different teams for necessary information for our team to work with. The motor team has ordered a new controller for the custom built motors because the old ones from Kelly Controllers did not have the right pin for the motor we had. So they are going to find a controller which is easy to plug to the motor. After that Danny, one of the coaches for Superway, gave us some useful information for our system. He explained how to use a limit switch and damper for precise switching between tracks. For the switching mechanism to operate properly, we need a force of 5 lbs applied on it. When it gets to it's equilibrium point, gravity can take care of the rest. For our team we have to test the linear actuator to provide the right amount of force and calculate the amount of current needed to do so. In the next couple of weeks, we plan on design the PCB, the control system and test all the actuators. 

Today due to the time constraint because of the meeting on campus for all mechanical engineering students, we had to leave early. So we had to work faster and do more research with the given amount of time we had. Alex talked with Prof. Furman to see if all the ideas that we came up with would satisfy for Maker's Fair. He gave us more useful input along with things that we can improve and add to make it better. The following are the new goals that we are aiming to research before the next presentation: Block Diagram  State Machine diagram Update Justin's wiring diagram System inputs & outputs motor/sensor signals voltage/current Wireless controller display speed, position, error & path Kill Switch to cut power to the whole system Switch to engage e-brake Braking and stopping if there is a short or any malfunction, turn on emergency brakes to stop and kill power to the whole system How much voltage we need for all the components? Charging the Ultra

Today at Spartan Superway, we made more progress in terms of understanding what we need to do and the components that we are gonna use for the project. We talked with prof. Furman about our idea for the position tracking of the bogie using optical encoders magnetic strips. He suggested us to use a mechanical switch, hall effect sensors or RFID tags so that we can get some kind of a signal to keep track of the bogie. The wayside team explained to us how they are gonna integrate the ultra capacitors to the system with all the voltage and current that is going to be available for the motors and the electronics. For the switching mechanism, we talked to both the guide-way team and the bogie team to get their input on how to control the linear actuator for it. The guide-way team will give third rail which is 45 degrees inclined to the wheel and the bogie team will need 6 linear actuators for the switching on both the slave and master bogie. 

This week, we had the opportunity to sit with all the teammates to discuss and finalize all the design specification needed for the controls team. We filled out the google sheets with all the team's design specification so that everyone is up to date on each team's plans. Our team also talked to Danny Ornellas, an industry coach, who helped us get on the right track to get work done. We are planning on further working on the specifications so that we have good idea of what we have to do next semester and put valid numbers to show for it.