Posts by cliveski 29 publicly visible posts • joined 16 Jun 2010
Great article. Took me right back to 1985 when, as a 17 year old, I did two weeks work experience at Express Lifts in Northampton. In between wiring up lift controllers on the shop floor we were proudly taken up the, then new, tower. The most fascinating part was a pendulum mounted at the top that appeared to be swinging from side to side. In fact it was stationary and the tower itself was moving in the wind!
"Got any evidence to back up that claim about STEM subjects?"
http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/education
http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/education/education-news
http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/education/topics-use-lessons
http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/education/suggested-projects-students
http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/education/opportunities-engage
http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/education/primary-bloodhound-ssc
http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/education/bloodhoundfe
http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/education/bloodhounduniversity
http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/education/education-ambassador-programme
"Nearly 4,000 schools have registered in the first 18 months of the project"
"Am I the only demiGeek out there who thinks this is a pointless waste of effort?"
Yes :-)
Seriously though, their education program and the number of children they are inspiring to study STEM subjects is not insignificant and makes the whole endeavour significantly more worthwhile than it might otherwise be.
"If you didn't have 'The Phantom Menace' in there I might think you'd misunderstood the question."
No, I just have weird ideas of what makes a good film I guess! Those are all movies I had to stop watching after 20 mins (with the exception of Secret of My Success for nostalgic reasons!). I have enjoyed far worse films - "Brother Where Art Thou" and "Withnail and I" are two of my faves for instance :-)
Also, have you considered the relative thermal contraction rates of aluminium and titanium? Depending on how you attach the two this could have some effect on the integrity of the joint.
Also, making the Teflon inserts of a considerably larger diameter than the titanium rod will reduce the resistance between the two (smaller surface area in contact).
Separate motors directly attached to individual wheels is absolutely the way to go for max power, control and efficiency. It makes the control electronics a minor nightmare but the simplicity (or lack) of the drive train is a huge bonus and the torque levels you can achieve at the wheels is mind-boggling. Can't understand why more manufacturers don't do it (probably because they're converting petrol/diesel shells to electric/hybrid rather than designing from scratch). The only question is why they've stopped at 3 motors and have to share power to rear wheels from single unit - can't be a question of cost surely?!.
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