page_0005.pdf

The allowable force on the frame before failure is about 480N, this results in the factor of safety given by SolidWorks Simulation to be 1.2. Possible Design Improvements The first design improvement that needs to be taken into consideration is to align all the longitudinal beams from the trunk, passenger and engine sections. Since each part of the frame was designed separately, the longitudinal beams throughout the length of the frame are not aligned to form a straight line. This would cause some of the stress to be absorbed in the lateral beams near the joints, causing the components to fail prematurely. By decreasing the size of the adjoining lateral beams, the necessary alignment would be achieved. Since our design consists of a simple stack up of the trunk, passenger and engine sections, several joints in the top section of the fans may not be as stable as the other connections in the bottom. For instance, the four joints fastening the three components, which are expected to experience load, do not have the necessary support beam to prevent deflection. In order to avoid this, such joints require a perpendicular support beam to help withstand the stress. Another important design improvement involves reducing the amount of angled beams. Since its construction would require high precision cuts, there would be an increase of defective parts due to errors and also an increase in wasted material if the cut does not meet the tolerance. Also, reducing the number of angled beams would decrease the complexity and time required to construct the overall design. In addition to reducing the number of angled beams, it is possible to replace shorter longitudinal beams that experiences low amounts of stress with ones of half the width. This may be achieved by cutting the beams in half and placing them on supporting points aligned with the direction of the load. Not only would this modification improve the strength of the frame, but also reducing the overall weight resulting in a higher strength to weight ratio.