Week 16: Final Presentation of Spartan Superway

The discovery channel has recorded footages of Spartan Superway. Final presentation for full-scale solar team was held in E135 at 11:30 AM. the gutter system has been demonstrated in the presentation. The team has been able to complete the prototype that is quite identical to what was designed on Solidworks.

Week 15: Gutter attaching solution (5/3-5/9)

A method to attach the gutter system on solar rack structure was devised. It would allow a constant water flow from the tarps which will be placed between c-channels and solar panels. Solar Clamps and solar panels were attached to c-channels to test the rigidity of the structure. Electrical components assembly and water gutter system will be completed within a week.

Week 14: Completion of main structure(4/26 - 5/2)

Longitudinal c-channels were cut to 3 meters and attached to the vertical beam sections using Unistrut's 4-hole 90-degree bracket. Heat shrink with 12 gauge ring terminals, copper wires, were power connector contacts were completed. It was connected to three of 12 volts batteries individually. Solar panels, charge controller, and battery were connected to test the charge controller's condition.

Week 13: Gusset plates on "Rib" design (4/19 - 4/25)

Cutting process of angled c-channels was completed. 16 Gauge sheet metal plates in 10" by 10" were attached to the vertical supporting structure of the solar rack. Self-tapping screws were utilized to put the gusset plates and c-channels together. Bogie Team member Dan Espinosa's 3 cordless drills were borrowed for a faster construction time.

Week 12: Presentation 2 on April 11th (4/12 - 4/18)

Presentation 2 was delivered by the solar team on April 11th. CFD results and its hand calculation was advised to be modified. A number of angled cuts of c-channels will be conducted over the weekends. 16Ga sheet metal, which was purchased at Acosta sheet metal manufacturing, will be ordered in the quantities of 24 in the dimensions of 10" by 10". Batteries, charge controllers, parallel y-connectors, extension cables, and MC3 to MC4 converter have been purchased. Wires, gutter, and wooden fake panels will be purchased as well.

Week 11: Electrical Components Configuration & Gusset Plates Option (4/5-4/11)

Electrical components have been configured with different iterations. It will be finalized by the end of the second week of April. Fuses will be purchased on Renogy. Batteries, Charge Controllers and 12 AWG copper wires will be purchased on Amazon. Solar panels extension cables with 12 AWG will be purchased on general solar supply. The configuration is shown below.

Acosta Sheet Metal Manufacturing offered reasonable pricing options as well as custom sizing options using laser cutter upon our needs with extra charges. Two different sheet metals were purchased and tested: 16Ga and 18Ga. Since 16Ga is more rigid than 18Ga due to its thickness, it has been selected as the gusset plates materials. 24 of 10" by 10" 16Ga galvanized steel sheet metal will be ordered by the end of the second week of April.

Week 10: C-Channels & Solar end clamps handling & Cutting C-Channels & CFD(3/29-4/4)

Throughout the spring break, multiple tasks have been completed. On 3/26/2018, 20 of 26-feet-long U-Haul truck was rented to load and unload the 20-feet-long c-channels from Lord&Sons, Inc. Also, gutter and gutter guards/covers were purchased at Lowe's. On Tuesday, the solar extension cables and solar end clamps were purchased. For the rest of the spring break, the spare scrap metals in the shop were used for practice cutting. Few of straight sections of c-channels have been cut as well. Also, the CFD was conducted using Ansys on solar panels regards to the wind lift encompassing the lift and drag coefficients.