Week 16: Final Presentation

The discovery channel has recorded footages of Spartan Superway. Matthew Dianich, the team lead of full-scale solar team, has introduced the work of Solar team for the program. The team finished the installation method of the gutter system. The final presentation for Solar team was held in E135 at 11:30 AM. The team has been able to complete the prototype that is quite identical to what was designed on Solidworks.

Week 15: Completed the Solar Rack Design & Building the Water Gutter

This week, the Solar team figured out a way to mount the water gutter to the canopy. Overall, the team was able to finish everything on time. The last part of the project that solar team needs to complete is to mount the tarps on the canopy for the waterproof purposes. We are still waiting to get tarps order to come. The team's plan is to complete the entire project by Friday next week.

Week 14: Finished the Assembly

This week, the solar team finished with the final assembly. Below is the final assembly that we have. The team is very happy with the result. For next week, we will put the solar panels on the solar track and test the circuit to make sure everything works.

Figure1: The c-channels are connected by the gussets 

Figure2: The final assembly 

Week 13: Cuts Finished

Below is the solar "rib" design before self-tapping screws have been applied to the gusset plates.  The team is very pleased with how the design looks and the team hopes that the rest of the fabrication process will be smooth as well.  The team is planning on installing the gusset plates in the upcoming days.

Week 12: Presentation #2 on 4/11 (4/12/2018 - 4/18/2018)

The presentation was completed at Spartan Superway Design Center on April 11th, Wednesday. The hand calculation of CFD results and the maximum wind speed may need to be altered per the feedback from Dr. Furman. Batteries, charge controllers, parallel y-connectors, extension cables, and MC3 to MC4 converter have been purchased. Wires, gutter, and wooden fake panels will be ordered as soon as possible.

Week 11: Manufacturing and Finishing up the BOM (4/5/2018 - 4/11/2018)

This week, the solar team focused on manufacturing some of the main structural components for the solar panels. Galvanized Steel Sheet metals in 16Ga and 18Ga were tested and 16Ga was selected due to its rigidity. The sheet metals were purchased at Acosta Sheet Metal Manufacturing. Bill of materials include all the details such as total cost including tax and discount as well as the dates of purchase. The presentation was prepared to incorporate all the progress the team has made since the spring break.

Week 10: C-Channels & Solar end clamps Shipping | Cutting C-Channels & CFD (3/29/2018 - 4/4/2018)

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

Week 9: Main Structural Components Construction and Purchase (3/22/2018 - 3/28/2018)

The team has planned on the logistics of handling the c-channels and other parts from Lord & Sons, inc., which is a distributor of Unistrut. More than half of the parts for the solar team will be purchased from Unitstrut. One of the longest parts, a 20-feet-long c-channels, will be shipped by all team members via a 26 feet long U-haul truck that will be rented on March 26, 2018, Monday. Parts purchased at Lord & Sons, inc. will be brought into Spartan Superway Design Center on the same day. The team plans to purchasing parts such as gutter and gutter cover at Lowe's during the week of the Spring break. Electrical components will be purchased via online on the Monday as well. Construction of the supporting structure will be initiated on March 27, 2018, Tuesday.

Week 8: Bi-Weekly Meeting #1 with Gary Shaver (3/15/2018 - 3/21/2018)

On March 21, 2018, Wednesday, the first official bi-weekly meeting was held with Futran upon Gary Shaver. Reviews on the designs and computations regards to solar panels, supporting structures, and electrical components was done following the meeting agenda submitted. The team has provided details on what the team will be working on during the Spring break such as purchasing the necessary parts and building the main structural system for solar panels. The team accomplished 70% of what was required as of now. The team is plannning on handling c-channels as the purchase and pick up will be done at Lord&Sons in San Jose which is a retailer of Unistrut.

Week 7: Gutter Helmet & Presentation in E189 (3/8/18-3/14/18)

Th presentation on Global Economy and Social Impacts was held in ENGR 189 on March 14, 2018, Wednesday. It was held before the senior project session in Superway design center.
Scope of work was temporarily completed to describe what specifications will be accomplished. Gutter Helmet, the gutter manufacturing company which holds a patent on its design and name, was contacted by the team. The sales department notified the team that the sales of gutter and gutter cover only cannot be made since the company only offers an installation package for house only.
Thus, 3D modeling of gutter was done by the team. Alternatives for the Gutter Helmet was able to be found on Lowe's and Home Depot's websites. One of the parts that sells the desired design shaped gutter and gutter cover were manufactured by Amerimax. The team will be looking into other ideal sorts of guttet and gutter cover design.

Week 6: Gutter Design & Bill of Materials Update (3/1/2018 - 3/7/2018)

The team has made some good progress in the past week.  We now have, what we believe to be the final design, just about completed.  The gutter helmet design has also been implemented and work has been started on the calculations for wind loading on the racking structure.  The full bill of materials except gutter helmet (a patented brand name of gutter and gutter cover) has also been made, and the team hopes to start purchasing components within the week.

Week 5: Presentation 1 & Design Changes Implementation (2/22/2018 - 2/28/2018)

Presentation 1 was done on February 21, 2018, Wednesday at Spartan Superway Design Center. After the presentation, Dr. Furman and the team had a further discussion on the design of the structure. He recommended the team a method which would help to achieve a spherical shape of solar panels supporting structure.

Two days before the presentation, the team has picked up some used solar panels from local solar installation company for a free of cost. The team has reached out to a dozen different companies and the Cinnamon Solar was one of the only ones that had picked up the phone call.More design changes have been implemented! The design has changed and evolved a great deal over the past month.  The team has been hard at work trying to figure out the most optimized geometry for the racking system.  The team has also been working on figuring out the required wiring elements for the solar panels.

Week 4: Presentation Preparation (2/15/2018 - 2/21/2018)

The team has been making preparations for the first presentation of the semester.  The team has been working very hard since the beginning, so we have no shortage of material to present.  As of right now, the racking structure is nearly completed.  The team is now focusing on the electrical and wiring components of the system, including extension cables, batteries, and charge controllers.
Also, the team has also found options for gutter and gutter cover. To collect water onto the gutter, a tarp or other water repellent sheets or materials would be used between the solar panels. Aesthetics would be considered as the foremost goal on top of all the subsidiary design components.
Also, a presentation on how to create effective presentations was held in ENGR 189 on February 14, 2018, Wednesday. It was held before the senior project session in Superway design center.

Week 3 (2/8/2018 - 2/14/2018)

The above image is the current status of all the sub-team's assemblies, all compiled into one solid works file.  Wind loading was considered in the assembly of the solar array.  The team is currently looking into wiring and connection issues that may arise.  The team also needs to figure out the gutter helmet implementation, although the trussing and curve components were primarily considered for the design shown. 

Week 2: Lightning Talk 1 & Design Changes (2/1/2018 - 2/7/2018)

The team has proposed a new design which encompasses a simpler design. The parts for the new design requires parts such as clamps that are largely available. One thing the team has forgotten to include was the width requirement. One of the feedbacks during the presentation was to build a truss structure which could support the solar panels safely.

2nd Semester, Week 1 (1/25/2018 - 1/31/2018)

The team is currently working on improving the design from last semester.  There has been some talk among the faculty of changing the track length from 9 meters to 3 meters, as the current budget may not be enough to support the materials and labor required for a 9 meter track.  It is all mostly speculation at this point.  The team is preparing for a lightning talk on this upcoming Wednesday, and we're all trying to remember what the desired content of a lightning talk is, as the last one was 5 months ago.