Past Competitions- Pod 2

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Pod 2

In April 2017, Badgerloop was notified that we were one of 24 teams to compete at SpaceX’s second competition.Competition II deviated from Competition I in a few ways: it was judged only on speed, and it allowed teams to use a “pusher” provided by SpaceX to give their pods a boost at the start of the track. Competition II took place in August of 2017, and we established ourselves as one of the top seven teams in the world. Additionally, we took home another SpaceX Innovation Award for the unique design of our pod’s propulsion system.

Stats:

Length:

Max Speed:

Weight:

Energy Use Per Run:

feet

mph

lbs

WH

Length:

Max Speed:

feet

mph

Weight:

Energy Use Per Run:

lbs

WH

Major Subsystem Highlights

Shell

The shell is 121” long and has a height of 38”
Designed with a forward opening door for easy entrance and egress
Removable for easy access to other systems
The shell was laid up using 2x2 Twill 3K Prepreg and 0.5” thick Nomex Honeycomb core.

Propulsion

System components:
- Cold gas thruster system
- Nitrogen storage tanks
- Plumbing
- Converging-Diverging Nozzle
- Modular frame mount
- Shield for SpaceX pusher concept
- Safety
- Blast shield
- Vent/relief valve system

Braking

Clamping System- A set of pivoting arms provide increasing mechanical advantage as brake pads get worn and rotation increases
Linear Clamping Array- Set of four composite bearing thrusters all attach to the brake pad
- Each thruster can apply a force of 2760 N
- Thrusters come as self-contained assemblies and will be attached to mounting plate and brake pad
- Made of 303 and 304 stainless steel
Pads- Polyphthalamide (PPA) used as the material for the brake pads. High thermal conductivity, softer than Aluminum 6061-T6 so it will not scratch the rail, and cost effective.

Stability

1Suspended, horizontally-oriented wheels center pod and cushion lateral forces during run
Vertically-oriented wheels ride underneath the surface of the I-beam and ensure pods vertical position relative to the I-beam is constant
Rolling wheels bear the weight of the pod and maintain pitch stability during the run
High-speed bearings specced for 140 m/s maximum speed
Total mass of system: 25.2 kg

Telemetry and Software

The pod will determine its position in the tube by counting the retroreflective strips on the inside of the tube with three retroreflective sensors
The pod opens a TCP client socket connection with the Badgerloop Backend NUC running a custom node.js listening service that updates the Angular frontend model data in real time-- allowing manual control over the pod, and debugging while testing