2008
The 2007-08 season was disappointing. The five students involved decided to make several improvements to the sculpture. However, at the end of the year the sculpture was some ways from being functional. Very disappointing.
ENGINEERING
Initial coast down testing showed the differential steering we've been using imposes significant drag. The coast down distance almost doubled when the steering differential was dissabled. The brakes also proved to be dragging and slowing the vehicle appreciably. These two problems were worked on in 2007-08.
The steering was redesigned. It was to use a gear motor/pump combination. Steering wheel motion supplied to one gear motor was to drive a gear motor at the steering hinge hydraulically. The figures below show one of the motor/pumps, the two were identical.
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A large chain sprocket, or portion of one, was to be mounted on at the steering hinge between the pods. The motor was to drive the chain through a smaller sprocket.
It was determined that the motorcycle brakes previously used could not be completely released, they always created some drag. A new set of calipers and disks designed for a conveyor were obtained. A negative pressure can be applied to these moving the pads from the disks. A spring mounting for the calipers moved both pads from the disks. A hydraulic cylinder was used instead of the automotive master that allowed negative pressures.
They were good directions to pursue. The problem was in completion.