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Materials for Mobile system |
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Written by Lu Xu
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Tuesday, 01 February 2005 |
How rover are going to be designed to traverse with a fair
amount of ease over the rock. To account for the extreme difference in
weight and centre of gravity from plant, the mobility system on the rover
is in the back of the vehicle. What kind of material are we going to use
on the wheels of the rover. Here I will just discuss the material using
for the plant that it got the approximate gravitation as earth.
The wheel must be the most firm part of the rover, because it load the
whole weight of the rover. It also consider to be used some light material.
The wheels on Spirit and Opportunity are 26 centimetres in diameter (a
little over ten inches) and made of aerospace aluminium. |
| There is no ozone layer about the most of the plant that led the temperature
difference to be very large between day and night. Therefore we need some
materials got high stiffness and tensile strength. We can use a hybrid construction
with Kevlar fibers alongside carbon fibers. The carbon fibers provide superior
stiffness, while the Kevlar adds tremendous toughness. This unique material
is incredibly strong and fantastically light. Topolino's composite spoke
material is stronger than a 14g stainless steel spoke and is only one-fifth
the weight. And light weight is only part of the story: the thermoplastic
resin and Kevlar/carbon fibers work together to significantly dampen planetary
seraphic vibration, we also use a special thermoplastic carbon fiber composite
material for the hub shell. It has strength matching that of aerospace aluminum,
but is 45% lighter. |
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| Out layer of the wheels is an elastic track/loop which is
formed from a continuous elastic strip of high-strength material (metallic
or fibre-reinforced composite) with a transverse curvature. The geometry
and mechanical properties of such a loop offers the following functional
advantages that greatly enhance the operational capabilities of rover on
a wide variety of terrain. |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 09 July 2005 )
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