| Notebook section: | Hardware technical documents |
| Purpose: | Describe how the mechanical systems in your project work. Note - this is different than the mechanical enclosure document. |
Mechanical systems documentation is needed for significant mechanical portions of the design. Draft versions of the document are due at Design Review 1.2, with complete versions at Design Review 1.3 and later. Quality expectations may be adjusted based on the disciplines of engineering students in the team. For example, teams with ME students will be expected to provide higher quality mechanical analysis than teams with only EE students. Please contact the instructors for help in determining individual expectations.
SolidWorks is recommended for modeling mechanical systems.
Prepare solid models of the mechanical components. Dynamic systems should be represented as dynamic models to check for clearances, range of motion, etc. If a known part is to be purchased, then the mechanical interface should be included in the model.
A presentation (excel table/graph, free-body diagrams, or other) of anticipated forces and moments applied any loaded structural members.
A basic structural analysis included for components that are expected to carry substantial physical load. I.e. enough to ensure that compression members wont buckle under the anticipated load and the frames will maintain shape during operation. For non-structural components only an explanation on what size and material is selected is needed.
A basic thermal analysis for any components operating at substantially elevated (or lowered) temperatures being conscious of melting temperatures and conductivity of materials used.
Kevin Bolding October 27, 2011