The Electrical Team has completed energy calculations to determine the required motor horsepower for a range of velocities, masses, and aerodynamic drag. They have also compared the required energy with the solar output in order to begin with energy management strategies. They are still in their research phase, but have finalized their decisions on some major components, including the motor, …
First Official Sponsor: MSC Software
Big thank you to our first official sponsor, MSC Software! MSC Software is a global leader in helping product manufacturers to advance their engineering methods with simulations software and services. With the help of MSC Software, we can optimize the design of our solar car by using their product to test our car’s dynamic capabilities.
Chassis Load Testing
According to regulations, we have to sustain a 5g load in all directions of the chassis. Here are pictures from our latest testing. We are currently experimenting with different pipe sizes to find the best compromise between strength and weight. Our chassis has a mirror feature that we did not anticipate on deviating our results. For the front crash, there …
Mechanical Assembly Complete
The first design of our solar car is almost complete. After months of hard work, our alpha design of the solar car is beginning to come together. We currently have our spaceframe chassis done and CADed up in Solidworks. The chassis is assembled to the suspension components, which include brakes, steering, and the actual suspension system itself. We decided to …
Mechanical Assembly Complete
The first design of our solar car is almost complete. After months of hard work, our alpha design of the solar car is beginning to come together. We currently have our spaceframe chassis done and CADed up in Solidworks. The chassis is assembled to the suspension components, which include brakes, steering, and the actual suspension system itself. We decided to …
First Solar Car at UCI
The first ever Solar Car at UC Irvine has officially started as a Senior Design Project during the spring of 2017. After careful consideration and a numerous number of interviews, the team leads of the Solar Car project finally put together a full team of twenty undergraduate students. The team ranges from a wide variety of different types of undergraduate …