Four Speed Automatic Transmission Team #33 - Killer Bees 2004

Designed and Presented by: Jim Zondag

Four Speed Transmission Design: Abstract:

Background:
The Killer Bees have been building two-speed robots since 2000. Through the years our designs have evolved and have gradually become smaller and simpler. Two speed gearboxes are great but suffer from one main issue: The typical ratio difference between high and low gears is 3:1 or greater, causing a deep power well between gears when moving at intermediate speeds. Many tasks in FIRST games involve medium speed motion, such as collecting balls from the floor with good control. With a two-speed, your robot is always in the wrong gear for this type of action.

Our original goal was to create a 3-speed transmission to eliminate this problem. A series of design studies revealed that it was easier to make a 4-speed than a 3-speed and thus our 4-speed transmission was born.

Design Basics:
The basic design was built around the following design criteria. 1. Small and light: Compact design using plastics, aluminum, and small gears minimizes size and weight of assemblies. 2. Modularity: This is a shifter-only module, it does not include the motor mountings. This type of design allows easy re-powering of the machine each year with new motors without having to change the shifter module design. The unit is designed to be installed and removed as a complete assembly with minimal fasteners and effort. 3. Easy to build: This is the most important design improvement. Unlike many earlier designs that could only be made by professionals and CNC equipment, this transmission is very easy to make and can be easily be built by students. This is always one of Team Killer Bees key objectives in any design.

The design is essentially two 2-speeds in series, providing a total of four possible gearing combinations. By properly choosing the ratios of each stage, the power curves were evenly distributed across the desired RPM band, giving performance nearly equal to that of a CVT with far less hardware and complexity. This unit uses only 3 sizes of gears in the design, 12 tooth, 16 tooth, and 20 tooth. All gears are 16DP, 20 Degree Pressure Angle. The coarse tooth pitch allows for easy shifting with no risk of jamming between gears. Rather than purchase individual spur gears, we cut all gears used from Pinion Stock. This lowered the overall cost and gave more design flexibility than standard gear sizes allowed. This design provides seamless power output with a 5:1 total shift span. Power output of over 90% of peak output can be maintained over the entire useable RPM range. It shifts easily and smoothly at any speed or any load with no issues.

This unit uses only 3 sizes of gears in the design, 12 tooth, 16 tooth, and 20 tooth. All gears are 16DP, 20 Degree Pressure Angle. The coarse tooth pitch allows for easy shifting with no risk of jamming between gears. Rather than purchase individual spur gears, we cut all gears used from Pinion Stock. This lowered the overall cost and gave more design flexibility than standard gear sizes allowed.

The gearbox side plates are made of MDS reinforced Nylon. This is a high-tension material which is light, quiet, self-lubricating and is a much better choice than metal in this application. Using the 3 chosen gear sizes we can get the following output ratios: Gear # Teeth A = 12 B = 16 C = 12 D = 12 E = 16 F = 20 G = 12 H = 12 I= 20 Ratios Input Pinion Cluster1 Lg Cluster1 Sm Interm Sm Interm Lg Cluster2 Lg Cluster2 Sm Out Sm Out Lg Gear4 Gear3 Gear2 Gear1 1.00 1.78 2.78 4.94 :1 :1 :1 :1 Equation H/A (BEH)/(ACD) (FI)/(AG) (BEFI)/(ACDG)

The design has a total of 5 shafts, 3 of these shafts spin, the other two are non-rotating with idling cluster gears which spin on them. The two non-rotating shafts are moved laterally by pneumatic pistons to perform the shift actions. The gears unmesh and remesh during the shifts. The coarse gear pitch coupled with a little extra backlash dimension between gears (0.010) make the remeshing action smooth and trouble free. These transmissions have never missed a shift during any of the testing or competition performed in actual robots.

Tools:
To make this unit, you need the only the following equipment, plus general hand tools. 1. A small metal lathe. 2. A Drill Press with an X-Y table or a milling machine. 3. A Bandsaw. 4. A wire welder. 5. A 0.50 in hand reamer

Raw Material List (Makes 2 units):

Qty

Description 1 12" x 12" x 0.250 MDS Nylon Sheet 1 0.375 x 24" Steel Shaft 1 3/8 x 1" Alum bar 1 12T 16DP Pinion Rod 1 16T 16DP Pinion Rod 1 20T 16DP Pinion Rod 4 " X 1" stroke double acting piston 4 12 tooth #25 sprockets 2 Quadrature Speed Sensor 8 " tube connector 12 3/8 ID Bronze Bearing 8 5/16 ID Bronze Bearing 4 3/8 Wave Washer 4 5/16-24 x 5" hex Bolt 4 " OD x 1" Alum Spacer 2 " OD x 1.125" Alum Spacer 4 " OD x 1.5" Alum Spacer 4 5/16-24 Nylock nuts 8 -28 nylock nuts 16 5/16 alum washers 10 #10-32 nylock nuts 10 #10-32 x 3.5" screws 16 OD #10 nylon spacers 1" 8 OD #10 nylon spacers 3/4" 4 #10-32 x 1/2" screws 4 #10-32 x 3/4" coupling nuts 1 12 x 12 x .094 MDS Nylon

Source McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr Stock Drive Products Digikey Kit McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr McMaster-Carr

PN 8539K15 1346K12 6023K181 6847K24 6847K25 6847K26 6498K632 A6X7-2512 Grayhill 61K64 -----6338K312 6338K452 90134A031 91257A445 92510A769 92511A061 92510A771 91831A125 90101A235 93286A031 90101A225 91783A844 94639A506 94639A503 90272A829 90977A021 8539K15

Cost $15.86 ea. $11.72 ea. $ 7.70 ea. $19.80 ea. $23.57 ea. $28.80 ea. $18.60 ea. $ 3.64 ea. $46.12 ea. -----$ 0.43 ea. $ 0.52 ea. $12.11 /100 $ 4.79 /5 $ 1.56 ea. $ 2.36 ea. $ 2.31 ea. $10.39 /100 $ 5.44 /50 $ 7.27 /100 $ 3.73 /50 $ 7.43 /25 $ 8.46 /100 $ 6.64 /100 $ 2.71 /100 $ 3.65 ea. $ 6.44 ea.

Assembly Tips:
1. The left and right assemblies are mirror images of one another. 2. You do not need to bevel or dress the edges of any of the gears, they may be left flat. The extra backlash between the shifting shafts is sufficient to allow re-meshing with no chatter.. 3. The two shifter shafts need to slide freely in the side plates. Lightly ream the holes until the spacers slide freely, but not sloppily, in the holes. 4. Polish the 5/16 shifter shaft bolts with some fine emery paper before assembly. 5. Dont over-tighten the 5/16 nuts on the shifter shafts. Cluster gears must spin freely. 6. Hardening: We make these units with standard cold rolled pinion stock. We left some standard and we had some of the gear/shaft assemblies hardened after welding. The hardened parts show considerably less observable wear after extensive use (although the untreated ones still appear to have much life left). 7. Run in: After assembly, we coat all the gears in the assembly with some fine valve-grinding compound. We then clamp each gearbox in a vice and attach a drill press to the input shaft. With the drill set at 1500 RPM, we let the units run in for 15 minutes or so in each gear. After this, wash down the assemblies to remove the grit and lubricate with clear silicone grease. This process ensures a smooth running assembly when it goes in your robot.

Sourcing:
All parts above can be obtained from the following sources: www.mcmaster.com www.digikey.com www.sdp-si.com

All parts on this design are drawn in Autodesk Inventor. A complete set of part, assembly, and detailed dimensioned drawings are attached in this zip file. Final assembly is in file team_33_4_speed.iam. All detail drawing are .idw type files. An exploded view drawing showing the assembly sequence is also included. All files are posted on our team website at: http://www.ndprep.org/robotics/archive.htm.

Automation:
While a manually operated design is perfectly adequate, the true elegance of this design becomes apparent if it is automated. Four manual gears offer a great opportunity for driver confusion. Though it sounds intimidating, writing a basic shift scheduler is pretty straightforward. The Grayhill Encoder chosen gives great resolution and is very reliable. The closely spaced gear ratios coupled with a software shift scheduler provide seamless power at all speeds with no need for conscious choice by the driver. Automated, optimized ratio selection at all times allows you to reduce the total power output of the drive-train (less motors) while maintaining excellent performance on low end torque, high end speed, and rapid acceleration. Liberating some of the good motors from the drive train is one of the keys to making a multifunction FIRST robot. Having a versatile gearbox is makes this possible.

Special Thanks to those who helped with this project: Jordan Doll Student Fabricator Paul Huston Student Fabricator Kevin Hayen Student Programmer Eric Yahrmatter Student Fabricator Chet Fleming DaimlerChrysler UAW Mechanic Ed Sparks FIRST CAD Library Team #34

Good Luck to all teams in 2005!