- Title
- Modular Omni-directional AGV Developmental Platform with Integrated Suspension, Power-plant and Control Systems
- Creator
- Macfarlane, Alexander B. S
- Subject
- Automated guided vehicle systems
- Subject
- Electric automobiles--Batteries--Design and construction
- Date Issued
- 2022-12
- Date
- 2022-12
- Type
- Master's theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/59500
- Identifier
- vital:62123
- Description
- The thesis focuses on the development of an industrial automatic guided vehicle (AGV) with omni-directional capabilities. The omni-directional strategy used was the "swerve drive" system, a system whereby a wheel can be rotated about both its y axis (rolling axis) and z axis (vertical axis). Unlike most commonly used swerve drive systems that have swerve capabilities on each wheel attached to the body of the vehicle, this research seeks to reduce cost by only having swerve capabilities on two diagonal wheels. The remaining two wheels will act as castor units. AC drives are used on the system in place of more traditional DC drives, due to their cost vs capability advantage over DC and their prevalence in the industrial environment. Since an AGV is a mobile platform any power source found on it is usually derived from batteries, a DC source. Usage of DC introduces several limitations including difficulty transforming voltage levels for different systems, inability to run AC drives directly from the power source and comparably larger conduction wires. These limitations were overcome by adding a stand-alone power-plant on the AGV in the form of an inverter. The inverter transformed the DC power supplied by a battery bank from 48 volts DC to 230 volts AC. Thus, the primary focus of this research is on the development and validation of a novel two wheel omni-directional drive system that makes use of inexpensive and readily available components that have already been proven to work in industry.
- Description
- Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Engineering, the Built Environment, and Technology, 2022
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (vi, 1347pages)
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Engineering, the Built Environment, and Technology
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela University
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | MacFarlane, ABS Dec 2022.pdf | 61 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |