The year wrapped up at the Hurrah where Ed and Michael told the story of building the bike, and celebrated the successes that the team had this year. We were joined by some of our sponsors that helped support us getting to this point. At the end of the meeting it was announced that the 2019-2020 team leads will be Mark Duetsch and John Knox!
0 Comments
Congratulations to the Human Powered Vehicle Team! It was an insanely successful competition this weekend including a 7th place overall finish and the Team Spirit Award! The team put together a well rounded score finishing very well in the design report, speed event, and endurance event. With the bright yellow bike zipping around, the "We are Marquette" cheers, and the always energized Ethan running around the track, the team made ASME proud with the Team Spirit Award.
The competition is right around the corner, and we have 1 goal: WIN! The finishing touches are being put on the bike include a fresh coat of bright yellow paint, the permanent seat, and an aerodynamic fin. The riders have been able to give the bike a test drive and things are rolling smoothly. The safety team is putting together the safety video for submission, and finishing up rollover testing to ensure our riders would be safe in case the bike flipped over. The team is excited to hit the road and show everyone how to build the fastest bike.
With everyone back and well rested from a great Spring Break, it's time for the team to kick it into high gear. The competition is only 2 weeks out, and a safety video still needs to be produced. The team has decided to ditch the adjustable seat and mount a fixed position seat. This will make a more robust design, but limit the flexibility for rider comfort. With the riders chosen, we'll tell them they just have to tough it out. The drive train team has put in a lot of work to get the wheels spinning on the bike, and it will be hitting the ground soon ready to race.
It's the week before Spring Break and only 4 weeks until competition, but we have 99% of the frame done! There will be some minor additions along the way as the drive-train begins their setup. The adjustable seat rail still needs to be welded into place, but the main frame is complete. A ton of work has been put in by a lot of people, so a huge shout out to them!
You read that correctly, we have our first bend! With that piece, the bike frame has officially started this week. A lot more of these are to be expected as we have only 6 weeks until competition in Michigan. The riders are gearing up with training in the gym and we've got a lot of people dedicating a lot of time in the shop.
Happy Valentine's Day from all of us at on the HPVC team! It's been busy around the shop as we learn how to properly bend and cope pipes. It will be critical to do this correctly when the bike gets fabricated to ensure all of the joints fit together properly, as well as ensuring the bike is the correct dimensions. The seat sub-team continues to work on the adjustable seat while the drivetrain sub-team preps all of their supplies for assembly. All hands on deck for these next few weeks!
After a brief hiatus due to the lovely Milwaukee winter weather, the team got back to work completing the analysis and design report for the bike. The design report pulls together design information, decisions, and analysis from all sub-teams to form a complete summary of the bike. This was the last major hurdle for the team to accomplish prior to beginning work on the bike fabrication. The frame team has been dedicating a lot of time outside of meetings learning how to bend, notch, and weld the tubing, practicing before moving onto the actual bike frame. It's turned into a competition as welds get tested to see who's can withstand the most stress.
It's time for a few of our members to put their welding skills to the test! The Frame team has been practicing their welds and testing the joints to track their progress. The frame material is on order and as soon as it arrives, team members will begin cutting, milling, and welding the metal to assemble the frame. In the mean time, the Drivetrain team has been receiving parts and turned their attention to the steering. The Safety team split up and began focusing on analysis for the seat as well as safety features of the overall vehicle. It will be all hands on deck once the material arrives as there is a little over 3 months to competition!
With CAD complete on the sub-team level, all of the parts can be put together to make this beautiful bike. A few things are absent from this model, such as steering and a front roll cage. Steering is planned to be very similar to last year's bike, and the front roll cage will be a simple frame member designed to protect the rider's legs in case of a rollover. Materials are being collected for purchase, and a cut list is being created for frame members.
With Thanksgiving right around the corner, HPVC is thankful for CAD, and not having to draw parts by hand. The Frame team has been learning how to run FEA simulations, and the initial results are looking very promising. The Drivetrain team was able to located some models for the gears being used, which will save a lot of time and energy, and make them very happy. The Safety team has been continuing to hash out issues with the back seat support, and will be looking to finalize a design over Thanksgiving break.
With presentations and feedback fresh in our minds, the team got back to work editing their designs. The Safety team has been working on a way to support the back of the seat while still being able to adjust it for each rider. There isn't much available room behind the seat, so size is a priority. The Frame team has been working on a design to allow for more adjustment room in the seat area by flattening out a bend along the bottom of the frame. The Drivetrain team has narrowed down the set of parts they want to order and will be working on integrating them into the frame. Stay tuned next week for more CAD!
Presentation Round 2 was today. The three sub-teams presented what they have been working on the last few weeks. The Safety team has been working hard to determine how to fit the adjustable seat in the current frame design. The Drivetrain team has target two commercially available drive systems they think will work best to power the HPVC. The Frame team has been focusing on how to reduce the length of frame to save weight. The overall design is close and frame material will be on order soon.
Lots of ideas are being rounded into their final form before presentations next week. The Frame team is turning their 3D sketch of the bike into individual components and making a final material selection. The Safety team took critical measurements of potential riders to determine seat and pedal positioning. The Drivetrain team is determining what set of products they need to power the bike. Decisions will be made in these key areas and presented in front of the team next week for final design decisions.
This week's HPVC meeting was a great opportunity to see what all of the sub-teams are working on! All 3 groups presented what they have accomplished so far, and what they are looking to get done. The Safety team has a few designs for the adjustable seat, and will be finalizing an idea soon. The Drivetrain team has identified inefficiencies from the past design. They are focusing on what gear combinations are necessary for speed and power. The Frame team has been analyzing the past bike's design and determining where weight can be cut without reducing strength. The team is looking at narrowing the frame, and taking out the excess length. They're also identifying material that could be used to make the bike lighter and stronger. The overall bike design will be finalized in a few weeks and then fabrication begins!
After a week off, we're back to work! We broke up into sub-teams again, and continued our brainstorming. The frame team began looking at utilizing different materials and pipe sizes. Getting to put all of our materials classes to use! The safety team modeled a few designs for how to adjust the seat position for each rider. Above are a few of our models. We'll be looking to refine these more over the next few weeks. The drive train team continues to determine the size and amount of gears necessary for our bike. They are also looking at how to efficiently run our chain to prevent derailment issues.
This week, we broke up into sub-teams to do more research on specific areas of the bike. We had some awesome brainstorming sessions in smaller groups where all sorts of ideas were able to be shared. The three sub-teams were Safety, Drivetrain, and Frame. These three areas will be our major focuses during the design process to ensure we meet all ASME requirements, as well as building a super fast bike. A lot more brainstorming and ideation will be coming. Soon after that will be more detailed designs!
This week, Ed and Michael lead us in a break down of last year's bike, as well as a shop and office tour. We got to see where the bike is going to be built and where some of our supplies are located. Last year's bike was analyzed for key components, areas of improvement, and key safety features. We all got the opportunity to get an up close look at the different parts of the bike and think about what could be done better for this years design.
We're excited to be back and see so many new faces on the HPVC team! There's lots of work to be done this year with the design and build of a brand new bike! Last year's bike (pictured above) has seen two competitions and is ready to retire. During the first meeting, we were able to introduce everyone to the competition. It's going to be exciting to have so many people participating in brainstorming ideas, fabricating parts, and of course speeding around on a super fast bike!
|
Team LeadsMark Duetsch & John Knox Archives
May 2019
|