Cruz, DeGuzman, Leng, Padilla 1

1.2.5 Mechanical Winch System

Group Name: The Winches
Isaiah Cruz, Ethan Deguzman, Megan Leng, Sasha Padilla
Development Cycle: 10/14/16-10/24/16
Course: Principles of Engineering (6)
LINKS TO: Gantt Chart

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Cruz, DeGuzman, Leng, Padilla 2

Table of Contents:
Design Brief

Concept Designs + Final Design Sketches

Netlogo GUI and Code

5-6

Photos and Display of Progress

7-8

Final Design Photos + Calculations

9-10

Product Description

11

Daily Activity Documentation

12-13

References

14

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Cruz, DeGuzman, Leng, Padilla 3

Design Brief:
Client

Local Construction Company

Target Consumers

Construction Company Systems

Designers

Isaiah Cruz, Ethan DeGuzman, Megan Leng, Sasha Padilla

Problem Statement

A local construction company needs to create a lifting

mechanism to move heavy objects up 3 floors. To figure out
the most efficient system to build, they are asking for
small-scale prototypes to compare.

Design Statement

We must design and build a winch system that will lift at least
100 grams; and at least 30 centimeters over the side of a table.
It may be made out of Fischer-Tech or VEX parts, powered by
a Fischer-Tech motor and turned on and off by a Fischer-Tech
switch.

Constraints

Deliverables

Must be completed by the following due dates:

-

Prototype Completion: October 21, 2016

NetLogo Simulation: October 21, 2016

Individual Deliverables:
-

Table of measurements, calculations

Conclusion questions

Electronic Deliverables:
-

Fully annotated NetLogo code for winch simulation

Team Deliverables:
-

A working physical prototype w/NetLogo simulation

A report containing a title page, table of contents,

design brief, screenshots of NetLogo GUI/simulation
code, multi-angle photos, paragraph description of final
prototype, and any references

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Cruz, DeGuzman, Leng, Padilla 4

Concept Designs + Proposed Design:

Our original design consisted of the motor in the middle being held up by the axle which would have
ultimately connected to the gear system. Yet we decided that the most efficient way to build our winch
would be to have our axles help up by fischer-tech parts and have our winch to be in the middle of the
highest axel. We then made the two gears mesh by attaching on axle to the same axle the winch was on
and building another axle beneath it, only to attached another gear to it in order for both the gears to be
affected by the motor.

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Cruz, DeGuzman, Leng, Padilla 5

Netlogo GUI and Code:

GUI (Graphical User Interface)

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CONT. ON PG 6

Cruz, DeGuzman, Leng, Padilla 6

CONT. FROM PG 5
Screenshot of Fully Annotated Code

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Cruz, DeGuzman, Leng, Padilla 7

Photos and Display of Progress:
In Progress Design (with images if necessary)

Our original idea was to

place the motor and
gearbox in the middle of
an axle. The rotating
gears on the gearbox
would then be meshed
with other larger gears,
creating a gear system
that would turn the
winch.

Final Design
10/17/16
Finally, our design came
to have the motor and
gearbox on the side of the
winch system. This was
done for aesthetics, but
mainly for reduced
distance away from the
input/output gears.

Signatures: IC ED MxL SP
We also originally intended to use the silver
Fischer-tech bars to form our winchs basic structure;
the silver bars added height and stability to the
machine.

10/18/16
After testing out the new positions for the motor
and gearbox, we determined that using black and
red blocks would be more efficient and flexible for
our winch. With the black and red blocks, we were
able to attach the motor and gearbox to the side
and include a second axle to guide the string
attached to the weight.
Signatures: IC ED MxL SP
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CONT. ON PG 8

Cruz, DeGuzman, Leng, Padilla 8

CONT. FROM PG 7
Our first winch design did not include a winch drum;
rather, we had planned upon using the bare axle to
show the string as the gear turned the axle.
Signatures: IC ED MxL SP
10/19/16
After multiple tests, we came to the conclusion that
having an actual winch drum would greatly
improve the performance of our winch. We
attached a winch drum to the center of the main
axle to hold the string as the machine pulled up the
weight.
Signatures: IC ED MxL SP

10/19/16
As we were forming our 1st design, we were initially
going to use a chain for our motor to power.
Although it had worked initially, while the winch
was running it had stopped numerous times on
several occasions due to the fact that the teeth of the
gear on the motor did not fit for the chain.

Signatures: IC ED MxL SP

10/19/16
In our final design we removed the chain and just
went with having 2 gears on top of each other
being powered by the motor itself. Although it was
working, occasionally the 2 gears would stop once
in awhile because there was a small gap in between
them, but this was a simple fix, by inserting a
pulley wheel into the 2 axles for the 2 gears to
always stick together.
Signatures: IC ED MxL SP

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Cruz, DeGuzman, Leng, Padilla 9

Final Design Photos + Calculations
1.

2.

These pictures are our final winch design. As shown in

picture 1 we used two different axles, one supporting the
winch itself with the string and weight (also has a gear to the
right that cannot be seen in the photo). The second axle
supports the gear that is connected to the motor, which
ultimately is meshed to the top gear on the highest axle.
(picture 2)
3.

4.

As shown in picture 3 we created an area where we could have our on and off switch. This is hooked up
to our power source which is then connected to our motor to power our actual winch. As shown in picture
4, in order to keep the gears together and stop it from slipping off each other, we used a pulley wheel to
hold the axles together as well as the use of string/tape to keep the actual gears from slipping off each
other.

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CONT. ON PG 10

Cruz, DeGuzman, Leng, Padilla 10

CONT. FROM PG 9
Weight/Force: 100g * 0.00220462lbs/1g
=0.22lbs * 4.448N/1lb
=0.98N
Distance: 30cm * 1m/100cm
=0.3m
Time: 7.11 sec

Voltage: 7.84V+7.62V/2=7.73V
Current: 0.35A+0.39A/2=0.37A/370mA

Work=(Force)(Distance)
=(0.98N)(0.3m)
=0.294

Power=Work/Time
=(0.294)/(7.11sec)
=0.041 Watts
Input=(Current)(Voltage)
=(0.37A)(7.73V)
=2.86 Watts

Efficiency=[(Output)/(Input)] * 100
=[(0.041 Watts)/(2.86 Watts)] * 100
=[0.0143] * 100
=1.43%

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Cruz, DeGuzman, Leng, Padilla 11

Product Description
In our proposed design of the mechanical winch we included different aspects of our
original sketches, as well as newly added features and slight changes along the actual production
phase of our prototype. Our mechanical winch starts from the actual power source. When it is
plugged into to an outlet and switched to on, it travels through the wires into our on/off switch. If
the on/off switch isnt pressed, the electricity would still flow through, but when pressed, would
stop the entire winch. Now, when electricity is continued, it goes into our motor which powers
our 1st axle. On this 1st axle contains our 1st gear. This gear starts to spin which then spins the
gear/axle right above it. This entire process powers our winch to pull up our weight. In order to
change the direction of the winch, or unwind and pull up, you would have to reverse the wire
places on the actual power source depending on where it originally was in the first place. When
testing out our mechanical winch, we found the time it takes to bring up the weight from our
starting point to be about 7.11 seconds. The weight that we were pulling up was 100 grams, or
about 0.22 pounds which is equivalent to 0.98N when converting. The distance that we used
when pulling up the weight was around 30 centimeters, or 0.3 meters. While running our winch
we ran 2 trials using a multimeter for both voltage and current, and obtained the values 7.73V
and 0.37A/370mA. After obtaining all needed values, to calculate the efficiency of the winch, we
need to get the input and output values first. Using the equation P=F*d/t and P=I*V we got the
input to be 2.86 watts and 0.041 watts. The equation for efficiency is output/input * 100, so when
putting in our calculated values for input and output we received an efficiency of about 1.43%.
Our efficiency is so low due to the fact that we had our 2 gears on top of each other as well as to
the actual motor itself. This is a great representation of friction, and the more friction that we
have, the lower the efficiency would. That is why using a chain and sprocket would have had a
higher efficiency than what we have made.

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Cruz, DeGuzman, Leng, Padilla 12

Daily Activity Documentation
October 14, 2016
- Group norms, roles set
- Goal for Monday (October 17): complete
two sketches of possible winch systems to
be developed
October 17, 2016
- Completion of functioning spinning
winchs core -FT motor attached to FT
gearbox
- Outline of full project report
- Design Brief completed
October 18, 2016
- Lunch work session:
- Completed lift building
- Building includes a turning axle
- Connected to 100g weight
- NetLogo Simulation code development
- Establishes spinning drum and
weight sprites
October 19, 2016
- Adjustment to gearbox/gears
- Lowered elevation of turning axle to axle
and gears to actually spin, and therefore
enabling the weight to actually be lifted
October 20, 2016
- Finished up working gear portion of
winch
- Added extra parts to keep winch in place
- Started on measurements/calculations of
the actual winch

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CONT. ON PG 13

Cruz, DeGuzman, Leng, Padilla 13

CONT. FROM PG 12
October 21, 2016
- Added finishing touches to the winch
- Added extra parts to make the winch
look presentable
- Finished getting
measurements/calculations of winch
and record them on the documentation
- Ran the winch a couple more times to
ensure that it is ready to go for
presentations

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Cruz, DeGuzman, Leng, Padilla 14

Works Cited
Keyword, By. "Shelby Industries." Single Speed Mechanical Winches. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct.
2016.
McGee, M., and Lauren Fritsky. "What Is a Car Winch?" WiseGeek. Conjecture, n.d. Web. 21
Oct. 2016.

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