UEET 101
The Reverse Engineering of a Remote Controlled Car
Group 5
Josh Fox, Group Leader, Webmaster (EE)
Scott Eckhardt (ME)
Ryan Erdell (EE)
Tom Ewert (IE)
Wade Flemons (EE)
Mark Flynn (ME)
Peter Gaines (ME)
Objective: The
objective of this team-based design project is to select a household project
and perform a dissection as to identify electrical, mechanical, and industrial
engineering aspects of our product, which is an radio
controlled car. The outcome of this
project is to be able to show other people how engineering is used in a normal,
everyday household project.
Chapter 1: Introduction: Remote Controlled cars came
from humble beginnings in the mid 60’s at which time they were all mostly gas
powered cars. Cars were normally 1/8th
scale gas models. The first all electric
R.C. Car came in 1976 when Tamiya shot its opening salvo with the introduction
of the 1/12th scale Porsche 934 turbo followed by the first all terrain car in
1979. Although there is somewhat of a
long history for radio controlled cars, Jada Toys was
not created until 1999 when Jack and May Li opened their headquarters in
Chapter 2: The
Mechanical Engineering Aspect:
Starting in the front of the car are the wheels, which are connected to spindles. Attached to the spindles are two very small shocks. The shocks have 2mm of travel. The shocks would have to be designed to be effective, yet light enough to go on such a small r.c. car (remote-controlled car). Different angles of the shocks may be considered to give the car the smoothest ride. Also connected to the spindle is a lever used to steer the car. Although there are many ways to steer a car, a mechanical engineer would have to design and develop the most optimum way to steer this car. The lever connects in the middle to a small electronic motor. In the back of the car is another set of wheels, which are connected to the axles. Connecting the axles to the electronic engine is a set of small gears acting as a transmission. The gears would have to be designed to be able to give the car enough torque without taking away too much of the speed. If there were too small of a gear it would take a lot of labor from the electronic engine to spin the wheels. On the other side, if there were to large of gears it would be easy for the engine to turn the wheels, but there would not be very much top speed.
Chapter 3: The
Electrical Engineering Aspect
There are several electrical engineering aspects considered and developed in the design of a r.c. car. The car takes the 1.2 V from the 6 AA batteries and transforms it into motion. Starting at the battery storage area running to the outside of the car is two wires. The wires are connected to an on/off switch. Going to the rear of the chassis from the battery pack is two wires running to the electric engine. An electrical engineer would have to calculate how much power the car would need to be released from the engine. After doing that he or she would have to either design an engine for the job. This engine is what gives the car its positive or negative velocity. At the front of the car is another small motor. This motor controls which way the steering shaft turns thus changing the direction the car steers. An electrical engineer would have to be sure that the designed engine would have enough power to turn the wheels. In middle of the car above the battery pack is the circuit board. The circuit board acts as the brain of the car. Inside here you can find many different parts including capacitors, diodes, resistors, and the antenna. The antenna plays a vital role in the brains of the car. It takes the user input from the remote and turns it into action within the car. This area of the car would be where an electrical engineer would spend most of his time. He or she would have to design the circuit board, consider needed electronic pieces, and design the receiver. Along with the receiver there needs to be a transmitter in the remote. An engineer would have to take several considerations with this piece. First would be the battery. This remote uses a 9V battery to power the component. Also the controls would need to be designed. From the remote you control the direction the car goes whether it be forward to back, or left to right. Also connected to the circuit board are more of the capacitors, diodes, resistors, and the transmitter. An electrical engineer would have to design the transmitter/receiver while bearing in mind that there are regulations set by the Federal Aviation Administration on radio frequencies being transmitted. This car runs on 27 MHz, which seems to give an ample range of 235 feet.
Chapter 4: The
Industrial Engineering Aspect
The most overlooked aspect of this project seems to be the packaging. An industrial engineer would have to plan a packaging that would both fit the car well, while cutting down any waste and ensure that the packages would all fit into large boxes well for shipping and distribution. Along with the packaging for the car another issue that an industrial engineer would have to consider is how the car would be secured in the packing to keep it from breaking.
Chapter 5: Conclusion
The design of the radio controlled car is not perfect. Most R.C. Cars lack the durability and battery life the most people would enjoy. Manufacturers use as much plastic as possible in an effort to reduce the cost of materials and to make production simpler. The cars are normally fitted with universal electric motors and components to reduce cost between the different models of cars. The remote controller is generally the same for all cars to reduce cost.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jada_Toys http://www.jadatoys.com/info.php?sub=about http://www.rcracer.dabsol.co.uk/RC_Car_History.htm http://www.kyosho.co.jp/web/about/rccar_history01-e.html