Minimizing Friction

In my opinion, everyone likes fast vehicle, so speed is the most important factor of my individual design. How can our vehicle be faster than others? The friction should be as small as possible. As we all know the equation of fiction is the normal force times coefficient of friction. Firstly, to decrease the coefficient of friction, we must use wheels. The coefficient of friction between wheels and surface are much less than the coefficient of friction of directly touch. Secondly, to decrease the normal force of the vehicle. We have to decrease the weight of the vehicle, and try to reduce the contact area of wheels and surface. Therefore, my individual design of the project is a vehicle with only 2 wheels, and other parts of the vehicle should be as light as possible, then the vehicle can travel very fast.

 

In our design process, another important thing that we care about is the friction between the surface and AEV. AEV can work faster if the friction is pretty small. To minimize the friction, we need to reduce the contact area between wheels and surface. In addition, we need to reduce the weight of AEV as above said. Finally, we need to choose proper materials. In this case, the coefficient of friction between wheels and surface can be as small as possible, and the most common material we use is steel. It is not only stable, but also have a little friction.

 

 

 

Reference:

http://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/29181/reduce-friction-surfaces