MagLev C

[BYHscioly]

I was just at the NJ State competition and the winning team apparently got 0.02 seconds for a 0.75m track...

[Meowdernight]

I was just at the NJ State competition and the winning team apparently got 0.02 seconds for a 0.75m track...

Are you sure about that time? That's equivalent to 37.5 meter/sec and assuming a minimum mass of 250g would be 12500 efficiency which seems kind of high.

[cnapun]

I was just at the NJ State competition and the winning team apparently got 0.02 seconds for a 0.75m track...

The ES also said 0.2 seconds, which makes more sense.

I forgot to use a wedge to balance the track, or we could have probably gotten first with a score of about 1300 rather than 960

[Jdogg]

I was just at the NJ State competition and the winning team apparently got 0.02 seconds for a 0.75m track...

The ES also said 0.2 seconds, which makes more sense.

I forgot to use a wedge to balance the track, or we could have probably gotten first with a score of about 1300 rather than 960

were they using stopwatches to time the maglevs? Plus can anyone explain how they got .2 seconds for a .75 meter run O.O

[harryk]

If it was timed with stop watches, then that is certainly not a valid measure. Though I suppose it is possible. It would have plenty enough thrust to take off and fly vertically similarly to an RC helicopter.

[joeyjoejoe]

.....It would have plenty enough thrust to take off and fly vertically similarly to an RC helicopter.

This is a funny charactaristic of this event. The official rules allow for very fast vehicles. Of course, it is up to the coach to insure that the students are safe.

Our initial motor was well undersized (25mm in diameter) with a medium sized prop (5"). After several test cars, the students were ready to move up to a bigger, more powerful motor and a larger prop in order to reduce their times. I had to nix the idea for safety's sake. When your talking about a hard object traveling around 1m/s with relatively sharp, spinning parts, having the vehicle leave the track is a very real concern. The car mentioned in the post above was traveling nearly four times this speed! Assuming it weighed in the 1/2kg range, getting hit by the car would be a lot like getting hit with a mace!

[wlsguy]

.....It would have plenty enough thrust to take off and fly vertically similarly to an RC helicopter.

This is a funny charactaristic of this event. The official rules allow for very fast vehicles. Of course, it is up to the coach to insure that the students are safe.

Our initial motor was well undersized (25mm in diameter) with a medium sized prop (5"). After several test cars, the students were ready to move up to a bigger, more powerful motor and a larger prop in order to reduce their times. I had to nix the idea for safety's sake. When your talking about a hard object traveling around 1m/s with relatively sharp, spinning parts, having the vehicle leave the track is a very real concern. The car mentioned in the post above was traveling nearly four times this speed! Assuming it weighed in the 1/2kg range, getting hit by the car would be a lot like getting hit with a mace!

It will be interesting to see if the rules change next year to slow the cars or reduce the weight (in the interest of safety)
One solution would be to reduce the number of motors (and propellers) from 2 to 1.
This serves two purposes; 1) it slows the cars 2) it provides more unobstructed area to handle the cars with the blades running.

[joeyjoejoe]

Regarding the weight, I believe a reduction in weight would actually be more dangerous. Its the speed that makes them hard to manage.

[Balsa Man]

I could be wrong- 3.74 m/sec seems.....pretty mind boggling. Especially when you consider that's from a standing start; means v at the end would be in the...7-8m/s range

[Schrodingerscat]

Another suggestion of mine that could improve the safety of the event is to next year remove the exemption of the propeller from sticking outside the sides of the track in addition to only having a single propeller. For example I cut my hand early this year (fortunately it was pretty mild) reaching for the vehicle from the side (without thinking properly), but likely would not have cut my hand if our propeller were smaller.