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- The ship is free to pitch and heave, but should be rigid yaw and sway. Make sure the ship is rigid in yaw!! If not, when towing, an initial small yaw angle will cause the ship to turn sideways, creating large forces and breaking the force sensor.
- The S-shaped force sensor was attached as shown in the picture. However, this put undue stress on the sensor as the ship heaved and this design should be fixed in future years. The attachment should be constructed with a linear bearing mechanism, so that the sensor only experiences force in the x direction.
- The two connection plates for the heave plate and the connection plate between the bottom of the heave plate and the force sensor should be re-manufactured. A nut on the back of the connection plates results in a small gap between the 80/20 plate and the connection plate which is not ideal (see pictures). The connecting plate between the heave plate and force sensor should be redesigned to accommodate a linear bearing mechanism, as mentioned.
- DAQ_ship_lab.vi, for collecting data from the DAQ, should be on both the tank control computer and the carriage computer. Also attached. You may need to make some small changes to the code to change where the files are saved, where the program looks for the DAQ (just its name), and which DAQ connections are used. To check if the DAQ is working, you can also use MAX.