Solar Car Club

Shirt Logo

Dustin Sanders — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:13:09 +0000

We had some problems with the logo we originally made, with the sun around the e. Due to that not approved, i have come up with 2 other logos i hope to get approved.

6/21/2010 Meeting Notes

ahelton — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:01:04 +0000

Hey all, we had a pretty good meeting Monday, and we have decided to go forward with the solar resource makeover. For those who don’t know this car, here’s a picture:

With this in mind we need to start booking it. But first things first.

we need to get the formula car teams frame (which we are going to base our design off of since their frame is very very similar to this car design. We will modify it to be lighter and fit our uses.
We need to put this car into inventor or abacas and do simulations. We MUST test if this car will tip in the figure 8 and the slalom. If it does, modify the wheel placements until it no longer tips.
Not required but we need to check cross winds to see if it will lift us like a leaf in a gentle breeze.
Once the frame is close to being finalized we need to get a model of the body done. I would like both a 3D model as well as a real world model, out of clay, wood, whatever so we can put it in a wind tunnel and see what it does first hand. The body should be tweaked from the original to provide the least amount of drag. This goes for our solar pannels in the back, we need to design them as aerodynamic as possible.
We are confirming with andy and steve that the gumstix driver support system will be the way to go. We are confirming that it will do everything we want it to do (we are pretty sure it will) this will give us a really neat LCD on the steering wheel for all of our driver functions.
The battery pack is getting redesigned to be more modular (which is what i wanted it to be in the beginning but you know how that goes) The world solar challenge only allows 22kg of lithium-poly batteries, so our current pack won’t do since its setup for 25kgs. We have enough batteries to make a 2nd 22kg pack so i’m working on redesigning that. Please let me know if anyones interested in helping with that.
The world solar challenging also has limited us to 3 m^2 of GaAs cells. thats not very much. This is one reason why we decided to go with the more modular design.
The water proofing on the old car is about finished, we also have panel stands installed. Just a few more things and the old car will be ready to go. Please let me know if you have time and want to finish the car up.

This summer has been fairly productive, lets keep it that way. I would like to thank everyone who came to the meeting and offered their input. I will schedule another meeting soon on a Friday or Saturday so some of our working members can join in and the discussion.

Meeting Notes 4/23/2010

Dustin Sanders — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 21:53:45 +0000

Hey team. For those of you who couldn’t make it to the meeting (most of you *evil stare*)

Here’s what was talked about.

Solar Car team

Friday April 23rd 2010

Summer and new car discussions

Summer
– there’s work to be done
•Who’s here for summer?

Talk about groups

Sign names on sheet and preference of group
•Siue-solar.clockingit.com – show demo
•Plans for summer

FINISH THE OLD CAR!!! (Cougar Cruiser II)

Complete the canopy

Waterproof

Install new battery pack

Test test test!

Impact analysis

Anything else
•

Cougar cruiser III?
– Rough timeline

Mechanical

Summer 2010:

Zack will work with art students on body design over summer. Plan to have a scale model by end of summer

Fall/Spring 2010/2011:

Design frame and suspension around body design, report with impact analysis done.

Build body – work with frame design closely

….. (more specifics to come)

Spring/Summer 2011:

Build frame / test

….. (more specifics to come)

Cougar cruiser iii or iv?
– Rough Timeline

Electrical

Summer 2010

Tweak/Install Battery pack

Install Dash

Fall/Spring 2010/2011

Build CSIRO motor and test

Build battery pack maybe…

Design wiring schematic and electronics for driver

…. (more specifics to come)

Spring/Summer 2011

Add solar cells to body

Add electronics to car

…. (more specifics to come)

Cougar cruiser III?
– Rough Timeline

Logisitics

Summer 2010

Help other groups

Fall/Spring 2010/2011

Help other groups

Spring/Summer 2011

Ramp up for 2011 races

Cougar cruiser III?
– Rough Timeline

Financial

Summer 2010

GRANT REQUESTS!!!

Propaganda for summer

Nice professional poster (have Steve print it on the plotter) – get laminated on cardboard (or something)

Get new letters done and sent for approval

Telethon? – Alumni

Fall/Spring 2010/2011

Send approved letters

Setup other fundraising events on campus (while its nice out)

Spring/Summer 2011

???

Lets brain storm!

Cougar cruiser III

Brainstorm on the 3 wheel design. It was pretty unanimous to go with front 2 wheels stearing and rear fixed drive wheel. Dr. Lozowski poped in an hr late to the meeting, but offered some advise, we need to try to balance the weight around the center (which we planned on). I wanna make the who thing as low to the ground as possible without causing exess drag.

Also we should simulate the body using comsol, a software we can get for free after going to their little training seminar (which kevin will work on the logistics of sending a few people up there to take the class and its free)

That’s about it, i’ll be sending clockingit logins to the people who are going to be here over the summer. If you missed the meeting because you forgot (almost you jake) then let me know and I’ll throw you on the list.

Thanks all! Looking foward to working with you this summer!

–
Dustin Sanders
Computer/Electrical Engineering
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Director of SIUe’s Solar Car Team
www.ee.siue.edu/~solar

Feb 15-19

zacko — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 12:27:51 +0000

This week’s Goals:
1) Mechanical Report Team – UniGraphics drawings (8 of them?), Impact Analysis, Material Specifications, Intro update, body/suspension into UG,….
2) Body Team -solar panel locks, plexiglass cockpit, cockpit frame.
3) Fundraising Team – Grant proposals
4) Electrical Team -fixing MPPT’s, Rewire Car, LED Lights, Cockpit controls
5) Pit Crew – figure out why we keep getting flat tires

I plan to visit some classrooms this week and next to recruit new members. I’m going to ECE211, and perhaps some business classes. Anyone who cares to join me, let me know!

Anyone who wants to help on ANYTHING listed above, OR start new projects listed on the “Timeline” (in the EB), OR anyone who wants to develop their own project, let me know!!!

Quick Summary of our tasks…

zacko — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 06:13:04 +0000

Listed by team…
1) Mechanical Report Team – Center of Gravity calcs, loading conditions, UniGraphics drawings (8 of them?), Impact Analysis, Material Specifications, Intro update, body/suspension into UG,….
2) Body Team – Finish CF body, solar panel locks, build aluminum step, plexiglass cockpit, cockpit frame.
3) Fundraising Team – Grant proposals, solicitation letters
4) Communications Team – develop list of CB/Ham equipment.
5) Electrical Team – Battery Packs, Charge Redistribution System, BPS, Battery Report, Solar Report, fixing MPPT’s, Rewire Car, LED Lights, Cockpit controls

Anyone who wants to help on ANYTHING listed above, OR start new projects listed on the “Timeline” (in the EB), OR anyone who wants to develop their own project, let me know!!!

Meetings this week

zacko — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:13:26 +0000

Tues 3:15pm – Mech Report Team – EB atrium
(Andy P, Alex H, Danny M, Mike G, Steve M)
Wed 6pm – Body Team – HR Plant
(Kevin H, Ryan P, Jordan A)
Thurs 6:30pm – Communications Team – EB atrium
(Keith D, Sai C, Dan F)
Thurs 7pm – Panel Mounting Team – HR Plant
(Kevin H, Ryan P, Mike G)
Friday 11:40am – Fundraising Team (OR, can meet AFTER electrical team if you want. NO idea what time that will be over) – EB atrium
(Val S, Eden H, Amanda P, Raquel S)
Friday 12:00 noon – Electrical Team – EB atrium
(Dustin S, James Z, John D, Jake N, Andy L)

Meeting notes 12/3/09

zacko — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:41:56 +0000

TIMELINE: For anyone who missed the meeting, I’ve developed a timeline and put it in the heating plant. Some of the dates are flexible, SOME ARE NOT. The following things are slated for this week (if not already done):

Develop Solar Panel Test: Ryan P.
Re-mount Panels: Ryan P., Mike G.
Design/Build Battery Box: Dustin S., Raquel S.
Research/Register for parades: Val, Eden, Amanda
First Aid Training?: Keith (Keith, please research dates/classes for recertification. Talk to Steve Muren about this.)

Mechanical Report Stuff:
Dwgs of Roll cage, dim’s, etc.: Mike G.
UniGraphics drawings: Andy P.
Impact Analysis: Andy P.
Summary of Vehicle Layout: Andy P., Alex H.?
“Finite Analysis Plans”: Andy P., Alex H.?
Design LIGHTS (stop,turn): Jake N.
Measure solar panel size, check regs: ANYONE WITH TIME
Find 4 missing solar panels: ANYONE WITH TIME

CHEAP LUNCH: we are doing the cheap lunch program this Wednesday, Dec9.
10:30am-12pm Keith
11am-12pm Andy, Ryan
12pm-1pm Val, Zack

NEXT MEETING: Since finals are next week, let’s skip meeting this week. The next meeting will be Friday 12/17/09 7PM in the atrium. IF the car is still there, we’ll move it to the heating plant to continue working on it.

Friday the 13th, and we’re still kickin’

zacko — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:35:31 +0000

Well, it’s Friday November the 13th 2009. We’re almost done with all of our October projects:
-Communications
-Tire Changing (DONE)
-Carbon Fiber Floor
-Hinged Solar Panel Frames
-Roll Cage

The NEXT STAGE will be to build a body!!!
-Dan is going to head up this project! Thanks Dan! We (Dan and I) will be meeting Friday morning (November 20) to discuss the planning. Anyone interested in helping plan, feel free to join us!
-The next meeting, 2PM on Friday November 20, we will be discussing options for the body! We will do some design work over the weekend, and then begin building on Monday of Thanksgiving break! Anyone interested in planning, research, or building? Come to the Friday meeting, or EMAIL me! (zoester@siue.edu)

Also, I’d like to thank Jami (from SportService) for training us on campus today!!! Nearly EVERYONE is trained now! Our first game is this SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15! We’ll be meeting in the parking lot next to the EB at 7:30AM. I’ll see you there!

RAMS TRAINING WEEK

zacko — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:19:19 +0000

As everyone knows, this is a busy week with RAMS training! Two meeting times:
Tues November 10, 6pm@Ed.JonesDome
Fri November 13, 2pm@EB1012

This Sunday November 15 is our first fundraiser!!! I’ve sent out emails… if you didn’t receive one, and would like to participate, let me know!!
-Zack-

Updated NASC Webpage

zacko — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:11:03 +0000

For those who want the latest and greatest NASC info, tune in to the webpage:

http://americansolarchallenge.org/events/asc2010/

Please pay special attention to the updated regulations, new as of October 18!!!