Ping Pong Serving Machine
My Goals
The goal of this project was to design a ping pong serving machine and build an alpha prototype.
My Work
My work with this project was the mechanical design of this system. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to shift our build of the alpha prototype to a SolidWorks simulation of our machine.
First, we performed kinematics calculations to determine how much power the system would need and how many motors we would need. From there we sketched a design to model. I worked in a group of four undergraduates
I used SolidWorks to model all of the components of our system. I also used the SolidWorks Simulation feature to perform structural analysis of our components. Since most our material was going to be made out of light weight plastic, and since ping pong balls are also light, we found that there wouldn't be any structural issues.
I designed the gear train the ensure that the the drive gear would rotate more slowly than the agitator flag. This ensured that more ping pong balls would be fed into the drive gear, allowing for proper back pressure. I also designed the worm gear that allowed for a motor to control the angle of ball launch.
To simulate our machine, I added a motor to drive the gear train and added kinematic variables to simulate a ball being launched. Additionally, I created engineering drawings of the components.
Result
My team and I were able to create a successful design of a serving machine that used only two motors. This minimized the power needed for the machine to work. The SolidWorks simulation was also a success and we could simulate ping pong balls being launched.
