Testing

The testing to be covered on this page is meant to evaluate the speed, handling, stability, and effectiveness of the RC Baja vehicle. These trials will include the straight-line acceleration and top speed tests, balance test, endurance test, and incline climb test. The data from these evaluations will be used to determine how well the vehicle responds to driver inputs. These tests also give numerical performance values back to the principal engineers, which allows for more effective and deliberate design revisions.

Figure T01-Speed trial 1 setup

These two images display the left and right perspective from the straight line speed test. Although not shown in the images, A smartphone based speedometer is attached to the vehicle for the sake of Speed measurement. At the end of every run, the maximum speed is recorded and the data cache is cleared so that the next top speed can be evaluated. Figure three shows the results screen from the first Test, and the top speed of approximately 16 mph. The primary issue with this testing method was extremely skewed results at low speeds. Under 5 mph, the value received would be ± 2 mph, even when the device was stationary.

Table T01- Speed trial results (faliure)

Table T02-Speed trial results (pass)

Figure T02-Speed trial 2 setup

Figure T03-Speed test trial 1

Figure T04-Differential faliure after speed test

The brake test took place in the same venue as the straight line speed test, due to low foot traffic add to maintained concrete pathway. The vehicle would drive pastor marker, at which case all throttle was cut and the vehicle was allowed to come to rest period the distance between the marker and where the vehicle stopped was measured to produce the data for this test.

Figure T05-Brake test setup (trial 1 results)

Figure T06-Deflection test setup

The deflection test was done using a fairly rudimentary method. During analysis, the baseplate for the chassis was modeled as supported end to end to simulate the suspension assembly supporting the front and rear ends of the frame. To test the rigidity of the plate, a jig was made out of 0.5 by 0.5 inch square supports that would support the baseplate on each end. The center of the base plate was then loaded with weights, And distance between the center of the base plate and the support surface was measured. The overall deflection of the base plate was evaluating using the difference between the control value and the distance between the loaded plate and the support surface.

Figure T07- Deflection test resources

Figure T08-Second deflection trial