Update 5/06

Since last semester, there have been a lot of changes with my role and the guideway. Originally, I started out as a lead for the Steering, Braking and Guideway teams, but that had to change once fabrication began. The guideway fabrication has taken a lot of my time. Because I could no longer commit to braking and steering full time, Jay and Chin took over. However, I still try to offer insight whenever possible. The guideway is almost complete, it is currently standing in the warehouse waiting it's bent sections to be added to it. I will go into detail what has happened in the past few months.

 On the new design:

Last semester, my estimate for the metal for the rail alone was about $6000. In the beginning of the semester, I made changes to the design. With the help of several people, I was able to come to an agreement on a more real-world practical design. I drew up the new guideway and reworked a new cost estimate. The new estimate for the rail was around $1900.

On where to purchase metal:

 I started a search on where I can purchase a bulk amount of metal at a low cost. My options were PD Steel, Sims, or NorCal. I decided to go with Sims because they offered student discount and had piles of scrap metal that were sold at a lower percentage. Throughout the next months, I, along with teammates, made several trips to transport metal from there to the Spartan Superway Design Center (SSDC).

On where to bend the metal:

The next thing to address was where and who will provide the bending metal for the slope and the curved sections of the rail. This has been the biggest concern the entire semester. At first, I didn't realize how much of an issue this part would be. I figured if Nor-Cal Metal was able to bend a 2"x4" and a 2"x6" They can bend my 1"x2" and 1"x3" no problem. Turns out it was a problem. They said it was impossible to do and they did not have the capability. They said I would need someone who has access to induction bending. So I moved on and did a google search of local areas that could bend tubing. I called over 20 areas, and only two were able to say they could do it. One place was in Los Angeles. Master Metals is the local area that gave me a quote of $2,500 and Paramount Roll and Form gave me a quote of $1,400. Before I could make a decision I ended up meeting a man who could do the bends for me for free. I held off on continuing with the other fabricators. Eventually, it turned out that the man's workshop was incapable of making the bends. So I went into Master Metals to talk about the quote and see if he can offer some discount or donations. I told him about the project and what we are doing. He instantly seemed interested and offered to do the work for free as long as we put his logo on the banner and website for Spartan Superway. I held back a tear and said yes and thank you. The metal should arrive by Tuesday 5/10.

On the subject of welding:

I took upon the challenge of learning to weld. I have only little background on oxygen-acetylene. That was enough to understand angles and getting the base metal melted enough to weld. The problem was I have never seen a TIG or MIG machine and I didn't even know how to turn it on. I watched a couple hours of youtube videos, I also received help from people in class on the basics and I also had big help from Jack Irwin, He did all the welding for last year's team. He gave me an extensive run-down on what it should look like, holding techniques, movement, and what to look out for. My welds went from this,

to this,

also, I have a teammate helping me with a lot of MIG work. Lastly, I took part in the TechShop pilot program. I took a class in MIG welding to learn how to safely use the machine and how to correctly use it.

On the subject of Schedule:

We have accomplished a lot this past month, and once the bent metal come in it should be just plug in and go. We want to get it down as soon as possible to allow for other teams to test their hardware.

On my personal experience:

Like everyone else on this project, it has taken a lot out of me. I spend countless hours in SSDC trying to be on time. If it wasn't for the constant help from Cass-E, NJ,  Matt Senior and other team members I wouldn't be where I am now. Last week is coming up and it's going to be a very interesting period.

Work since 9/21

Since the last couple of weeks, research has been done to compare what is the best method to assemble the quarter scale rail. The considerations that have been taken involve cost, materials, ease of manufacturability, ease of assembly and disassembly and track layout has been thought about as well. First, it was decided that we have two options for a track, a complete loop track and open ended track. Then we thought about the materials to be used, either construction wood or rolled steel were options. Both are viable options, however we would like to go with metal steel studs just like the full scale version. The autocadd drawings of the full and twelfth scale versions were observed and we can get an idea of how big to make the rail. We would like to make a 20'x10' with 5' radius turns complete guideway or a 20' open ended track. My goals for this week is to get exact measurements for the cross section, railways, and supports for the quarter scale. As well as a bill of materials ready.

Other work that was completed was preparing for our first presentation. Research was done to see how we can make a guideway by seeing what is being done, and has been done.

Work Since Blog 2

Since blog assignment #2, I have been working closely with the members of the steering and braking sub-team. We discussed different bogie designs that can be implemented to provide different switching and braking speeds. After discussing with Prof. Furman, I found out that it would be more ideal to modify the existing bogie design rather than designing a whole new bogie from scratch. I agree with this route, because I think if we changed everything we would be nullifying everything the previous years have done. We will be figuring out ways to modify the steering/braking/ and failsafe to the current design. One suggestion I would like to explore is keeping both steering wheels engaged at all times and only disengage one when it is time to steer. The problem with the current design is that when one wheel is engage at a time, the wheel and the weight of the bogie are creating a moment which is potentially putting the bogie at risk of failing. I think that keeping both wheels engage will cancel that moment and keep it static. However for this to work, the railing design would need to change to accommodate the two wheels that are engaged. I will be adding sketches in the near future to clearly express this idea.

For the rail team, I have spoken with my lead to come up with a track that demonstrates the requirements of the 17 degree slope while using little material to save cost. The rail will be closed loop track with one edge dropping and raising at 17 degrees. We discussed that this drop can not be a sudden change and it needs to be gradual to avoid the front of the cabin from hitting the rail. The track will also have a split so it can demonstrate switching at station exits. Previously the rail had to travel backwards to return to start position, but since we plan on a closed loop it will go back to start after completing a lap. Again I will be adding sketches with dimensions to clearly express this idea.

Post 4: Own drawing with relevant explanation

Here are two of my most recent sketches for the guideways. The requirements are to show that the bogie can stay perpendicular to the ground as the rails change in slope. To demonstrate this on the intermediate scale, I sketched an idea of how we can do this. (NOTE: The drawings are of the tracks and bogie only, I did not include post, support or cross section of the track. It is assumed that we will be using the current design of the track.) The top sketch shows a track that can demonstrate both turns and upward and downward movement. The figure 8 design allows it to come back to its initial position. The second drawing is a sketch of a one way track that goes upward on one side and then downward on the opposite side. This does not demonstrate both turning directions. Neither of the sketches include a off track that leads to a station. It is assumed that the full scale guideway already demonstrates its capability and does not need to be performed.

Post 3: Different configuration to the guideway

I understand that we need to improve on the guideway to be able to accommodate rises and drops of 17 degrees. Here I have suggested three methods to accomplish this drop. Method 1 uses a long guide way piece that is bent and gradually decreased downward for a smooth drop. Method 2 uses two unbent pieces with a filler piece that is welded to both unbent pieces to connect the guideway. Method 3 is similar to method 1, however it uses 2 pieces that are welded together to create the drop. I feel like method one is most reasonable because it allows for a continuous guideway from start to finish of the rise and drop. This is a rough idea that needs further exploring and forces, torsions, friction losses, bogie surface area contact and other crucial data has not been considered.    

What was done last week?

Last week, I did research on what has been done on ATNs in both San Jose and in various parts of the world. I attained a better understanding of what ATNs are and what needs to be improved in the current model that San Jose currently has. I read several reports in the Inist library, two reports I got a lot of info were the reports written by last years Spartan Super Way team and a paper by Professor Furman, Automated Transit Networks (ATN): A Review of the State of the Industry and Prospects for the Future. These two gave me a more than basic understanding of what is going on.

In class that day, we gave a speech on what we learned and my topic was considering the safety of the ATNs. Designing the fail-safe is something I am interested in.

Afterwards, we broke off into different sections in relation to what we wanted to work on in the project. I met with others under the full-scale model and we talked about what is current and what needs to be done. Our large group was broken into subgroups, bogie, braking, fail-safe, suspension.

Throughout the week, I read more reports and spoke with classmates about our interests and ideas we can offer to this project.

Who is Alex Valenzuela

Alex Valenzuela is a student at San Jose State University. He is earning his Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering. For his senior project he will be working with fellow ME students on the Spartan Super Way project. His role for the project will be to assist in the design of the intermediate scale bogie, fail safe, braking, and the intermediate scale railing. Another role he was given was lead in the procurement duty. He is looking forward to working on this project, because he believes there is big potential for a green energy public transportation and the help it would be for people and the planet. When he is not at school, he is currently employed at the Home Depot assisting people on their personal home projects. His hobbies include solving puzzles, reading, playing tennis, going to the gym, paintball shooting, and watching movies, to name a few. He hopes that he can make a positive impact for the world through his knowledge in engineering.