Engineering Experience 4: Design a Small Solar Vehicle/Nl/2014: Team PM10

Introduction
All students have to make a small solar verhicle (SSV). A competition on the Martelarenplein (Leuven) will determine which car is the best. To do that the car has to hit a steal ball which has to roll as high as possible on a ramp. Besides reaching the highest point there are also the criteria of most innovative car and the car with the best appearance.

We are team Light-Weight. It stands for what the team is engaged in, we want to make an energy-efficient and fast solar vehicle.

Gantt Chart
Gantt Chart with values determined in the beginning



Gantt Chart with real values



Contract of cooporation
contract of coorporation Light-Weight

Week 1
We had our first seminar. This was about the planning and goals of the EE4 project. Immediately after that we gathered in a group. There were already some decisions to make. We discussed the strength and weakness of everyone. This allowed us to make those decisions quickly. For the first deadline the analysis phase, enterprising and orientation phase had to be made.

Week 2
In this seminar we got the solar panel and the motor for our car. This week we had to do some tests for the SSV I, with this information we could calculate the power and diode factor. We divided work need to be done for the report.

Week 3
We discussed and made some adjustment to the SSV I report. We also thought about the design of our vehicle, the materials and chose also some parameters we will use for our calculations. After doing the measurements last week we could determine every factor of our solar panel as well as our DC-motor. We calculated the m-value, maximum power, working point of our motor,... In short: everthing we need to know about our solar panel and dc motor to make our SSV as efficient as possible. Also a detailed error analysis was performed on our m-value.

Week 4
After calculating everything analytically, we can check everything with a simulation. So During the week, all the values were calculated in Matlab, a simulation tool. The values seem to look to same so the values must be correct.

The seminar of this week was about simulink. This is the second case that has to be finished as well the 21th of march. This case consists of a graphical simulation of the solar panel, DC-motor, load torque,.. It is very similar to the Matlab case but with Simulink it is possible to determine the fysical behaviour.

Week 5
This week seminar was about FabLab. A fabrication lab in Leuven where we will manufacture our SSV. The manager of FabLab gave a short eplanation what we need to know before we start building.

After the seminar we continued working on our report. We had to correct some values because we used the wrong short circuit current to calculate our maximum power.

Also the first drawing of our SSV was finished. This consist only the general shapes but gives us a good view on how it will look.

Week 6
This week is the final week to complete the SSV I case and the Simulink case. There is no seminar so we agreed to meet an hour earlier so we can try to finish everything.

Unfortunately we had some wrong values. So we had to correct a lot, but normally we have the right values now.

Everything is calculated but has to be put together in the report before 21/03. This is the deadline.

Week 7
Feedback on our SSV1 report, report was good but we have to do some corrections. We prepared us for the test we will have next week.

Week 8
We got the test from EE4. After the test we ordered some stuff we will need to build the car. We ordered gears, shafts and bearings. We also made a plan how we would build the car.

Week 9
We built the SSV during the vacation, now we have to do an impact test. We made some conclusions out of the test. The weight of the frame was too high, and the surface of one golf ball is too small to hit the petanque ball. We have to make some adjustments to the car. We started with SSV2 and divided the work.

Week 10
This session we spend to most time to case SSV2. Everyone searched after information and together we could make some conclusions. The adjustment to the car were done, but we need also some support wheels. The support wheels are necessary to ride straight to the petanque ball.

Week 11
We simulated a race and launched the petanque ball, the SSV is ready for the race! We completed case SSV2 and started with process report.

Week 12
Today we had an appointment with the coach and het told us what had to be changed on SSV 2. After the short appointment we corrected our mistakes and he focussed us on the race/Test in week 13.

Before the ee4 session there was the demo-day where everybody showed their SSV. The coaches and outsiders could vote for the prettiest and most innovative car. Unfourtunately we didn't win.

Week 13
Today was the big race! After some the exciting poules we managed to get in the top three of our poule with a height of 21.2! This saved us a spot in the semi-Finals. The semi-finals were tough but we succeeded in getting into the finals. The final race was performed three times, the first run we finished last so we tought we had no chance at all of winning, the second race we finished first and the last race was so close no one saw with the naked eye who won. Luckily there was a camera installed to see the exact height. They announced the winner but then there was a mix-up with the results, our ball wasn't visible on the first pictures, we were even higher than the others. So this means we won the race with an astonishing height of 30.4!!!

The reports
First version SSV case 1



Final version SSV case 1


First version SSV case 2



Final version SSV case 2


First version Process Report



The final report
This report contains everything(except the process report). It is possible to consult each part(alone) in their respective section