Week 4 of 9/13 Concept Designing

Concept designing was discussed among the team members on each of our proposed ideas for the half-scale suspension.  Colin and Joshua drafted up their designs using active suspension that would consist of some actuators and would involve an Arduino for control and some power source. Salvador drafted up his design using passive suspension that will be all mechanically driven by weight of the pod car to solve the leveling. After briefing Dr. Furman and Eric Hagstrom on the drafted designs they agreed that a passive system would be more ideal for the task of having the pod car remain level as it transverses on the inclines and declines of the rail as opposed to an active system for the sake of associated complexity and keeping component cost and energy low.

What the group examined carefully among the drafted designs is if they solve these basic problems:
1. The leveling of the pod car
2. The associated swinging that will arise with accelerations and decelerations of the pod car.
3. The unleveling of the pod car caused by the uneven distribution of weight of people on board

The passive drafted design seems the most promising because the leveling looks like it will definitely be taken care of at least by drafted design. The other two will have to be more carefully examined. 

Below is the drafted design of a passive system for leveling and possibly vertical damping. 


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