search

UNH-OE / wave-tow-tank

Configuration files and issue tracking for the UNH wave & tow tank.
MIT License
2 stars 3 forks source link

Stiffen tow axis with meshing belt or rack/pinion #54

Open petebachant opened 9 years ago

petebachant commented 9 years ago

One regret I have is going with such a long belt drive for the tow system, which makes it hard to tune for oscillatory loads (though quite a bit better than the old wire rope). We could design something like below (from Bell-Everman, inc.), which would require mounting the motor and drive on the carriage. The belt on there right now is an ATL20, which is not symmetrical about its neutral axis, meaning a different belt would need to be used to mesh with it, or we'd have to switch to a symmetrical belt, which would mean new pulleys. This could be an expensive upgrade, but may be worth it if there is a consistent need for high oscillatory loading around the belt's resonant frequency.

image

petebachant commented 9 years ago

Also note that the meshing belt would be more tolerant to deviations in carriage height along the travel than a rack/pinion, since the idler pulleys could be mounted on vertical linear bearings with springs and gravity to hold them down.

petebachant commented 9 years ago

The lower belt half could also be made from, e.g., machined plastic, which could be screwed down to the existing aluminum C-channels, rather than using a bonded belt section.