Design & Progress
2014/2015 Car
Currently we are seeking to compete in the 2015 Formula Sun Grand Prix. This annual collegiate competition is organized by the Innovators Education Foundation, and includes participation from international solar car teams.
The face of the car is the aerobody. This is where designing becomes specific to solar racing. The body is made from layers of Kevlar and fiberglass, with carbon fiber sandwich panel reinforcements. The unique shape and materials of the body allows for a large flat surface for the solar array, optimized aerodynamics and a low weight.
The motion of the solar car comes from a brushless DC in-wheel electric motor. It is being redesigned based on the CSIRO motor design, using carbon fibre rotors and a coreless stator. A motor controller is required to run the motor based on driver inputs. We are currently programming an Elmo MC controller and are conducting research into designing a controller specifically for our custom motor.
The blood of a solar vehicle is electricity, which would make the batteries the heart. We use lithium polymer cells in our battery pack, giving us a rating of 120V nominal at 30Ah. FUN FACT: the SunStang car has always been #96, and there are 96 battery cells in the pack!
The next two systems are part of the brain of the car. The Battery Protection System‘s primary objective is electrical safety: it simultaneously monitors and maintains safe levels of current, voltage, and temperature of the battery pack. Telemetry takes data from all systems of the car for monitoring and diagnostics, sending this info to the driver display and to an off-board computer for real-time analysis.
We use polycrystalline cells in our solar array. These cells essentially perform an energy conversion from sunlight to electricity so that we can power the innovative machine that is our solar car.
You can follow the progress of this years car by visiting our Facebook or Twitter pages!
Facebook
Like us here.
Twitter
Follow us here.
PAST VEHICLES
2013/2014 Car
Get more details on the design of our current model and take a look at some software renderings.
