Specifications

CT Corsair Final Report May 2, 2014
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simulator to function correctly. Once the gearbox and motor were constrained a new motor
mount was designed utilizing the attachment points of the old motor mounts. Then an FEA
simulation in ANSYS was performed that applied the maximum torque and maximum force onto
the motor mount. The lowest safety factor on the motor mount was 2.4 signaling that the design
is sufficient.
The final deliverable for the mechanical engineering team was to convert the entire base of the
simulator into a SolidWorks assembly. The entire base was measured and converted into a
SolidWorks model which can be seen in Figure 10. Overall the model aided in the design of the
previous deliverables.
The electrical engineering team had three distinct deliverables to meet the goals of the Corsair
Design Project. To summarize, the three deliverables were: the repair and installation of the
induction and servo motors, providing user controllability to the simulator, and a study and
preparation of the Prepar3D flight simulation software. The process by which these deliverables
were created is recounted in the following paragraphs.
Before specific motors were considered, a series of feasible motor design setups were evaluated.
The benefits and negatives of servo motors and induction motors were considered. Parameters
including: price, footprint size, drive compatibility, operating temperature, power consumption
and motor efficiency were taken into account. While servo motors were deemed the most
appropriate means to operate the simulator, the budget restraints prevented a full scale
integration of servo motors. To compromise, a hybrid solution using both a Moog servo motor
and the simulator’s original induction motors was created.
Using the mechanical team’s derived force requirement, the team calculated the necessary motor
specifications, sized and finally purchased a new Moog servo motor with a DS2110 drive and
accompanying gearbox. Before the servo order finished processing, the electrical team went to
work repairing and installing the induction motors. Available to the team were induction motors
from last year’s prototype model. These particular motors were slightly different models of the
induction motors to be installed, and lacked braking abilities. However, their other components
were in perfect working condition. The team stripped their intact housing shells and stator pieces
and installed them in the braking induction motors. The gear boxes, were then connected to their
respective motors. Using the mounts available on the simulator base, the motors were then
mounted and adjusted as needed. Limit switches were then purchased and installed to invoke
immediate system shut down should the simulator lose control or move outside of its acceptable
range of motion.
The second deliverable was providing user controllability of the simulator. The goal was to have
an individual control the 3 axis motion using a joystick input. This joystick control system was
first prototyped using hobby servo motors from RadioShack and an Arduino microcontroller.
The Arduino sketch successfully moved these motors between limiting angles set manually by
the programmer. After wiring the induction motor drives and building protective power relay
circuits, the code carried over with few modifications and resulted in the induction motors
running as expected and responding to the joystick input. This is an open loop control, but the