Trap Door W/ Locking Mechanism

grabcad

After careful thought I decided that a mechanical trap door mechanism would be a great and unique idea for the RASSOR drum bucket design. I believe that in a low gravity environment, a mechanically locking trap door mechanism will be the most reliable and offer the best results. In this design the trap doors are naturally set closed with a pair of light springs. Once digging begins, the aggregate will overpower the springs allowing material to enter but not leave.In order to remove the material by opening the doors, I have added a set of mechanical arms attached a pulley system. Rassor will be able to set the ends of these arms into the surface and activate the open door trigger mechanism by moving forwards. After removing the material, the trigger mechanism can be disengaged. I was not able to test this design; however, a fill capacity above 70% will be achievable. This design will be slightly on the heavier side, but 5 kg is achievable with light material. I maximized the parameters at 360mm wide and 450mm dia.