Electric Counterbalance Forklift for Use on the Moon

Hello, I am Zachary and I am a student at Diablo Valley College.

For this competition I chose the space category. More specifically, my design is geared towards use on the Moon's south pole in accordance with the Artemis gateway mission.

Required:

• Pencil/Pen and paper or means to draw digitally
• Fusion 360 or equivalent software

Optional:

• Adobe products (i.e. Photoshop, Illustrator)

First, I researched the types of forklifts currently available. Next with the knowledge I had gained, I investigated what constraints and conditions I needed to take in to account when designing for the moon. At the Toyota Material Handling Northern California headquarters I spoke with several representatives help me further understand the mechanics of current forklifts. With all of my research, I was then able to develop an idea and began creating sketches. From these sketches I began modeling in Fusion 360.

I broke up the modeling into the basic sections of my design: the body, the track and wheels, and the lift.

• The Body:
• Since Fusion 360 is primarily a solid modeling software, I started with the basic profile of the body and incrementally added and subtracted sections to create the finished body.
• The Track and Wheels:
• I started out creating a sketch to locate the wheels in the design. Then, I modeled the sprocket which would drive the forklift. Next, I created the wheels. With the wheels and the sprocket done I could then begin working on the track itself. My original plan was to make the track out of separate pieces similar to real tracks. However, when I went to do this I encountered limitations with the software; the pattern on path command which I had planned to use would generate error messages every time I would perform that function. My theory is that could not compute the complex profile I wanted to repeat along the chosen path. So I went with a simpler version that left flat surface without patterns.
• The Lift:
• First I modeled the mast which gave a reference point to create the rest of the lift mechanism.

For the finishing touches, I added materials to my design. With the the materials in place I utilized Fusion 360's embedded rendering functions to create realistic images of the finished product. Next, I took these images into Photoshop to place my finished design in its destined environment with an astronaut for scale.