April 2016 Update

Unfortunately, blog posts over the last few months have been rather scant for all members of the Spartan Superway Team. Getting back into the swing of things after returning from Winter Break took some doing, but it seems like the entire team has picked up the pace and everyone is racing to get in the next week or two. This way everyone can get the subgroup projects integrated into the whole, perform bug checks and make sure their part is working as intended. In this regard, the Intermediate Scale Solar Team is no exception.

The better portion of this semester and design cycle was spent redesigning our solar panel mounts. Instead of using the newer MiaSole panels that were donated last academic year we moved to an older model, and recycled some panels from a previous project of our instructor, Ron Swenson. These panels have reduced output compared to the MiaSole panels and were a different size (1 foot by 10 feet instead of 3 feet by 8 feet). We are now using these because they are more appropriate to the size and scale of the Intermediate Team's construction. To sum up, we changed panels to get a more aesthetically appealing look for the Intermediate Scale Model, and to clearly demonstrate that it is solar powered. This led to a lot of redesign work, and a complete overhaul of our deliverable project. This led to a 3 panel module, with 5 total modules to be mounted on the Intermediate Track.

Above are the 3 Panel Module and the Single Panel Mount. Both were drawn 

by David DeOcampo in SolidWorks for this project.

As such, we redesigned our mounts to fit the new panels and fit nicely on the Intermediate Scale Track. We also changed our material from steel and unistrut to plywood and 2x4. This cut down on cost, weight, and eased construction since we would be making a good deal more mounts and modules than previously planned.

Just recently we acquired all our materials and began construction.  As of April 10th we had prototyped a mount and refined the design. After this critical first step in fabrication, we began to mass produce and as of April 18th we had fabricated almost all of the mounts and assembled one module. This recent explosion in progress is due to all of the research and redesign from the beginning of this Spring semester.

The next step is to wire the system, which should be fairly simply accomplished. We have ordered MC4 solar panel connectors to wire the system with, as well as a few MC4 extension cables and branch connectors. Once they arrive this week, with a little bit of prep work, we should be ready to include our system in the Intermediate Scale build.

In the mean time, we are prepared to help the other teams in any way we can to try and finish for MakerFaire near the end of May!