Engineering Projects/Electric Cars/Howard Community College/Fall2011/550 ekart v.2

Problem Statement
How can we develop an efficient electrical system for the ekart?

Team Members

 * CR
 * PA

Summary
Weekly reports

Story
In this project we continued working on the electric cars project for a second time. We were hoping to complete a working product to be able to showcase it at HCC, but we were unable for multiple reasons. Overall, this project was fun because it was challenging and very didactic. Even though, the 2nd and faster version of the ekart was not completed in time, we hope to ignite interest on projects of this kind to future ENES100 students.

Week One

 * Received ESC from Kelly Controllers.
 * Began work on ESC system for ekart.
 * Tested 1.6HP DC motor.

Week Two

 * Continued work on ESC circuitry.
 * Mounted motor to ekart.
 * Attached motor to modified drive-train.
 * Mounted batteries on ekart.

Week Three

 * Connected final components of ESC circuit.
 * Set up a 36V power source.

Week Four

 * Completed ESC circuit and tested it.
 * Programmed ESC.

Decision List

 * Decided to sacrifice weight in order to get power (from 12V to 36V).
 * Decided to purchase programming interface to program ESC and achieve the best performance.
 * Decided to eliminate reversing to lower the difficulty of assembling the ESC circuit + costs.
 * Decided to paint ekart with black spray paint.

Material List
Google Docs link

Software List

 * Web browser (researching purposes)
 * Autodesk 123D for go-kart design
 * Google Sketch Up
 * Kelly controllers programming software

Time
Average of 5 hours every week for a total of 25 hours (including week zero).

Tutorials
Tutorial Presentation

Next Steps

 * Get more funding for a high-end ekart with excellent materials.
 * Get large support from HCC and encourage intercollegiate ekart competitions.