Reliable power is of critical importance to the operation of the Superway. The failure of a pod battery could leave passengers stranded, block critical transport lines, and prevent service to stations. Last year the scale model team made an attempt to implement wayside power using conductive springs or "skis" on the bogie, which would ride along on conductive train set rails. In last years documentation it was stated that this was "achieved" and there is a nice CAD mockup of the skis on the bogie. However there is no documentation of an actual physical realization of the system. After viewing videos of last years scale model in operation and speaking with some of the summer students, I've come to understand that the train rails were never successfully implemented. I need to get further clarification from someone who worked on the project in previous semesters but as I understand it there were issues both with bending the track around curves and getting the skis to maintain contact with the conductive track rails. While keeping in mind concerns about aesthetics, reliability, and increasing the visual similarities between the scale and full scale models, I have come up with a possible design solution for implementing wayside power this semester.
One key visual difference between the current scale and full scale models is that the full scale model has a covered roof structure above the bogie. Adding this roof structure to the scale model could provide a solution to the difficulties previously encountered with the train rails. From what I understand, the train rails didn't work on the drive rail or guide rail because they were mounted on a vertical surface. Train allow for left turns and right turns at appreciably small radii, but because trains can't make sharp changes in incline the tracks aren't built to be bent up or down at a very aggressive rate. When we mount the train rails on a vertical surface this means that we can make sharp changes in elevation but we can't make left or right turns sharp enough to match the design of the track. Implementing a roof structure on the scale model will allow us a horizontal mounting surface which will reverse this behavior. A second benefit of a roof structure is that the scale model will have a platform for mounting solar panels that mimic the design of the full scale model, increasing the visual similarity between the two and helping people to make the connection between the models and really get the big picture. Below is a sketch of the basic idea.
I've also thought at length about isolating the Guide Rail and Drive Rail as two separate conductive lines by creating some kind of insulating barrier in the conductive chain currently made by the brackets that suspend the guide rail. The challenge to this type of a design solution would be to find a way to create the required electrical insulation while meeting the structural requirements for minimizing deflection of the suspended guide rail. Polymers and ceramics are obvious choices for electrical insulation but neither of these seem to have the structural qualities that would be required for full scale. If the pillars of the full scale model were made from concrete, they might be extended to serve as an electrically insulated structural support for the guide rail, but this might be a more difficult solution and you would still have to worry about the possibility of shorting the rails through the rebar reinforcement in the concrete bridge. For these reasons, I think our best bet is to mount the train rails on the bottom surface of a roof structure.
