I spent time working on the larger pulley mounted on the shaft and the smaller pulley connected to the motor. The larger gear that attaches with the hub adapter was relatively straightforward to design since it mainly needed to match the hub’s bolt pattern and mounting dimensions. Once those measurements were confirmed, integrating the gear with the hub and shaft assembly was fairly simple.
Most of the time was spent on new designs for the smaller pulley connected to the motor. A challenge I had weeks ago was that the pulley’s dimensions are fixed and slightly too small to bolt directly onto the motor in a convenient way. Because of this, I designed an adapter piece that would allow the pulley to mount to the motor. At first this seemed to solve the issue, but after reviewing the assembly more carefully, it became clear that actually fastening the pulley to the motor would still be difficult in practice. The limited clearance makes it hard to fit screws, access the bolt locations, and assemble the parts cleanly, so the design work this week involved rethinking this design. I explored a new design that extends the distance between the pulley and the motor. This provides more room to access the bolts and assemble the parts more easily. At the same time, this change introduces new considerations around stability and ensuring the extended structure remains strong enough to handle the belt tension without bending or breaking.
Part C: Environmental Factors
Environmental factors are addressed through the use of a modular design and commercially available components. By relying mostly on off-the shelf parts such as motors, microcontrollers, and mechanical components, the system avoids the need for complex manufacturing processes and allows for parts to be replaced if they fail. This modular approach helps reduce electronic waste by making repairs easier and extending the lifespan of the device.