Tank Pulley Suspension System

One of the earlier conceptions of our tank drone was constructed in a manner such that it faced difficulties when climbing over obstacles that were relatively low.

The problem was later identified as the stiff straight placements of the pulleys did not allow the pulleys in between to maintain contact with the ground, thus losing considerable power when climbing. The tank tracks would also eat into the frame, which would cause further hindrance.

As such, an initiative was carried out to solve the problem of how to enable the pulleys to maintain a constant traction with the ground. Research into the first tanks built in WW1 and their suspension systems were carried out.

After sourcing from the internet, I also collected various other information regarding suspension systems of cars and chassis from a book entitled, 'Chassis and Suspension Engineering', by Donald Bastow, first published in 1980. The book gave me several important insights into the world of suspension engineering, and I dutifully applied this newfound knowledge into designing a workable suspension system for our tank drone prototype.

Two main ideas were drawn up, which was the Independent Suspension System versus the Dependent Suspension System. Upon further consideration the Dependent System was chosen to be worked on, however the interchangeability between the two would be relatively easy.

After the initial pencil sketches, I dimensioned them in Autodesk Inventor to a scale to fit a G2 Pilot Pen spring as a modal suspension test to try out the concept first. For in the event it had failed, not much resources, time and effort would have been lost. After drawing it out in 3D, I then proceeded to 3D print and assemble it together.

This is how it looks when no obstacles are encountered. When climbing, the first pulley will be pushed up, with the second suspension tilted back and maintaining tension within the tracks, as well as maintaing constant traction with the ground.

As to date, Tank Drone prototype Mk2 has not yet implemented the suspension system due to time constraints. This will be further discussed and worked upon in near future.

Sincerely,

Ryan Ng

Invictus Mechanical Engineer