Week 9
I still have been looking at parts. There is no set bogie design yet so wheels are the most i can do. The motor may be sufficient for the current design still. We have decided that we will continue make our own designs within the three of us. I will continue to work around with a two large wheels on top and a pivot wheel on the bottom to stabilize the bogie. The main issue regarding this design is during sharp turns. The top big wheels may not fully be engaged on the track. Perhaps the closer they are, the surface contact there will be on the turns. The promised turn was at 5 meters.
Week 10
The angle iron is the definite type for the third rail. This gives us a cheaper option for the track team given that its an "L" shape then turning it to a "V" shape on the top. Its less material than creating a whole new box style third rail.
The pivot design bogie was introduced by Dan. Its convincing enough that the team has decided it to be the main design.
Issues that i found on this design is the higher maintenance requirement for the cylinder. The top and bottom axles are attached through the cylinder and a brace that connects both. With more moving or flexible parts may require more failure analysis. Although, for the sake of turning at a 5 meter radius. This will help the most.
Week 11
Been a slow week. Got stuck on thinking of newer designs or modifications for the bogie. Began to start at level 1 again. Looking at other suspended rail ways, such as the SkyBus Metro in India. This transit is still in the process of prototyping but seems to be functional. There is switching involved in this design but not the switching we want. At an end of the track, the car or pod is transferred to the track parallel to the original track. Basically, it switches at a stationary position, perpendicularly.
I realized that a lot of suspended railway bogies rely on the force of gravity to maintain contact with the track. This wont work on our design since our pod is pretty light compared to those other ones.
