(Tan) Solar for Full-Scale Futran

This week, I started designing on SolidWorks. My team and I was unsure about how the design should look like; therefore, the design that I have was not our final design. This week, I am going to talk with other full scales team to discuss more about the design.  Since my team is going to use sheet metals to design the racking system for solar panel, we have to follow some rules. For example, in Figure 1, the  distance from outside mold line to the bottom of the cutout should be equal to  2.5* Material Thickness + Bend Radius.  When using a punch press tool we should never use a tool who’s diameter is less than that of the material’s thickness etc. Figure 1: Design with sheet metals has to follow some rules Figure 2: Use sheet metals  to connect trusses together Besides, I figured out an easy way to connect sheet metal truss together by using bent sheet metal pieces.

Design I: Top part of the racking system can be used for delivering. Design II: This design allows the designer to change the shell shape of solar panels to meet aesthetic requirements. Design III: Using cable to hole the canary. Some change for power calculation : M = 400 #(kg) Mass of fully loaded ATN vehicle M_v = 400 # vehicle + bogie mass, kg V_l = 1.5 # line speed, m/s V_w = 1.5 # average wind speed, m/s D_s = 9 # distance between stations, m A_v = 1.5# frontal area of a vehicle, m^2

This week I did  some  research on solar panel racking system designs. Also, I used the code from Dr. Furman to calculate the power that is needed to run 1 pod car. Since we will build a 9 m long full scale  prototype, some values are needed to be changed. Assumptions : M = 100 #(kg) Mass of fully loaded ATN vehicle M_v = 1900 # vehicle + bogie mass, kg V_l = 1.5 # line speed, m/s V_w = 1.5 # average wind speed, m/s D_s = 9 # distance between stations, m Results: ** Energy per vehicle ** Energy required, E(t_s) = 1.08e+05 J Average trip time, 0.5 minutes Average power, P_avg = 3,927 W >> Energy per 150 vehicles << Energy required, E(t_s) = 1.626e+07 J Average trip time, 0.5 minutes Average power, P_avg = 5.89e+05 W KE loss = 9.26e+01 J ---> 0.1% Air drag loss = 2.94e+01 J ---> 0.0% Rolling resistance loss = 1.19e+02 J ---> 0.1% Elevation loss = 1.15e+04 J ---> 10.6% Aux power loss 9.66e+04 J ---> 89.1%

This Week,  Considering to last week presentation's comment from Dr. Furman, I spend time try to understand the  power calculation that Dr. Furman gave me. Therefore, I know how many panels are going be used for the 9m full scale prototype, as well as the cost and the size of each panel.  Next week, my team and I will start designing the racking system for solar panels.