1. NASA moon buggy project
Team Members: Brent Morello
Nicholas Kapes
Anthony Reeser
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Quamrul Mazumder
Engineering Science
University of Michigan-Flint
May 1, 2007

2. Nicholas Kapes
Dr. Quamrul Mazumder
Brent Morello
Anthony Reeser

3. Introduction
Our team built a competitive moon buggy according to NASA specifications
To efficiently build a moon buggy, three main roles were formed, (design/project management, purchasing and manufacturing)
The team’s basic functions are very separate, however they end up overlapping and as a result it turns out that we all participated in each of these roles in some way. As a result our team worked well because we were able to form structure, but also be flexible.
Structure was also found by separating the moon buggy build, into sections, such chassis, steering, etc.
Flexibility and design efficiency was achieved by allowing manufacturing to place and purchase components onto the moon buggy.

4. Baseline Plan Vs. Actual Project Progress
The baseline plan only allowed for one week for each design task (chassis, steering, etc)
The actual project performance proved that manufacturing needed around two weeks for each design task
It should be noted that had manufacturing not been late that design would only be slightly late on a few of the tasks
Numerically evaluating project timeliness is around 80% because 1/3 (design) + 1/3 (purchasing) + 1/6 (manufacturing) approximately 83%

5. Projected cost estimate
Description
Quantity
Cost
6061-T6 Al Sq. Tubing (1.5" x 1/8" thk) 24ft 1
$184.32
1018 Steel Tubing(0.5" OD x 1/8" thk.) 12ft
$75.68
Cable for Brakes 2
$8.00
Bike Drive Chain 30ft
$30.00
4 Wheels
Handle Bars w/ Hand Brakes
$15.00
Pedals
Chain
$10.00
Seat
Front and Rear Brakes
Suspension
Gearing
Forks
Machining -
$72.00
Sheet Steel(2" x 2" x 1/4")
$134.00
Total
$624.00

6. Actual Cost Actual project cost Description: Quantity : Cost:
6061-T6 Al Sq. Tubing (1.5" x 1/8" thk.) 24ft 1
$184.32
1018 Steel Tubing(0.5" OD x 1/8" thk..) 12ft
$75.68
Boys 20" Turbo Bike 2
$119.56
Home Depot (Misc. hardware) -
$98.42
Welding
$40.00
Bike Chain 4.5 ft 6
$54.00
Bike Chain Cutting Tool
$9.00
University of Michigan Car Flag
$9.99
metal blades
$4.42
welding
rod hot roll
$11.64
bric brac
$10.60
bearings, angle stock, idler bearings
$49.65
flat plate, sq tube, combo pk, hex nuts/bolts
$21.26
Total
$728.54

7. Projected Cost Vs. Actual Cost (cont.)
Our biggest cost saving success in purchasing was achieved by buying bikes from Wal-Mart, because the bikes were relatively cheap compared to buying all of the individual components.
Another success with purchasing was that we caught a break on the purchasing of aluminum square tubing.
Our biggest opportunity for improvement would have been the purchasing of the steel tubing, because it was over priced.
It should be noted, that we did not account for all of the miscellaneous hardware (nuts, bolts, tools, etc), however the budget had enough miscellaneous charges such as machining and sheet metal.
Numerically evaluating project cost we are roughly 16% over budget, thus we achieve an 84% meeting cost targets

8. Actual Moon Buggy Vs. Model Moon Buggy

9. Mechanical Design
Statics:
150 LBF
Ra, Ma
Cantilever beam
150lbf
4ft

10. Mechanical Design (cont.)
Von misses stress and safety calculation:
1.25 in
0.25 in
0.685in
The beam has a safety factor of 1.4

11. Mechanical Design (cont.)
FEA Statics:
300lbf remote load
Restraints
An FEA (finite element analysis) is used in cases where the cross section of an object is non uniform and complex to evaluate Von Misses stress, deformation and the safety factor.

12. Mechanical Design (cont.)
FEA Mesh:
FEA is using solid mesh elements with a inch global mesh, with a inch small feature refinement mesh, a Jacobian mesh matrix check and smoothly meshed surfaces

13. Mechanical Design (cont.)
FEA Von misses stress safety calculation :
The support beam has a safety factor of 2.4, due to the edge restraints

14. Mechanical Design (cont.)
FEA Deformation calculation :
The support beam has a maximum deformation in the y axis of 2.8 microns, which is negligible

15. Moon Buggy Competitiveness
16.6
By manually adjusting the caster to 16.6  we achieve a tighter cornering radius
By using aluminum for the frame, the moon buggy weighs under 100lbf
By making the overall frame dimensions 8ft X 4ft the moon buggy is very stable
The moon buggy performance met our design targets, thus we evaluate competitiveness as 100%

16. Competition requirements
The moon buggy completion requirements that were the most difficult to achieve were the 4ft cube packaging requirement and the no passenger may be below 15” from the ground.
We achieved all of the moon buggy race requirements and thus the evaluation on this section is satisfactory.
The moon buggy meets all competition requirements, thus we evaluate this as 100% success
Foot pedal is the limiting factor for the 15” ground clearance requirement
Split in frame, accompanied with a support block helps achieve 4ft cube packaging requirement

17. Overall project Evaluation
To completely evaluate the overall project success though achieving the goals and tasks a numerical evaluation must take place.
All of the categories are equally important, so they will be considered to be weighted equally and percentages will be assigned to cost targets, timing targets, moon buggy competition requirements and moon buggy competitiveness goals .
The table below shows the evaluation for each of these categories and as you may see overall, our project ends up being a 91.75% success.
Evaluation Categories
Performance
Cost
83%
Timing
84%
Competition requirements
100%
Competitiveness
Average performance
91.75%