Mission/Approach to Project
The city of Columbus is moving towards becoming a smart city that has better, more sufficient, and more sustainable ways of transportation. In doing this, the hope is to improve opportunity and allow for better mobility while tackling the issue of climate change.
A pilot program has been initiated through four urban districts of Columbus. The targeted area for improvement is Linden. Many people have limited access to important services such as hospitals and grocery stores. For this, our company is designing and programming an Advanced Energy Vehicle (AEV) with the available budget in order to transport people to Easton and Polaris.
The team plans to use research and development to determine the most time and power efficient AEV while also being safe. To complete this, the team plans to design, test, and optimize multiple prototypes and codes through research labs and performance tests throughout the project. The team plans to utilize the resources outlined above to develop a functioning AEV that complete the goals outlined above.
Key Areas to Address in the AEV Design:
Safety:
This obviously is a top priority because the team must strive to create a model that will not endanger passengers due to poor design choices. The team must create a design that can hold enough passengers, yet still remain safe and not exceed a maximum capacity. Additionally, the team must design a model that is up to code, and follows the rules of AEV design such as the Arudino being 2 inches from the magnet and fire prevention when working with the battery.
The team has worked to address safety issues with the current AEV design. During testing, the AEV ran off the rails due to an improper Arduino code, since the incident, the team has tested each code on a test track before running the AEV on the main track to ensure the code works properly. This will ensure that the AEV will continue to function safely in the future.
Energy Effeciency:
The team strives to create a design that is aerodynamic and energy efficient, as this will not only be cost effective but it will also be protecting the environment. The team will avoid creating a design that will lead to worse conditions for those people who must be transported from their neighborhood to other areas of the city. The team still strives to transport passengers as quickly and efficiently as possible and these two factors will be taken into the final design.
After conducting labs on coasting vs. power braking, the team determined that using power braking in precise stopping situations such as stopping at a station were a viable way to promote an energy efficient AEV. By using coasting in long stopping situations with the power braking completing the stop, the team plans to maximize energy efficiency while also retaining an effective speed of travel.
Cost Effective:
The team plans to design an AEV that will finish on budget. Various factors go into the budget for the AEV and these factors include AEV components, power consumption, times, and fines acquired throughout testing. To eliminate extra costs, the team plans to create an AEV that will complete the test quickly while using a low amount of energy, in order to be as cost effective as possible.
After many tests, the team determined that in order to reduce energy the team would run the AEV at high speeds for short bursts and coast into gates to prevent excess energy use. This also allowed the AEV to run more quickly which eliminated excess time and ultimately saved over $10,000.
Speed:
This criteria relates to energy efficiency and cost effectiveness but was a key criteria the team chose for the AEV. The team wanted to create an AEV that could transport passengers as quickly as possible without using very much energy. Speed was also an important factor because the team had to consider the maximum speed that the AEV could travel on the track without falling off. After many tests, the team decided upon an appropriate speed that allowed the AEV to deliver passengers quickly and safely. The speed also allowed the team to save time when transporting passenger which saved over $10,000.