Final Update
Evidence of Work
Braking is one of, if not the most important, action used for cars, boats, planes, running, riding bikes, etc. Currently, automotive vehicles use drum and disc brake systems. The drum brake system works with two piston that pushes a brake liner into the steel drum located on the inner circumference of the wheel. The piston is activated through brake fluid pushed through a tubing system into the piston. The disc brake system consists of a brake disc and a brake pad squeezing the disc. Like the drum brakes, when the disc brake is activated a liquid is pushed through into the caliber (this holds the brake pads and pistons) and activates pistons that push the brake pads into the disc. This pressure creates friction between the disc and pads used to slow the vehicle down to a complete stop. The drum brake system was one of the first braking systems in a car and is still
used today. The system is now only used in rear brakes or not at all. The disc brake system is a newer system that is now in every new car whether it is only in the front or all around the car. It works consistently and has been improved greatly over the years. Invented in 1902 by William Lanchester the system did not become popular until the mid-20th century. The reason disk brakes started becoming popular was because vehicles were quickly increasing in weight and travelling at higher speeds. Better braking systems increasingly became essential to manufacturers because past braking systems were not as effective.
Although the development of braking systems has proven to be effective, they can be improved more. For both drum and disc brakes, the pads need to be replaced periodically. The friction between the pads causes wear and tear and in the drum brakes the friction causes an amount of heat that has proven to be ineffective and damaging to the brakes. This can be fixed with the substitution of electromagnetic brakes. Electromagnetic brakes have no friction and instead use the force of magnetism to slow objects down. The magnetic can be turned on and off with an electric current. The factor of periodic replacement and the overheating friction of the brakes do not apply to electromagnetic brakes.
Our objective for this experiment is to test electromagnetic braking to a point that is relative to that of a car. We are using a skateboard as an example. We want to engineer the best possible braking system on the skateboard to hopefully apply it to cars and keep more people safe. We will continue to test and improve our braking system until it is the most effective it can be.
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Reflection
In our final steps of our capstone project, we really began to think deeper about our design and work out more details involving the logistics of how we are going to complete it. One skill that I feel I demostrated very well with my team was collaboration. We took advantage of tools such as our Gantt chart so that we could complete all of our work in a timely manner, and make sure that everyone was participating an equal amount of effort. I did my fair share of work, and I feel that my group all felt satisfied with all of our participation, which means we all did a good job collaborating and working together as a team. Another skill that I feel I demonstrated during our final steps was good conciensious learning. Although we had a lot of work to do in a small period of time, I understood the point of all of it and worked hard to complete the assignments diligently with my team, so that we would be better set up to succeed with our project in the future. If I had not done this, I would have just been doing the work with no understanding of the "why" behind it, and we would be struggling in the future to go back and actually complete the final product.
One area that I feel I could improve in would be communication, specifically with mentors. We did talk briefly with all of our mentors about our finalized idea and our assignments and tasks we have planned for the future, but going forward we definitely need to communicate a lot more frequently with our mentors because our project is only going to get more complicated as time goes on and we begin to actually build, and we are going to need all the help we can get. Another area that I can improve in for the future might be character. Although I am a kind teammate, I am not always motivated every day to complete all of our work, and I can sometimes be distracting to my other team members, so in the future I will work on my motivation, as well as not being disruptive when I am not feeling that great about doing work for that day.