Tuesday, February 28, 2017

3/1/2017

On February 25, my team (minus Kevin) met with Eric Rosenfeld to gain some insight on his plans for the solar panels. The purpose of this meeting was to further analyze which of our current designs for the guideway support structure would be most feasible and sturdy. The details of this meeting are written in our team blog post, but ultimately, the consensus was that we can choose whatever support structure we want; the solar panel adjustment is a last-minute alteration. With the wide variety of solar panel alignment systems available in the market, we could use any design that we want.

We also worked on our Presentation 1, which will be presented on March 1. The parts of the presentation that I worked on were the "Overall schedule for the semester + updated Gantt Chart" and "Budget (Most up-to-date B.O.M)" sections. I also helped brainstorm the "Identification of dependencies or exposures" section, since our Budget heavily relates to that. Basically, we are a bit behind on actual fabrication, but this is due to our contacts not responding to our repeatedly sent emails.

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

2/22/17

This week consisted of communication, for me at least. Using the designs that we've already come up with, I contacted Eric Rosenfeld for advice regarding positioning of the solar panels on the top of the guideway. The following is information that I've included in the Full Scale Test Track blog, though since it is my own information, I will include it here as well.

"He says there are four basic design concepts that he's considering: a sloped design, taking the design concept of Ron Swenson's Plantronics solar canopy installation, pitched roofs, flat roof design in which commercial racking system can be used, and ground mounts. He recommends SnapnRack, which attaches via screws but has systems that make it easier to remove and maintain.

After looking over Claude's and Andries' concepts for the column and guideway design, he suggests that it could utilize the sloped design with a central support, though he thinks a four support point design may be more sturdy. He worries that not many roads have islands in the center that we can place these supports into. Hence, he hasn't solidified a solar racking design because we haven't solidified a track design. Whatever orientation we make the top of the track have, the solar panels will have to adapt to.

While developing, we will need to let Eric know the distance between supports so he can develop a better racking system. Dr. Furman says the current design concept uses beams that are 24 meters apart, though we haven't really decided on that exact value yet.

Here are some options he's given us:

  • a truss system will allow us to put more of the solar module weight on the track support beams and trusses, and less on the roof of the transit
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  • a thin-film canopy, which can be printed at any length, but he's unsure of how it will handle San Jose weather conditions
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He also answered a previous question of ours. For the weight of the modules, he was previously considering SunEdison-R360EzC-4y module with a nominal power of 360.192W, efficiency 18.42%, approximately 22kg, at approximately 0.63 center per Watt. The modules are 1976mm x 990mm x 50mm. We need approximately 19,600 modules to run 88 pods for an entire year, assuming no alterations made. [https://cngsolarengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/SUNEDISON-%E2%80%93-R335-360.pdf]"



From here, we need to meet with Eric sometime in the next couple weekends to finalize the information we were seeking so that Claude can continue with his designs. Also, we were just given the rubric for Presentation 1, so I'm sure that a lot of our time in the next week will be spent on that.

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

2/15/17

This week, we were tasked with sketching and contributing to the overall image of our design.

  

My sketches were focused more on dimensioning, so that we had an overall idea of the scale of magnitude we should be looking at. The brace is what we need to focus on next. It will attach on the right and left edges of the column, connecting to the split point of the curved beam on top. Claude has been working on the SolidWorks model, but my computer is having some issues looking at the files so I will have to wait to view them in class on Wednesday.

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

2/8/16

To begin the semester, our Full Scale Test Track team met with Andries, our South African contact, before regular class met. He was able to explain some parts of the interlocking column design that we were having trouble conceptualizing. He also brought a sample section of constructed column, which was very helpful to view.

During class, we worked mainly on deciding what we would construct for the semester, to have completed by Maker Faire. We will be coming up with rough estimates of the dimensions that our basic structure will have. We'll design on SolidWorks some aesthetically pleasing structure of the Y-shaped section that connects the interlocking column to both sides of the guideway. Once we have a couple of designs, we'll send them to our contact who will have his team sketch up some blueprints using exact measurements. From there we will send that information to Vander-Bend to prototype. I'm assuming that once we get our prototype received, we will fill the column with concrete to perform some tests, if time permits.

I'm not yet sure what our individual roles will be. I will probably be maintaining the team blog still. Claude is beginning a SolidWorks model. We will gain more information during our 2/8 meeting session.