10/19-10/26

This week was spent working on the linkages for the steering mechanism and finalizing the design for the bolt on Failsafe. I also moved the universal joint from just below the main hub wheels to below the lower steering arms. My partner still has not been able to get SolidWorks to work on his part, and so both parts have fallen onto me. This is a lot work, and so I am falling a bit behind in terms of Gantt schedule. I will, however, keep working and try to stay up to schedule.The following figure is the current configuration for the Bogie with steering and failsafe.I am also haveing to work really closely with Propulsion and braking, and so I will try to keep up to schedule.

10/12-10/19

This week I helped propulsion come up with their final motor design and started working on coming up with a second version of the lower steering arm. There were interference problems with the bogie and the steering arm. The Cad that was made for the arm was also very messy and changes needed to be made that the made corrupt geometry. I also started working on the funding application for the SJSU fund. I am finding it interesting trying to juggle both my officer position and position as leader of the half scale team. I have lots of design work to complete, and I am making good progress, however, my group is having lots of issues that could become problems in the future. My partners solidworks is not working leaving all the CAD work on me, and propulsion and wayside are having issues trying to find out how voltage and current specs. Next week the second round of presentations start, which brings with it lots of work. We will all need to stay on top of everything as to have enough time to finish by the end of the semester.

10/5-10/12

This week I have been working on getting the Bogie CAD changes together. I am currently working with propulsion on motor and gear placement because it will determine the room allowed for the steering arm linkages. In addition, I've redesigned the universal joint in order to be able to place it in-plane with the drive wheels, This changed the mounting points, and will mediate any levers creating the load of suspension and cabin. I've also been working on the idea of having swing arms that wheels attach to and have small dashpots to allow for damping in the horizontal direction, however, I have not been able to find a supplier for what are essential micro shock absorbers. This may be a design that would go into the full scale, but not the 1/2 scale. I have also been working on student organizations tasks, and would like to appoint two officers to help with things such as our website, and event coordination. It is also critical that wayside and propulsion meet with solar arrays this week in order to know the voltage and current that will be supplied to the bogies, right now that is a design critical specification that they have not been told.

9/28-10/5

This week we presented our first presentation on the project, which was a partial success. We did not use the correct formatting, unfortunately, and the group presentation was not as smooth as possible. For the next presentation, my group and I will work more closely together to ensure the right formatting and that everyone know what needs to be said for each slide. We also had a phone call with Bengt, the patient holder of the bogie and railway designs. We spoke with him about our initial designs and sent him design files to review. He back with lots of helpful suggestions for changes and things to consider. This weekend I also attended the first SJSU Leadership conference in 10 years. We learned of funding available for the club, and how to be an effective leader of groups. It was an awesome experience, and I feel like I got a lot out of it. A vision for growth for the club not only during my participation in it, but also for years to come is something that I would like to think about. There are a lot of opportunities for students that are not senior to get involved in Spartan Superway, and once they are seniors be able to make an even larger impact. I look at club like SAE Formula for this kind of inspiration. This is something I will get together with Neil and discuss further. As for design work done this week, I have unfortunately not made much progress. With 2 papers due, the conference, and a family funeral I have had a lot on my plate, and to my dismay senior design went to the sidelines. I will however, speak to my group, and split the workload to start getting things designed, and make some good progress.