Team Solid-state

[GAHD]

Each wheel *IS* a motor, yes. The idea being you can alternate between FWD, RWD, 4WD, or even 1WD allowing a wide range of traction and power saving (and possibly recuperation) options.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by GAHD

Each wheel *IS* a motor, yes. The idea being you can alternate between FWD, RWD, 4WD, or even 1WD allowing a wide range of traction and power saving (and possibly recuperation) options.

Yes; as well as steering by varying wheel rpms side-to-side as in a bulldozer or tank.

[Roadam]

There may be a little problem with magnets: most moondust is feromagnetic.
Maybe it is not so good idea to put batteries around outer side of the central part becouse they too require minimal temperature when drained and even higher when recharged.

[MITH]

Hey GAHD,

have you taken into consideration the magnetism (and thereby attraction) of the dust particles (caused by ferromagnetism) as indicated in the primary thread?

Theoretically the wheel in a non operating mode could possibly avoid attracting particles if all particles share a similar charge and the "baseline" of the wheel was the same, however once you induced the stepper function you would have numerous particles attempting to reach the opposing force, thus contaminating your wheel. Perhaps the use of a magnetic field as a barrier of some sort would suffice but it would have to be passive or once power cut in a failure or temporary shutdown the particles could still be attracted by any remaining charge. Just wondering....

MITH

[MITH]

Another quick thought. If moon dust shares a similar charge throughout (to be assumed or it'd be a big clump any time it was kicked up), then couldn't a principal of levitation be used ala hoverboard as opposed to any physical connection with the ground? A floating rover could be pretty cool (steering could be an issue).

[GAHD]

magnetic Hoverboarding would require quite a powerful field, I don't see it happening on the moon any more than I do on earth.

I forsee h epossibility of dust getting in, but I doubt it will interfere what with there being a large, open space in between. I'm ASSuming that particles the size of smoke won't interfere with a space many orders of magnitude larger than they are in between #1/2&3.

[MITH]

individual particles may not, however the concern is of build up as well as the interference caused when said build up occurs.

Recent experimentation with the <10 mm fraction of mature hi-Ti mare soil 79221 has shown that a small hand magnet will easily attract practically all the grains, even those that are plagioclase.


Travel over 500m will allow quite a bit of particles to be attracted from the surface. This is why I brought up the factor of incorporating a repulsive field at the openings to ensure no particles would become stuck inside.

[TheBigDog]

Even if the gaps were to fill with dust it is so fine that on a macro level it would provide almost no friction. On a micro level it is abrasive, but mostly because it gets into seals that are intended to be... sealed.

I love this idea, Gahd. Next step technical drawings?

Bill

[GAHD]

well so-far I've got that basic outline and layout detailed up above, "N" indicating a "north/positive" section, "S" indicating a South/negative section. The actual field gradient created by these would be a factor of the two butting ends of magnets (they're all aligned North-north, south-south) As well as the diamagnetic self-aligning should reinforce the field they create.

The diamagnetic casing of the wheel itself should repel ANY ambient magnetic fields(that's what it does) so ASSumption moon dust would repel from it.

Next step would be to calculate the gauss required to keep a stable levitation?

[DougF]

I found this handbook on line in PDF format it has quite a bit of information that we may be able to use, such as procedures, Electrical Power Subsystem and things we have yet talked about.

Lunar Rover Operations Handbook
Doc. LS006-002-2H
Prepared by the Boeing Company
LRV Systems Engineering
Huntsville, Alabama
April 19, 1971
Scanning and PDF formatting by Ron Wells.
Last revised 2 November 2005.

Lunar Rover Operations Handbook

also this may give you a good look at a smaller rover design.

Lunar Rover Initiative | Field Robotics Center
Robotics Institute: Lunar Rover Navigation