Engineering Experience 4: Design a Small Solar Vehicle/2013: Team PM8
Introduction edit
Team Esté consists of a group of students at GroupT - Leuven Engineering College. Their goal is to make a SSV, Small Solar Vehicle. This project runs one semester where at the end a contest is held to decide which of all the competing teams has the best SSV.
Team Members edit
Name | Function | |
---|---|---|
Tim Theunissen | tim.theunissen@student.groupt.be | Teamleader and electronics manager |
Thijs Kestens | thijs.kestens@student.groupt.be | Technical illustrator |
Thomas Craessaerts | thomas.craessaerts@student.groupt.be | Notary |
Thomas Dewit | thomas.dewit@student.groupt.be | Mechanics manager |
Stijn van Damme | stijn.van.damme@student.groupt.be | Quality manager |
Sarah van der Want | sarah.van.der.want@student.groupt.be | Fablab manager |
Week process edit
Week 1 edit
At Tuesday we met our new team and jumped into work. Our first deadline contained making a WBS, Gantt chart, cooperation contract and a plan of approach. We also designed a logo. Wednesday we met again to continue working on our deadline.
Week 2 edit
We had our usual meeting on Tuesday and had a labclass about how to measure a solar panel. Our deadline consist of processing these data and finding some values that will ensure best performance of our SSV.
Week 3 edit
We decided to divide our group into two teams. One team will calculate and optimize the values we need for making our SSV. The other team will work on the mechanics and make decisions about the materials and the driving.
Week 4 edit
This week we made some progress on working with Matlab and with the mechanics. There's still a lot of work to do. We disassembled a remote control car to take a look inside. This gave us a better view on how the steering works and how the electronics work.
Week 5 edit
Since we have a deadline next week, we're working very hard to get the work done. The first case that had to be finished for next week is Case SSV Part 1. This case includes calculations about the gear ratio and assumptions on what our maximal velocity will be. Furthermore we have a second case, Case Simulink. This is a simulation program, part of MatLab, and here we can simulate how our SSV will make it to the end of the track and other useful things.
Week 6 edit
With the first big deadline coming closer, we were working very hard. The designing part of the car was set on hold so we could focus on the two cases.
Week 7 edit
On Tuesday we received feedback from our coach about the two cases. Later on that day we started to elaborate our ideas about the design. We decided to give everyone the time to think during the holidays.
Eastern holiday edit
In de second week of the holidays we all met in Leuven to work on our design. We went to Aitec to buy our axle and bearings.
Week 8 edit
The first items were lasered this week, which was a bit late. We tried to make sure our car was finished by next week, since we had a test race then.
Week 9 edit
This week we further developed our design. Thursday, we finished our axle with gears at the exact gear ratio of 8. This runs very smoothly. We weren't in time to test our vehicle on Tuesday but Thijs and Tim managed to test it on Friday. With the test results we can further optimize our SSV and finish our design.
Week 10 edit
With the deadline for Case SSV Part 2 in sight we divided the assignment among each other to work on it separately. We also continued working on our SSV.
Week 11 edit
This week we had an exposition in the Atrium at Group T with all the other teams. We're proud to say that our car is as good as finished and driving very well. Friday is the deadline for Case SSV Part 2 so everyone's working on that too.
Photos and documents edit
Official Documents edit
Cooperation Contract edit
In order to achieve a productive environment among our team, we signed a cooperation contract to ensure this.
Planning edit
Planning is key in a project like this. The Gantt Chart tells us how many hours there will be worked on every subject. The WBS (work breakdown structure) shows a good division of the different subjects. The plan of approach is set to clarify our goals.
Meeting Reports edit
- Meeting Report 1
- Meeting Report 2
- Meeting Report 3
- Meeting Report 4
- Meeting Report 5
- Meeting Report 6
- Meeting Report 7
- Meeting Report 8
- Meeting Report 9
- Meeting Report 10
- Meeting Report 11
- Meeting Report 12
- Meeting Report 13