HIGH SPEED AERIAL CABLE TARGET TROLLEY

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS BASIC RESEARCH IS TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF DESIGNING A HIGH SPEED TARGET TROLLEY FOR USE ON AN AERIAL CABLE. A 550 KNOT TARGET TROLLEY MAY BE POSSIBLE BECAUSE OF TWO RECENT TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS. THE FIRST OF THESE IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH STRENGTH, LOW WEIGHT ARAMID FIBER CABLE. THE SECOND IS THE RECENT CONCEPTION OF A NEW CAPSTAN PRINCIPLE BASED ON BI-HELICAL CAMMING. TO INVESTIGATE THE POTENTIAL OF THIS RELATIONSHIP EMPIRICAL CALCULATIONS, FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS AND CRITICAL ITEM TESTING WILL BE USED TO EVALUATE AN OPTIMIZED TROLLEY DRIVE. THE UNIQUE APPLICATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FORCE BY THE CAPSTAN DRIVE TO THE AERIAL CABLE WOULD PERMIT CONTROLLED ACCELERATION AND DECELERATION OF THE TROLLEY. THE SIZE AND WEIGHT OF THE PROPOSED TROLLEY WOULD BE MINIMAL AS COMPARED TO THE PAYLOAD. IT IS BELIEVED THAT INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL CABLE ABRASION WILL BE VIRTUALLY ELIMINATED SINCE THIS NEW CAPSTAN DRIVE HAS NO CABLE SLIDING AND OPERATES WITH AN ELLIPTICAL BEND RADIUS MULTIPLIER.