Category: Angel’s Status Reports

• Team Meeting (4 hrs)
  • Worked on final prototype
• Mandatory Meeting (4hrs)
  • Watch Final Presentation
  • Provide Final presentation feedback
• Independent Work (4 hrs)
  • Work on final presentation
  • Create final carrier prototype.
  • Work on creating remaining parts of the track

This week, I worked on creating the final version of the carrier. We decided on making the final version of our carrier 7 cm (sanded down to reduce to friction) to fit on a 6.5 cm track. The carrier has linear hall effects on both sides of the track to detect stops on either side of the track. We also placed the breadboard on a particular part of the carrier to ensure that the weight was balanced. This meant the carrier would properly propel when stimulated by the coil and levitate evenly.

We also worked on making progress on our track. Due to issues with 3D printers, we were not able to print the remainder of our track. Because of this, we were limited in how we were able to test our track. We attempted to test our propulsion  on 1/3 of the track (the current prototype we have). We did so by attaching our coils to H-Bridges, setting up the code to progressively propel the track, and seeing how successful the propulsion was. This propulsion was successful for the carrier if there was no battery attached. While we can power the carrier circuit through a long wire opposed to a battery, this would look messy and force us to continuously mindful of the wire as the carrier propels. We have created alternative spools that will create shorter speed coils. We hope that with this design, the carrier w/ a battery can propel successful. We plan to test these new spools with our new, longer track.

Next Week

We will print the rest our track and finish integration of our system.

• Team Meeting (3hrs)
  • Worked on final presentation
  • Discussed how we will combine the different components of the project
• Mandatory Meeting (4hr)
  • Make design changes for the track
  • Work on final paper
  • Work on final presentation
• Independent Work (8hr)
  • Work on final presentation
  • Work on paper
  • Make design changes for the track

This week, I worked on editing design changes to the track and carrier. The previous carrier had 1cm of space between magnets. We removed the space between the magnets to increase the magnetic field and make the carrier more stable. Also, the height of the carrier was increase to leave more room for levitation and the speed up coils. This design was printed along side our track with rectangular magnets. These were tested and we saw significantly more stability with this version. Also, since we are not using circle magnets for the track, the carrier does not get stuck in gaps along the track, something that previously made stability and levitation difficult.

I also worked on updating the final paper and final presentation. I used the feedback we received from the design review to edit sections that need more detail for the final paper. I worked with my teammates to complete the different sections of the presentation.

Next Week

Next week, I will work on the final paper, final poster, and prepare for the live demo.

Additional Guidance

In order to complete this project, I needed to relearn how to use CAD . I have used CAD  in a  Mini Course to complete a final project but have not used the software since. We needed to create 3D printed models that meet particular design requirements to meet our minimal viable product. This meant I had to spend a significant amount of time relearning the basics of CAD and learning how to implement the features we specifically needed.

To relearn CAD, I focused on looking over documentation, working through designs inclemently, and reaching out to an expert when I was confused.  For this project, I decided to use Fusion360 for my CAD designs. Given that Fusion is used widely in engineering, I was able to find documentation online. It went over the basics of the software and showed how to inclemently combine features to make particular designs. This information allowed me to start testing my knowledge of the software through making parts of the track and carrier design. Working inclemently through particular designs like the rail or the magnet spacing allowed me to better understand features in CAD and how they can be used collectively. However, given I am still a beginner in the language, I often ran into problems. Luckily, I have a friend in the Mechanical Engineering that helped explain difficult features and debugged  my CAD errors.

• Mandatory Meeting (4hr)
  • Interim Demo
  • Adjust CAD Design to match design requirement
• Independent Work (8hr)
  • Adjust CAD Design to match design requirement
  • Work with two linear hall effect sensors

This week, I worked on updating the CAD designs we have to match our design requirements. There were several issues with the 3D printed version of our design. One major problem was there were very small gaps between the track and the carrier. This limited the mobility of the carrier, which would affect the carriers ability to levitate and propel. I adjusted the gaps between along the rail of the track to be wider. Also, with the current design, the carrier could levitate at most 1 cm. Given that our cardboard prototypes levitated 1 inch (2.54 cm), this gap is not large enough. Also, speed up coils will be placed directly above the track, something that could increase the height the carrier levitates. This gap was adjusted to 3.5 cm to allow the carrier room to levitate as much as needed.

I also worked on the stops for the track. In order for the carrier to detect a stop, a magnet has to be within 1.5 cm of the magnetometers. I created stops along the track that are 4 cm above the track to account for carrier levitating, the speed up coils, the thickness of the 3D printed carrier and breadboard, and the height of the linear hall effect sensor with the magnetometer. The stops are also design to be 1cm away from the carrier.

I also worked on adding solidifying the ranges for the magnetic field of different stops. The magnetic field values that determined if the carrier were near a stop all worked within 1.5 cm but all had different gaps between the cut of value and the value within 1.5 cm. For example, the right magnetometer values were too high for the negatively polarized magnet, meaning the magnet could be significantly further than 1.5 cm to get a good reading. While this isn’t a problem, it would be good to be consistent with the gap between the cutoff and the expected value. I adjusted these values so this gap was around 50 units for each possible stop.

Next Week

I would like to print updates to our prototypes to see if they match expectation.

• Mandatory Meeting (4hr)
  • Discuss design changes for the track
  • Go over feedback from design review
• Independent Work (8hr)
  • 3D print two-to-one track with rail and smaller carrer
  • Work with two linear hall effect sensors to solidify
  • Work with ultrasonic sensor
  • Updated block diagram

This week, I worked on printing initial versions of our final track. Since the two-to-one track/carrier magnet prototype was more stable, this is the design that was printed. The printed track is 1/5 of our final design, making it 20 cm long. The width is 6.5 cm to be able to hold speed up coils with an approx. diameter of 6 cm. The height is 7 cm to have enough room to support the track and levitate the carrier an inch (2.54 cm). The size of the carrier was reduced to reduce cost and to give easy access to the circuit that will be placed above the carrier.

I also worked on testing the two magnetometers as stops for the track. To do this, I connected three LEDs to the Arduino that would light up depending on what was in front of the magnetometers. The yellow LED would light up if there was no magnets in front of either magnetometer. The red LED lights up if there is a negatively charged magnet next to either magnetometer. The green LED lights up there is a positively charged magnet next to either magnetometer. This will be used to help debug stops along the track, something that will be controlled through wireless communication between the track and carrier Arduino. We expect this step to be complex so this circuit will helpful through the process

I also worked on the ultrasonic sensor. The ultrasonic sensor is suppose to stop the carrier if something is within 10 cm of the track. This requires wireless communication, something we have not solidified. To test this at the moment, I am using a red LED that lights up if something is within 10 cm of the carrier breadboard.

I also begin working on the HC-05 wireless communication. Given that we are still working on our speed up coils, I am testing this with a separate Arduino uno and the Arduino MKZero on the carrier. I am in the process of debugging the code for the “receiver”, or the arduino uno. For the wireless communication, the carrier, (if it sees a stop or an obstruction) sends information to the track (to slow down/speed up the track depending on the case). For the HC-05, this done through writing and reading different serial outputs. Each arduino has different ways of reading/writing to a serial. I am in the process of debugging the serial for the Arduino Uno. The serial I used in the MKZero is not accessible for the Arduino Uno.

Breadboard for the carrier

Next Week

I plan to further debug wireless communication so we can test how the track arduino and carrier arduino will communicate. Also, I want to work on design how the magnets will be placed along the track to make a stop,

• Weekly Team Meeting (2hr)
  • Discuss design changes for the track and carrier t
  • Discuss how to best implement the ultrasonic sensor and linear hall effect sensor
• Mandatory Meeting (4hr)
  • Discuss design changes for the track
  • Go over feedback from design review
• Independent Work (6hr)
  • Change one-to-one carrier/track magnet design
  • Reattempt two-to-one carrier/track magnet design
  • Test linear hall effect sensor

Through out this week I spent time working on the design of two prototypes. I rebuilt the straight away one-to-one track with less spacing between the magnets to stop magnets from the carrier getting stuck. While this helped with that problem, it made it clear that a one-to-one system is unstable. I attempted to redesign the two-to-one carrier/track. In this design two aligned rows of magnets were placed on the track. However, given that the magnets are circular, parts of the track had gaps as seen in the picture below. These gaps resulted in carrier magnets getting stuck on the track.  I have created a new design in which the magnets (2cm diameter) are misaligned by 1cm. I plan to implement this design early next week.

I also tested the linear hall effect. I tested how the linear hall effect behaved when a magnet was near the sensor, far from the sensor and when a magnet moves along it. I used this information to better understand the data I was receiving from the Arduino and how to interpret that information into something usable.

We updated our schedule earlier this week to more accurately reflect what we have complete and what we know hope to complete. Therefore, I am currently on schedule.

Next Week

In the following work, I plan to build my new design for the two-to-one track/magnet design. I also want to work with my teammates to see how to add a speed coil to the one-to-one track/magnet design given its only problem currently is stability. Lastly, I would like to start signal processing for the linear hall effect sensor.

The following work was completed between 2/25 – 3/9 (week prior to spring break – end of spring break)

• Mandatory Labs (4hrs)
• Individual work (6hrs)
  • Finalized straightaway cardboard prototype with cardboard carrier
  • Attempted to create straightaway cardboard prototype with cardboard carrier
  • Modify CAD design for straightaway track and carrier prototype
• Design Report (6hrs)
  • Complete Design Trade Studies and System Implementation

Through out the past two week, I have spent time further developing cardboard prototypes for the track and carrier maglev. I attempted to create two prototypes for the straightaway track and carrier. The first involved having a 1-1 relationship between the track magnets and carrier magnet. While this design successfully levitated the carrier, there were issues with stability. In attempt to create a more stable design, I created a prototype with a 2-1 track magnet to carrier magnet ratio. Due to errors with spacing (the track magnets were too far apart on the track), this design created a carrier that was attracted to the space between the track magnets, resulting in no levitation. I plan to reattempt this design with less spacing between the track magnets to see if the system will be more stable.

Also, completing the initial straightway track and carrier from cardboard showed that the spacing in the current CAD design of the straightaway track is too large. The best spacing between ends of a magnet is roughly 3 centimeters. I plan to make modifications to all CAD track designs to meet these specifications.

Next Week 

In the following week, I hope to start printing the CAD design for straightaway track and carrier. Secondly, I would like to start working on a prototype for the oval shaped track. Lastly, I would like to start working with the ultrasonic sensor and the hall effect to start to design the start, stop, and speed system.

This Week 

• Weekly Team Meeting (6hr)
  • Created cardboard prototype of carrier and track to test levitation and strength of magnets
  • Adjusted CAD design metrics to better fit result from cardboard prototype
• Mandatory Meeting (4hr)
  • Watched design review presentations and provided feedback
• Independent Work (2hr)
  • Created cardboard prototype of carrier and track to test levitation and strength of magnets
  • Researched different designs of model maglevs to get ideas on how to improve the prototype

Through out this week, I spent time working with the new supplies we received. I developed a cardboard track and carrier with elongated sides (both with magnets) to test the strength of our magnets. The magnets were very strong, which often lead to the carrier flipping over. After the carriers elongated sides were adjusted and the carriers length was extended, levitation of the carrier stabilized at around 1 inch. I plan to adjust the CAD design of our carrier and track to better match these results.

We are currently behind schedule but we plan to adjust our schedule to match our progress

Next Week

In the following week, I hope to print the CAD design of the track and carrier and test its levitation. If all goes well, I plan to work with my teammates to attached the speedup coils and test the propulsion.

• Weekly Team Meeting (4hr)
  • Researched different ways to implement our speed up coils. Leaning toward the H-Bridge Design
  • Researched different ways to implement our stop, start, and speed system. Considering creating a system centered around a magnetometer
  • Finalized details of initial track and carrier design
• Mandatory Meeting (4hr)
  • Discussed feedback relating to our start-stop system and how we want to go about stopping the train if blocked
  • Further developed our track and carrier design
• Design  Preparation (4hr)
  • Collaborated with team to finalize details of our design review
  • Discussed deliverables we wanted to meet throughout the project

Through out this week, my team spent time going over feedback we received from the proposal and discussed changes we could make. This result in all of us doing research on ultrasonic sensors as an alternative to LIDAR sensors. We have decided to move forward with this decision. Also, my team started considering simpler ways to implement the speed up coils. Following the feedback we received from the instructor, we decided to use the H-Bridge system due to it having many of our desired needs (such as protection from high-voltages with a fullback diode) built in.

We have finalized the designs for our carrier and track. Our carrier is designed to be light weight but able to hold the ultrasonic sensor, magnetometer, and three magnets . Our track is currently oval shaped and 450 cm across. We plan to develop a straight track for testing and our MVP.

Given that we haven’t started building the “speed-up” coils, we are behind schedule. We plan to order the parts for this component this week so we can start the build process. We also plan on updating our schedule.