Student Design Portfolio: SPEED

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Instructions

The steps in this Design Portfolio will help you complete your MAGLEV vehicle design. Writing down what you did or found in each step will help you learn from your work. It will also help the contest judges understand your design approach.

The design process begins with a Problem Statement. Here you should state exactly what your design is trying to accomplish. Next, under Investigation, list the questions you will have to answer to come up with a successful design. The remaining steps take you through the rest of the design process. As you complete your design, fill in your responses to each step. You may add tables, charts, drawings or anything else you think will help you and your readers understand what you did.

On the day of the contest, you must hand your completed Design Portfolio to the judge.

Your Portfolio will become the property of BNL.

**Please include your name on every page you attach to this Portfolio and make sure your name is on your vehicle**

1) Student Name: ___________________________________________

2) School Name: ____________________________________________

3) School Address: __________________________________________

                                 __________________________________________

4) Grade: ___________

5) Teacher Name: __________________________________________

6) Teacher e-mail address: ___________________________________

7) Contest Category:

            Wind Powered           Self-propelled           Electrified Track           Gravity

8) Why did you choose this MAGLEV category?

 

 

9) Problem Statement: The MAGLEV Challenge

Design and construct a MagLev vehicle using the propulsion category of your choice. Your vehicle must travel the entire length of the track in the shortest time possible. For the Gravity category, your vehicle must have the most cost-effective combination of speed, passenger capacity, and cost as signified by the highest Figure of Merit (FOM).

10) Investigation:

     a) What information do you need before you start?

 

 

     b) List questions which must be answered to create a successful vehicle.

 

 

     c) Can some answers be found by simple tests? Give examples.

 

 

11) Brainstorming for Solutions:

Write about the different designs you thought of using. For example, what materials it could be made from, the number of magnets, length, height, how to attach parts, etc. (Sketch you ideas on a separate piece of paper, and attach it to this Design Portfolio).

 

 

12) Optimum Design:

Describe what you decided would be the best vehicle design, and describe the reasons for deciding on this design instead of the others you had thought of.

 

 

13) Testing and Analysis:

      a) What tests did you perform to learn how well your first design worked?

 

 

     b) Describe any problems that you found with your vehicle and what changes you made to solve them.
     (Design sketches, performance charts and graphs are very helpful. Attach any to this Design Portfolio).

 

 

14) Final Design:

What did you do to improve your first design? How well did this work?

 

 

15) Evaluation:

     a) Describe/sketch you final design. (If necessary attach sketch to Design Portfolio).

 

 

     b) Give your best guess on how your vehicle will perform.