Mousetrap Vehicle Calculations for Design Excellence
There are two main stages of travel for mousetrap vehicles (MTV). The first is the
powered stage and the second is the coasting stage. There is a possible third stage that should be avoided by careful routing of the string – the breaking stage – since this will reduce distance but with no positive offsetting effect.
Since the powered stage accounts for the majority of the distance and the time used, it is wise to optimize this phase. To begin the design, we’ll ignore length and weigh
considerations (but they should be evaluated as part of the final MTV design). Once the
initial design is complete, trade-offs and improvements can be made.
To calculate distance under power for an existing MTV design, you determine how many
times the wheel will rotate and multiply that by its circumference to get total distance. If the vehicle does not perform as anticipated then you can look for losses due to slippage and other factors, or perhaps a math error. Include units in all calculations to avoid use of conflicting units (dimensional analysis).
https://sites.google.com/site/seminolesecme/curriculum-of-the-consortium/Mousetrap%20Vehicle%20Calculations%20for%20Design%20Excellence.pdf
based on a 2011 SECME Saturday Design Seminar originally presented at Pine Jog Elementary School.
