Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
2011
Engineering project
Higher level
Examination number:
Introduction........................................................ 3
Analysis of Design Brief....................................... 4
Investigation of Solutions.....................................7
Criteria for Selection of Solutions..........................
Production Drawings........................................
Electronics........................................................
Testing and Evaluation......................................
Introduction:
Historically, the harsh winter climate of the northern hemisphere created
challenges in the cross country transportation of people and their
possessions. In the late 19th Century this resulted in the invention of
snowmobiles. Although originally developed as utility vehicles, advances
in design and technology since then, have provided manufactures with
the scope to produce a full range of recreational, special purpose and
competition versions of the snow mobile.
(a)
(b)
(c)
What is a Snowmobile?
A snowmobile, also known in some places as a snow
machine, sled, or skimobile, is a land vehicle for winter
travel on snow.
Designed to be operated on snow and ice, they require no
road or trail.
Design variations enable some machines to operate in deep
snow or forests; most are used on open terrain, including
lakes or driven on paths or trails.
Usually built to accommodate a driver and perhaps one adult
passenger, their use is much like motorcycles and All-terrain
vehicles (ATVs) intended for winter use on snow-covered
ground and frozen ponds and waterways.
Investigation of solutions:
Here are some images of Snow mobile designs that I found,
which heavily affected my design process.
There are various designs for Snowmobiles. They are all based around the
same design principles as given in the design brief.
Here, I will talk about detailed analyses of the basic existing designs:
Tracks succeed where wheels often fail; they spread the vehicle
weight over a greater surface area, allowing it to move on soft,
slippery or unstable terrain where wheeled vehicles are unable
to gain traction. Tracks keep a heavy snowmobile from sinking
in soft snow, just as long, flat skis and wide, flat snowshoes
spread a person's weight over a larger area.
Snowmobile tracks also provide traction on slippery surfaces
like snow and ice, where regular wheels would slip and slide.
The large surface area and the roughness of the treads create
Handlebars:
You steer a snowmobile by turning the handlebars, in much the
same way as you steer a bicycle or motorcycle. The handlebars
connect to a stem mounted near the front of the snowmobile,
which in turn connects to skis mounted on a bracket at the
bottom of the snowmobile. Turning the handlebars turns the
skis in the same direction.
Skis:
Engine:
Heavier touring models tend to use the four-stroke engine,
while the lighter, sportier models use the two-stroke.
A snowmobile engine links to a track drive, which rotates the
tracks. The wheels on a snowmobile are essentially large gears
with teeth spaced evenly with holes in the tracks. Every
rotation of the gears powers the tracks and drives the
snowmobile forward. The faster the engine, the faster the
gears rotate, and the faster the tracks move.
Snowmobiles also have a clutch system that is a type of pulleybased CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission). This system
consists of two pulleys, or clutches, connected by a drive belt.
The primary clutch sits on the engine crankshaft. A pressure
spring holds the primary's two halves apart when the engine
rpm is low. As the engine begins to accelerate, the clutch
weights generate enough centrifugal force to close the clutch,
allowing the belt to move freely and transmit power.
Manufacturing process
Frame:
I chose to use aluminium as the material for my frame, it is a
light but strong material, which will be a great feature, as it will
have to hold the seating compartment and the electronics, but
also I need my snowmobile to be lightweight, as it may have to
travel fast on the snowy terrain. I began with a rectangular
piece of aluminium of [] in size. I marked out my bending
lines. I drilled holes into the side of the frame, this is a positive
aesthetic point but also helps in the design of the snowmobile,
and these holes allow the snow to pass through as it travels on
the snow. The use of light weight material and drilling of the
side panel holes increases the power to weight ratio which will
beneficial to the performance of the machine. I drilled four
holes, two on each side for the axels. As I was using bevelled
gears, I had to cut out a small rectangular piece from my
frame to allow the bevelled gears to spin. I rounded the
corners off with a file for aesthetic appeal and safety. I then
bent the frame at 90 degrees on each side.
(PHOTO)
Axels:
The axels were very simple to design; I got two lengths of
4mm [] steel bar and threaded them with a die tool. I
threaded them with a 4mm die.
(PHOTO)
Body:
The body of my snowmobile was made from black acrylic.
Originally, I had made a polymer body, from a thin sheet of red
polymer. I formed a mould out of clay; I designed it
aerodynamically so when it travelled there would be less drag.
After, I placed a sheet of red polymer on to the vacuum
former. It formed a great piece, with a lovely finish but
unfortunately, it would not fit on to my frame correctly, so due
to time constraints I made a simple acrylic piece. I got a
rectangular piece of black acrylic of size [X] and marked out
bending lines. I also centre punched the markings for where I
would be drilling the hole for the steering columns, for the bulb
and L.E.D fittings. After completing this, I bent the acrylic
Track:
In my design, I decided to use a similar design as a track but
using chains instead. I bought the chain and then assembled
them in the workshop, these work equally as well as the track
system, but not as expensive. The chains move by the rotation
of the gears on the rear axle spun by the motor, for this to
work, I attached bevel gears on to the end of the motor and on
to the axis. This allowed the chains to run smoothly.
(PHOTO)
Steering:
For my steering, I had thought of a couple of designs, but
eventually used the simplest and most effective design, the
Pantograph system. The Pantograph is made up of
Skis:
My skis were also made from black acrylic. I designed, marked
and measured out the style and size of skis I wanted on to two
rectangular pieces of acrylic using a scriber and ruler. I centre
punched the middle of each ski; this is where I would slot the
steering column connected to my Pantograph steering system.
I created a small bend at the top of my ski on the heated
bender for style and functionality.
(PHOTO)
Secondary Frame:
Initially I was not going to have a secondary frame, but I
needed to make one, as I had not taken into count where the
skis would be fitted. This Secondary frame allows the skis to fit
perfectly into my design without hitting off the moving chains
Electronics
My project required:
2 fixed L.E.Ds
A battery snap
2 Bevelled Gears
2 Bulbs
Investigation of Control
Circuits:
Circuit 1 -
Evaluation
Things that I would change
Overall opinion
Drawings
Please see enclosed drawings from design stage.