ODSS Electric Car Build Part 4

        This is a picture of the steering system we're using on the car. The wheels are turned not by a steering wheel, but by two handles that are pushed in and out. This is easier, quicker, and it takes up less space. Once this is completed we can bolt the steering assembly down, and begin building the brake systems.

ODSS Electric Car Build Part 3

        Progress on the car is continuing, albeit at a slow rate.  The cage that protects the driver's legs and the batteries has been built, and one of the other team members is building the rear frame section, that will house the mounts for the rear wheel, motor, roll bar, and seat supports. While that is built, I'm working on the steering system up front. To minimize space, the steering will be done with two push rods instead of the conventional steering wheel. This is a much simpler system, which means it can be built much quicker. 

        The car will have a new motor, motor controller and battery monitor thanks to $1500 dollars that I've raised from several local sponsors, in return for ad placement on the body of the car. I calculated that we need $1500 because all together, the motor, motor controller and battery monitor cost around $1400. The car is split up into 5 ads that were soold to the sponsors. The motor is a MARSX, and it was specifically designed for small vehicle applications. The motor controller allows us to use a variable throttle on our car, while the battery monitor tells us important statistics, like how many amps the batteries have left, how much we're currently drawing, etc.

ODSS Electric Car build Part 2

        Work on the electric car is coming along at a steady pace. So far we've bolted on the sheet metal floor, as well as supports for the seat and batteries. We're also working on building two trapezoidal struts that will make up the top of the car's body. Once that is done, we'll build the arms that will hold the wheels, the roll bar, and the motor mounts for the back end.

Offroad Bumper: Mulligan

        I've decided to restart the bumper I'm building for my truck. The main reason for this is that I've found a much better design online, which looks much better:

        

        I can build this new bumper with metal twice as thin, but It will be even stronger, as the metal has a much stronger structure. I didn't really have a clear idea of what I was doing when I was building my first bumper attempt, and the fact that I had to build it at school meant that I didn't have a way of checking if the pieces I made fit properly.

        The bumper will fit onto my truck by simply sliding onto the frame ends, and bolting in.

        I'll be able to start building version 2 of my bumper once I get a working arc welder, and build a welding table. I've also made a 3d rendering of what my overall plans are for the truck.

Physics Projectile Motion Video

        For a recent physics assignment about projectile motion, we were given 2 choices: we could build some kind of projectile launcher, or we could film an example of projectile motion, such as a soccer ball being kicked. In either case, we had to do a report. Originally, I felt like building something, but then I got the idea of filming a snowmobile jump. Not only was it fun for me to do, but it also gave me the chance to play around with movie editing, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Here's the product of my work:
(You may want to skip the calculations, that part is somewhat dreary) 

ODSS Electric Car Build Part 1

         For the next couple of months, I will be documenting the progress of the ODSS electric car team as we build a new car. Our goal is to go from the simple frame that we have now, to a fully built car by the May 24 weekend, the date of the competition. 

          So far, we took an old aluminum frame that we had from a previous car, and trimmed off several pieces of it to give us a nice simple chassis to build off of. The plan for this car is to have a simple set-up, but with as little wasted space as possible. This was one of the main drawbacks of our previous cars.

        After the chassis was modified, we cut out a panel of sheet metal for the floor. We haven't used sheet metal as a floor before, but this time we're trying it instead of plywood to help conserve weight. This will also help if we drive in wet conditions, as plywood would act like a sponge, soaking up water and adding massive weight to the car. 

Coilguns 101

        Over the past few months, I've been doing quite a bit of research into coilguns and how the work, so I thought I'd do a write-up on them.

      When a conductive wire, such as copper wire, is rolled up into a coil, and an electric charge is applied to it, it creates an electromagnetic field. The higher voltage applied to it, the larger the field. This means that a metal object will be pulled towards the coil with more force if more voltage is put through the coil.

       

        A coilgun operates with this basic principle. The copper coil is wrapped around a plastic barrel(it doesn't have to be plastic, just a material that doesn't conduct electricity). Then, a very large charge is released into the barrel over a very short period of time, creating a quick but extremely powerful magnetic field. When a bullet is placed in the barrel, a short length behind the coil, the magnetic field pulls it towards the coil with great force, causing the bullet to fly down the barrel with great speed. 

        The large burst of energy required for the coil is generated with the use of a capacitor. a capacitor is much like a battery, in that it stores energy. However, a capacitor can release it's energy much faster than a battery. So if a high voltage capacitor fully charged, then connected to a coil, it will release all the energy into the coil very quickly. 

        When talking about coilguns, you may hear the term 3 stage, or sometimes 3 phase. This simply means that multiple coils are used to keep the bullet at constant acceleration down the barrel.