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OneRig

One rig.

Many investigations.

No bog.

Free your students to create their own investigations without getting bogged down in the build

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A sample of Research Questions possible with OneRig
(each research question can lead to many different investigations)

Electric Vehicles

  1. To what extent can back emf be used to reliably and accurately measure speed of an electric vehicle?

  2. How can the regenerative braking force on an electric vehicle be varied and / or measured?

  3. How accurately can motor torque be inferred from input voltage and/or current in an electric vehicle?

  4. What single gear ratio optimises [torque, power, acceleration] over normal driving speeds for an EV?

  5. How does speed affect torque from an EV motor? Power output?

  6. What fraction of energy used to accelerate a car to a constant speed, can be returned to the battery using regenerative braking?

Renewable energy

  1. How can we maximise the energy harvested from a generator linked to speed variable energy source such and wind, tidal, wave, etc

  2. What influences boundary effects with fans / wind turbines (partial obstruction of air in and/or out)

  3. What is the relationship between wind speed and energy harvested from a wind turbine?

  4. How does turbulence from surrounding objects affect energy harvesting from a wind turbine

  5. How can we maximise the energy harnessed from a gravity battery?

  6. What is the optimum load resistance? Is MPPT required?

  7. What affects the cycle efficiency of gravity batteries?

  8. What conditions minimise the energy used to lift a given mass in a gravity battery?

  9. What arrangements of the motors/generators are most energy efficient (one, two, series, parallel, gear ratios?)

Friction and Drag

  1. How does drag (or friction) force vary with speed? 

  2. How well does electromagnetic braking, model wind drag on gym exercise bikes?

  3. How does tyre tread impact the magnitude of friction force as static friction transitions to dynamic.

  4. What parameters of shoe tread most impact static and dynamic friction force when wet?

  5. How does dynamic friction force alter with speed for different surface pairs?

  6. What shapes minimise drag through water?

Other

  1. How does torque and power in a DC motor vary with a constant load?

  2. How does the radius of a fixed magnet influence the braking power or torque on an aluminium disc? 

With Accessory Pack

  1. How does blade pitch affect the energy harnessing of a wind turbine?

  2. How does gear ratio affect the energy harnessing of a wind turbine?

  3. How can we maximise thrust (and energy efficiency) from an (jet or propellor) electric aircraft using blade pitch or gear ratio

  4. How does gear ratio and blade pitch affect the efficiency at different thrust levels

Variables

Most of the following variables can be IVs or DVs

  • Gear ratios: 12 different gear ratios across the 4 axels, 4 different ratios between any 2

  • Motor/generator connected individually, or in Series or parallel with each other

  • One motor / two motors connected to Axle 3 (winch)

  • Speed of any / all of the three axles can be quantified using PHYPHOX app (the ½ black discs).

  • Calibrated, this can be used to measure wind speed

  • The torque generated by the middle motor at any speed (spring force gauge or vernier digital probe)

  • Linear speed (using PHYPHOX LIDAR)

  • Either motor can act as a motor or generator at any time.

  • Current through, voltage across across any motor

  • Second motor can be used to provide known torque (load) on first motor using rheostat as a “dump”

  • Then of course

  • Mass of weight being lifted, falling.

  • Tread patterns

  • Blade pitch

Learning Forge Pty Ltd ABN: 34 666 197 486

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roger@learningforge.com.au

tel: 02 7229 5606

Learning Forge acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we live and work; the Darug people. We pay our respects to their elders, past, present, and emerging, and acknowledge their ongoing connection to the land, waters, and culture. We recognise that sovereignty was never ceded.

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