Presentation Slides

All presentation slides have been posted on our team blog! They are located in the side bar on the right of our team blog page; take a look!

Status Update 4/23/2016

Maker Faire is coming up, so the final stretch for the team is upon us. Below is the list of tasks that are being taken care to complete the Intermediate Solar Team's work.

• Solidworks drawings are finalized for the mounting system for the solar panels; done by David DeOcampo.

• Calculations are evaluated for accuracy, and put into a spreadsheet to display; done by Jaymie Zapata.

• Researching materials and costs, as well as purchasing/ordering/acquiring the materials is nearly complete; done by David Luo. A few wiring components will be delivered in the next couple days.

• We have distributed our information to other groups and acquired necessary information from them so that everyone is on the same page, and we are prepared for integration testing in the very near future.

• Construction has begun and is well underway. We will hopefully be completed by week's end, but for now we have enough completed for most integration testing. 

Overall, and as a team, we are happy with our progress and composure in this critical time and we will be ready for Maker Faire in late May!

Status Update 11/17/2015

Third presentations are coming up, so many objectives are needed to be done. Below is the list of tasks that are being taken care of leading up to the third presentation.

1) Solidworks drawings are being finalized for the mounting system for the solar panels.

2) Calculations are evaluated for accuracy, and put into a spreadsheet to display.

3) Researching materials and costs (bill of materials).

5) Distribute our information to other groups as well acquire information from them so that everyone is on the same page, and can make modifications if need to.

4) Begin preparation for the report.

Other than that, intermediate solar group is well organized and working on schedule to complete the tasks that are needed to provide the intermediate scale power that they need.

Team Proposal for 2015-2016 Academic Year

Introduction

Currently our main source of energy is from fossil fuels.  Fossil fuels is by definition a natural fuel such as coal or gas, formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms; although it is originally a natural source, it is heavily processed and when burned creates a plethora of harmful side-effects. Despite being our main energy source, fossil fuels have many disadvantages which vary from environmental hazard, high prices, toxic to human health, and being non renewable. These are only some of the negatives that are involved with fossil fuels.  In spite of that, there are current viable energy sources that will prolong the earth’s environmental health such as wind, solar, and wave power. One of the most popular renewable energy source is solar. Solar is a great choice for many reason; it is renewable, sustainable, environmentally friendly, reduce cost,requires low maintenance, and is readily available across the world. That is where the Spartan Superway shines; while it will solve many transportation issues, it will also solve some of the power issues with modern public transit.

The goal of the Spartan Superway Solar Team in 2015 and 2016 is to fully conceptualize the power gathering array of the system. The Team will have two focus areas: Intermediate Scale Research and Implementation, and Small Scale Implementation.

Both teams will work closely for preliminary research and designing system components before fabricating their own respectively sized deliverables.

Intermediate Scale Solar Team

The primary goal of the Intermediate Scale Solar Team is to determine the details of a system necessary to power a solar transportation system of varying size. There will be many details that need to be taken into account such as: tram energy consumption, facilities energy consumption, network size, power production capacity, and power storage capacity. Research into available solar panels and gathering methods will be conducted to determine the most effective and appropriate panel technology to be used in the system.

Once an appropriate panel type has been selected a modular mounting system will be designed for the lengths of track in the system. Communication with the Intermediate Scale Track Design Team will be crucial in the designing of this mounting system. The deliverable for this project will be a modular system that can be adjusted and mounted for wide range of track conditions that are not limited to: compass direction of the track, latitude of the track, and local weather patterns of the system’s geographic location. An additional goal, given any extra development time will be that of a dual axis solar tracking system for use on stations. This more robust power generation method will be more effective but harder to maintain and for that reason it will be used sparingly. A deliverable that could be produced for this additional goal would be a working system at the intermediate scale of the project, mounted on the simulated station.

Critical Path Scheduling

Milestones within this project will be: Research, Concept Creation, Concept Design, and Fabrication. Setting Fabrication aside which will be undertaken in Spring of 2016, that leaves Research and Conceptualization to be completed before the conclusion of Fall 2015.

To be ready for Fabrication in 2016, the following deadlines should be met:

• Research completed by mid October, 2015
• Concept Creation completed by November, 2015
• Concept Design finalized by mid November, 2015
• Fabrication Preparation completed by December, 2015

At this point this is a rough timeframe, but the Solar Team plans to be ready for fabrication by the end of Fall, 2015.

Budget

The estimated budget for the combined Solar Team will be in the neighborhood of $1,000. Further research, design, donations and unforeseen circumstances may necessitate this number be increased or decreased in the future.

Meet the Team!

Team Roster

Member	Pertinent Skills	Positions within Team
David De Ocampo	·        Solidworks experience ·        Organizational skills ·        Good communication skills ·        Leadership ·        Hardworking ·        Fabrication experience	Superway Club President, Intermediate Scale Research Assistant, Intermediate Scale Fabrication Assistant
David Luo	·        Familiarity with: ProE, Creo, AutoCAD ·        Familiarity with Arduino ·        Familiarity with MATLAB ·        Strong research background ·        Fast Service Technician at BMW of SF ·        Avid learner and hands-on worker	Intermediate Scale Fabrication Lead, Intermediate Scale Research Assistant
Augustine Soucy	·        Experience with multiple CAD programs ·        Experience with metal and wood fabrication ·        Familiarity with microcontrollers and developing microcontroller code ·        BSA Eagle Scout(2006)	Solar Team Lead, Intermediate Scale Research Assistant, Intermediate Scale Fabrication Assistant
Jaymie Zapata	·        Machine shop fabrication experience ·        Previous project management experience ·        Experience working with cars	Intermediate Scale Research Lead, Intermediate Scale Fabrication Assistant