3. Estimated Weight

The weight of the vehicle is approximated according to the following assumptions:

• Driver (80 kg)
• Motor (10 kg)
• Batteries (5 kg)
• Chassis (40 kg)
• Pneumatic Cylinders (5 kg)
• Miscellaneous (10kg)

This will give us a total mass of 150 kg (the mass the motor has to deal with), for safety our motor selection will be based on a total mass of 160 kg. Furthermore the total mass is not divided evenly on all the three wheels, therefore according to our preliminary design shown in fig *** a rough mass distribution system is approximated to be 60% (rear wheels) and 40% (front wheel). Therefore the mass acting on each of the rear wheels is given by the following equation:

M = {(0.6 * 160) / 2} Kg

Equation 4 (mass distribution on each rear wheel)

M = Mass acting on each rear wheel

The motor selection is according to the rear wheel as the vehicle uses a 2 wheel drive mechanism. Therefore all the calculations are done on the rear wheels. The mass distribution is needed on each wheel to calculate the force required to move it as shown in the following section.