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Re: MagLev C
Posted: April 14th, 2013, 11:50 am
by AtRi
alecfxl wrote:AtRi wrote:Hello
My partner and I are looking into ways to make our MagLev safer. We have been coming up with ways to make our train shut off without us touching it for our design for the national competition next month. So far we have come up with two ideas. One, we are going to put a push button on the front of our train that will trigger and turn off our maglev when it hits a block of some sort that has been placed on the track. Second, we are looking to have a circuit (not integrated) that automatically breaks after a set time (say 8 seconds or so). My questions are has anyone else developed a safety system? How did you do it? I don't think it should be an issue sharing these ideas as they are strictly for safety purposes, and do not actually affect performance in the event. Also, at the national competition, does anyone know if the proctors will be able to identify our circuit and not integrated? We don't want to get disqualified for having a circuit being used for safety mistaken as an integrated circuit. Thanks!
An easy way is sheet metal or reversed track.
We are not going to be able to due reversed track as we are already pushing the limits of the space we have with a propeller. We know we can physically stop it by putting something in front of it and then having a switch, but we are trying to come up with other fail safe mechanisms.
Re: MagLev C
Posted: April 14th, 2013, 1:39 pm
by iwonder
I have a switch like what you describe and it's worked fine so far. I just put a piece of soft foam at the end so it can trigger the switch without needing anything to stick off the end of the maglev.
Re: MagLev C
Posted: April 14th, 2013, 7:01 pm
by Schrodingerscat
We had a cutoff switch on the front of the car and a piece of wood that fitted to the track and let the car slide on it for a foot or two before hitting a barrier at the end to trigger the switch and turn off the motor.
Re: MagLev C
Posted: April 16th, 2013, 9:14 am
by ticker
Hey, I'm new here and my partner and I have a propeller question. The car we have currently has 2 motors (with 1 propeller each).
Our goal is for both motors to push air in the same direction while the propellers spin in opposite directions. But... all we've been able to do is make the motors push in the same direction and the propellers spin in the same direction.
Our motors only go one way or the other, and switching the propellers orientation (that slight concavity) does nothing.
Need help! Any ideas? Thanks in advance!
Re: MagLev C
Posted: April 16th, 2013, 9:25 am
by harryk
You will need to get two different propellers. One clockwise and one counterclockwise.
Re: MagLev C
Posted: April 16th, 2013, 9:29 am
by ticker
harryk wrote:You will need to get two different propellers. One clockwise and one counterclockwise.
Thanks! We will investigate that!
Re: MagLev C
Posted: April 16th, 2013, 4:26 pm
by AtRi
ticker wrote:harryk wrote:You will need to get two different propellers. One clockwise and one counterclockwise.
Thanks! We will investigate that!
More specifically, you will need one normal propeller and one "pusher" propeller.
Re: MagLev C
Posted: April 16th, 2013, 9:17 pm
by gorf250
So what's the highest vehicle score people have seen at a competition? New York had a 1500 I think.
Re: MagLev C
Posted: April 17th, 2013, 7:36 pm
by GeoChamp96
gorf250 wrote:So what's the highest vehicle score people have seen at a competition? New York had a 1500 I think.
I think there might have been a 1600 at one of our Invitationals this year. I didn't actually see the run though, just calculated it from our VS and RS. But the distance was less, 70cm.
Re: MagLev C
Posted: April 17th, 2013, 8:16 pm
by Wolverine
gorf250 wrote:So what's the highest vehicle score people have seen at a competition? New York had a 1500 I think.
I heard about a 5000, though I think it was for a short distance