Mounting Collectors

Two side adapter plates were used to mount the shoe collector; these plates are located next to the braking system in a form that would not conflict with the placements of other components. A total of 4 holes were drilled into the plates and the collectors were connected using these ports and the wires were fed around to the board.

Erosion Proofing

With the conductive lubricant available, we will be applying the electrified rail with a protective coating to prevent buildup from debris as well as tarnish and friction wear. This process will need to be repeated (best before each running operation day for the current half scale model). Copper tape has also been purchased for gap fitting, and will be available for the next teams to utilize when troubleshooting or gaps introduced through reassembly.

Dual line current gaps

An issue came up when testing the dual line portion of the conductive rail. There are either gaps within this part or a fault in the wiring that connects the straight rail side. We are looking further into this as well as continuing our other team priorities.

Testing and Presentations

Over the weekend we began testing the track and found multiple gaps within the rail system, we are continuing to fix these issues over the course of the week. We are continuing the second wave of presentations this week; during this time we will be continuing our process of the testing phases as well as implementing the shoe adapter.

Testing Phase Imminent

At the end of this week, our team will be moving into the testing phase where we will be troubleshooting any potential onsite problems that may have been unforeseen. We are also presenting our current status of the project this Wednesday. We will be highlighting (but not limited to) the following:

• Due to the design of the braking system, the brackets we made became incompatible
• We defaulted to the old brackets
• We filled in the gaps of the older conductive rail
• We have fully installed the conductive rails along the entire track
• Proceeding to install collector shoes onto Bogie
• An adapter will be made to secure the contacts between the collector and the track even further
• Testing begins next week

• Conductive rail fabrication (surplus)
• Bracket fabrication (finished)
• Installation of items (nearly finished)

Team Dependencies

We are nearly finished with the implementation phase aside from a few small tasks which will be completed once the other teams receive their parts. At this point we are depending on the bogey team to affix their assembly as soon as possible so that we are able to combine our system. Testing will continue regardless - along with other tasks that are not dependent on other teams. This will minimize the rush when the other teams catch up. Once we finish affixing the rails we will be running the current through the circuit and testing for any gaps. During spring break, we will be finishing the tasks involving the installation and manufacturing of the conductive rails. By the time we come back the bogey team should be ready for the installation of our shoe collector.

Bumper Design

Over the weekend, I designed a model for a bumper we can use for the collector shoe. This design allows for the shoe to fit more snug along the conductive rail and elevates it appropriately to touch the copper strip with more stability. The model of the part can be seen below.