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.