August 19, 2019
A big part of the design of our previous Hyperloop pod was, of course, the chassis. It is the backbone of the pod and it is what everything attaches to from the driving wheel to the battery packs powering the pod. The most challenging part was figuring out what needed to be attached to the chassis as knowing what needs to be supported is very useful, it's like trying to make a skeleton before knowing what organs and muscles are even going to be there. We used Autodesk Fusion 360 to design the chassis which is a piece of CAD software widely used in industry. Fusion 360 allows us to model a design for the chassis in 3D space making it very easy to visualise and make any design changes.
An added feature of Fusion 360 is its ability to simulate a system of forces on any given design, allowing to not only make a good-looking design but a practical one. We were able to use this feature to simulate the kind of forces the chassis would experience when the pod is running, and this helped identify and strengthen any weak points. After many iterations and failed ideas, we arrived at the final design which we believe is both efficient and practical.
By Prenavin Mudaly