Post #3: Progress From October 30 - Nov 7

During the period of 10/30/20 - 11/7/20, our group focused on design discussions for our power harvesting roundabout, and having our roundabout design fleshed out in a CAD program. Figures 1-3 below show the design we have in SolidWorks.

Figure 1: A top perspective of our roundabout.

Figure 1 shows the top of our rotating platform. The center column is an external shell that rotates, while the inside has the fixed column that is attached to our static base.

Figure 2: A side perspective of our roundabout.

Figure 2 shows our roundabout from a side perspective. Originally, we planned to just have the turntable bearing hold the rotating platform while sitting on the base platform. However, we realized that the gap would be too small for our motor size. To make space for our motor, we decided to have wooden blocks connected between the bottom platform to the turntable.

Figure 3: A perspective of the bottom of our rotating platform.

Figure 3 shows an underside perspective of our roundabout. You can see the gear mechanism we have set-up where our larger gear is fixed to the rotating platform, and the smaller gear is attached to the generator, which is fixed to the static base. Because the larger gear is driving the smaller gear, the shaft of the generator will turn at a higher RPM than the roundabout itself.

For the work period of November 7-21, we plan on getting the design analyzed for stress and strain in COMSOL and also make any design modifications we deem necessary. One of the anticipated challenges is getting the analysis done in time, because our experience with COMSOL is very limited, but we already talked with our advisor and have been approved additional time.