An Accessible Farm Gate

Problem

For a drive-through gate add-on, we needed to develop a closing mechanism. To allow user-repair, it had to use materials accessible to the general public.

Actions

• Tested various springs and padding to determine spring and damping characteristics

• Constructed an air piston out of PVC pipe and the selected springs and padding

• Developed a MatLab Simulation to prove the mechanism was safe to test with a car

• Conducted tests with a cart to show the validity of the modeled data

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Results

The model overestimated both the closing velocity and piston displacement. While an overestimate, the simulation proved the gate was safe to use between 5-15 mph. During vehicle testing, the gate returned to its start position after a 12 mph impact. Our advisor, Professor Andrew Gouldstone, received the final project to further its development.

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Skills Demonstrated

• Collaborating in a small team 

• Rapid prototyping with limited materials

• Creating Matlab Simulations