Work done since 09/16/2015

On last meeting on Wednesday 16^th, the whole bogie team got together to discuss about the research we did during the past week and what we had learned that could be relevant for the Spartan Superway. Also, we discussed some of our ideas and designs posted on our personal blogs so everyone understood them. Also, we were told that it was desired to work over the bogie already existent and to try to avoid major modifications such a complete redesign of it. Because of this, we decided that we are going to design a failsafe system applicable to the current bogie. It was also discussed the idea of adding a third wheel such as the one present on most roller coasters to make the bogie more stable since the track will have elevation changes. In addition, I have been searching on internet more information about different types of railways and designs that are already in use around the world, especially the ones from roller coasters since they are the most common using hanging designs.

Safety wheel addition

The current design of the boggie is lacking of safety features that would keep the boggie on the track during a failure on the main wheels or switching system. I was brainstorming some ideas on a simple “fail safe” mechanism to prevent the boggie from falling from the tracks in case that one of the main wheels fails. My idea is to add a safety wheel of smaller size between both main wheels on each side of the boggie. This extra wheel would be positioned slightly above the rail so it won’t be in contact with it during regular operation. If one of the main wheels falls from the boggie the weight will rest over the safety wheel. The advantage of having the safety wheel slightly above of the track is that the change in altitude of the whole boggie would be minimum keeping the guiding wheels attached to the rails and avoiding the boggie from tilting and falling off the tracks. Another advantage of having this safety wheel is that it will allow the boggie to be moved easily to the nearest station to unload the passengers and clear the tracks.

I think the safety wheel should be made of a hard rubber which would be able to hold the weight of the boggie while also absorbing the force of impact between it and the track. (Figure took and modified from Spartan Superway 2014-2015 Report).

Post 3

Now that I have decided to work on the bogie fail safe mechanism I have been going over the design of the bogie and the tracks to understand more on how they work. After reviewing the design, I think that the bogie is more prone to fail when switching rails since there are moving parts controlled by the electronic system that would have to make the switch in short periods of time. If this mechanism fails, the bogie can end not being attached to any of both guide rails and fall from the track. One way this could be avoided is by modifying the tracks to be enclosed with the bogie running inside as in the picture below. This would require a redesign of the tracks which I think can be avoided by designing our own safety mechanism based on our bogie and track system.

http://openprtspecs.blogspot.com/2010/01/about-that-angled-wheel-design.html

Post 2

On our last meeting I decided that I am going to work on the full scale model designing a fail safe mechanism for the bogie. I met other students that want to work in the same area as me and talked about our main safety concerns on the current model. Since then, I have been doing more research about the project and safety mechanisms being already used on other kind of bogies.

Vicente Viqueira

Hi there, my name is Vicente Viqueira and I’m an international student from Venezuela. I am a senior Mechanical Engineering student at San Jose State University, with an emphasis in mechanical design. I decided to join the Spartan Superway project, because I found it to be a great solution for the heavy traffic that affects the community in the Silicon Valley. As part of the team, I will be working on the “fail safe” system to make the Superway as safe as possible for its users. Outside of my studies, I enjoy being outdoors and riding my motorcycle.