Engineering Experience 4: Design a Small Solar Vehicle/2013: Team AM2

Introduction
Welcome to the Wikipage of Beam Team. This page is part of the 'Engineering Experience 4' project at GroupT, which consist of building a small solar vehicle (SSV). For this project we received a DC motor and solar panel to our disposal. To keep the race as fair as possible there are some rules to keep in mind: We will compete against other groups on the end of the semester for the fastest, most innovative and most beautiful SSV. A race and show will be organised by GroupT to determine these winners. The race will take place on a sunny day on the Martelarenplein, where the different teams race against each other.
 * The solar panel is the only power source that may provide the motor.
 * There is a minimum weight of 750 gram.



General information








Final process report
This report is meant to discribe progression and realisations during the whole project. We evaluated if the Gantt chart was correct or why there were changes to be made. The cooperation of the team will be evaluated and eventual problems explained. This document also contains information about the work done in a certain activity by each team member.

Description of the design
The material of the design consists of plexiglas. This material is stable and it is an easy material to work with. We chose for two wheels in the front what result in a more stable SSV and less likely to crash on track.

Blog
Week 1 We received more information about this project in our first seminar. We were introduced the EE4 program and what the coaches expected from us. All students were divided in several groups and each group received a coach which will guide us trough the project. Our team initially started with six team members. For the first week we got the assignment to create a team name and team logo. Our first deadline was this friday (15/02/2013) where we had to upload a WBS, Gantt Chart, Plan of Approach and a Cooperation Contract. A dropbox folder was created for efficient file-sharing.

Week 2 This week the second seminar took place about the DC motor and solar panel. The Solar Team from GroupT also gave an explanation about their own project. After approval for our WBS, Gantt Chart, Plan of Approach and Cooperation Contract we received a DC motor. We also received a solar panel to our disposal which we can borrow (e.g. for testing). We had a brainstorm session this week about our SSV. We also did some tests on the solar panel and determined the diode factor. We welcomed Bart Winters who will join the team.

Week 3 The third seminar was about race strategy. The brainstorm session from last week results in a design for our SSV. We finished the task on characteristics of the solar panel.

Week 4 In the fourth seminar we received more information about the program 'Matlab'. With this program we can simulate our SSV. After the seminar we did necessary calculations (the different resistances) and simulations in simulink (downhill simulation).

Week 5 The fifth seminar was about Fablab. This week we determined our gear ratio which was around 3,4. We are getting used to the bisection method and we worked on the Sankey diagram.

Week 6 This week there was no seminar. We continued to work on the bissection method, Sankey diagram and did the simulation of the race. The deadline for the first report (Case I & Simulink) is the end of this week. Therefore we also focused on writing the report, each team member have to write a part of it.

Week 7 The coach commented on our first report. The report was corrected and put on the wikipage. Now that the first report is finished we can focus on building our SSV. The needed parts such as bearings and gears were ordered and the design optimized.

Week 8 The first test of this course about technical drawing, Simulink and Case I took place this week. In this week we also have to build the SSV so we can test it. Someone went to Fablab with our design and cut out the body, wheels, holder of the DC motor,... in plexiglas. We also chose a mechanism to connect the body with the solar panel. It was important that the solar panel had the option of being moved perpendicular to the sun. Later on the week, we assembled the whole SSV and let it drive for the first time. While assembling some parts of the SSV, which are made in plexiglas, broke. Someone went back to Fablab to cut out new parts. We built the SSV considering of reducing the weight to its minimum.

Week 9 A test track was built in the basement of GroupT which allowed us to test our SSV on the same track as the race. The track consists of a flat part followed by a slope and the track is separated by walls. We tested our SSV, which we built previous week, on the track. The direction of the SSV was good, it didn't touch the wall while driving and drove straight very well. The point we have to work on is the fact that our SSV didn't reach the top of the slope and was relatively slow in accelerating. We came to the conclusion that the gear ratio we chose (3,4) was too low. After the conclusion we recalculated the value of the gear ratio and agreed that a higher gear ratio of 5 was needed. The gear ratio we calculated in week5 of 3,4 was not optimal anymore because of the changes we made in weight. Thanks to the testing we noticed the problem and ordered new gears which will arrive this week.

Week 10 This week we did some last adjustments on the SSV and worked on the SSV Case II report. The logo of our team was engraved in the SSV and we did some more testing on the test track. In the weeks to come there will be a chance that the race will take place, it all depends on the weather. If next tuesday is a sunny day, there might be a race. Therefore we finished everything on the SSV and is ready to race.

Week 11 This tuesday is a cloudy day and chance of rain, there will be no race. Instead of the race there was a show in the atrium for all the SSV's. Every SSV was presented and a jury (consisted of GroupT personnel) chose the 'most innovative' and 'most beautiful' solar vehicles. In the end of this week there is a deadline for "Case SSV partII" and "online process report". We continued working on those reports. Everyone received a task in completing these reports.

Week 12

There was no race due to the bad weather. We received feedback for our report from our coach, which is important for our next test.

Week 13

Today the race was set to next week due to the bad weather. Instead of the race the second test was planned.

Week 14

This week the race took place at the Martelarenplein. We did well and became third.