Brainstorming Stage
Group Design Blueprint
This is the previous sketch for the AEV design.
Below is the sketch for division’s proposed prototype. Out of all of the sketches produced by our team members, this sketch was chosen for its clarity and room for adaptation later in the design process. With lots of extra room for wires and sensors, our division feels this basic design will be easy to modify and adapt to fit the requirements of testing. Another reason is that the sketch utilizes very little materials in its construction, it is low cost and low weight. With both of these properties, our division believes that this design is the best bet for future modification.
This is the final sketch for our design.
Team Sketch Explanation:
The initial team design sketch is based off the combination of a submarine and an airplane. The areodynamics of the airplane design was incorporated to reduce force on the wheel and provide a higher safety factor than the other designs. On the other hand, the front of the AEV is to have a curved spherical part to reduce resistance from friction plus the submarine-like shape allows fro a greater increase in velocity/acceleration. As the design includes having the fragile parts like the battery and the motor be covered, the shape is constructed to heighten durability. Nonetheless, the material that is to be used in this design is not decided as of yet with an emphasis now on testing a variety of plastics and light metals.
Prototyping Stage
Prototype 1
After brainstorming possible configurations and reviewing sketches created by each team member, a prototype AEV was constructed to test the motors and reflectance sensors on. The motors were tested on the prototype using the Arduino IDE software. After the initial build and testing of the prototype were completed, problems with our prototype became apparent. One such error was the direction of the propellers on the motor. Since the propellers were initially installed facing the wrong direction, when we programmed the AEV to go forward, the propellers pushed it in the wrong direction. After this error was noticed, the propellers were removed and reinstalled in the proper direction.
From our group’s chosen design, we began constructing our first AEV prototype. As expected during the brainstorming phase of our project, the arduino board fit very well onto the prototype and there was plenty of room for wires and the motors to operate in. Shortly after we installed the arduino board and tested the motors, we installed the reflectance sensors. These sensors were easily installed onto the prototype and worked well.
AEV Prototype 1