Portfolio
This project entailed the specification, design and drafting of two variants of 15 tonne rail vehicle assembly line trolleys. In addition to the trolleys, a custom interfacing towbar arrangement was also developed.
The purpose of these designs was to speed up an assembly line of new build rail cars which would have otherwise been hindered by repetitive overhead crane movements between stations.
The brief included a consideration of numerous operational factors including open air operations and various infrastructure constraints. Each trolley was required to interface with the towbar arrangement and various custom built on site shunt vehicles.
In total 44 stands, comprising a high and a low variant, were developed along with 2 custom tow bars.
Click the link below to view a video detailing the assembly line works including the trolley and towbar arrangements:
This particular project required the alteration of two fleets of mine truck as part of a host of non-OEM sound attenuation upgrades. Each truck type was fitted with a modified front end, radiator shroud, muffler systems and various cowling plates in order to attenuate the noise of each vehicles diesel engine.
3D scanning technologies were used to provide a foundation for these designs. Both Caterpillar 789C and 789D design variants were concepted, designed, validated and detail drafted before being implemented onsite.
The remote and demanding nature under which these vehicles operate demanded robust and considered solutions designed to maintain fleet reliability targets and achieve the customers promised performance levels.
Similar to the Caterpillar 789C and 789D truck modifications, this project included the development of new structures for a Letourneau 1150 30t front end loader. A new engine cowling, muffler arrangement, hinged radiator doors and various other smaller items were required as a part of these works.
The engine cowling was designed to be a drop-in replacement to the existing item. The hinged radiator doors weighed 300kg each and necessitated the design and construction of all new custom hinge hardware to stand up to the rigors of front end loader operations.
All designs were fully concepted, validated, drafted and finally constructed as a part of the complete works package.
These works required the design and validation of a structure to fit a new rail vehicle overhead wire monitoring system. The structure was designed to integrate with the roof of a new build electric passenger rail vehicle. Housed within this structure are various electronic/mechanical systems all designed to monitor the electric overhead wire connection.
A concept design was provided by the customer to begin with for analysis. The analysis paid particular attention to the strength and natural frequency of this structure, ensuring all were kept within correct design bounds. Amendments were made to this structure by The Engineering House in order to ensure compliance before it was finally verified, detailed and drafted.
A complete report was provided for presentation to various overseeing authorities noting specific compliances derived from various levels of rail specification, standards and legislation.
This project entailed the review and independent verification of a 60T rail vehicle caliper set with matching floor stands. The client brief was for a set of calipers capable of lifting a complete rail vehicle (bogies and all) in order to place it atop a set of fixed floor stands.
Lifting a rail vehicle with its bogies attached is not a conventional practice and as such required a higher level of design and manufacturing detail to be considered. The caliper set included five individual elements each validated via a combination of hand and computational means in accordance with AS1418, AS3990, AS4991 and AS1554.1.
The brief included a full review of the manufacturing detail extending to the build sequencing and inspection regimes.
This particular project required the alteration of a number of legacy rail vehicles in order to include a new section of roof structure. This modified roof structure was part of the revitalisation of these vehicles and was intended to facilitate the fitment of a host of new communications gear.
A full time secondment to this project resulted in all works being conducted at the clients manufacturing facility where I was tasked with the investigation and discovery of the vehicles structural layouts, performing design functions and liaising with manufacturing staff. A lack of detailed as built information for the vehicles meant a very hands on approach was needed in order to provide a quality outcome.
The client had commitments of a short project delivery timeline and this coupled with the limited vehicle build information posed quite a challenge in terms of delivering a fully validated design with all the associated manufacturing detail. In the end however, attention to detail and a good integration with the clients working team resulted in a successful outcome and a happy customer.
In this example a simple approach is demonstrated to the calculation of the strength of weldments using Australian Standard codes. Included in this example is a simple method for tackling non-standard weldment groupings.
> Download Weldment Design and Simplifications .pdf
Engineering Design Management
This example demonstrates the principles and layout of a design process.
> Download The Design Process .pdf
This example demonstrates the principles and layout of a design review process.
> Download The Design Review .pdf
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