Week 9 and 10: Manufacturing the Solar Rack and Finalizing the CFD Solutions

In these two weeks, I was working with my team to build the solar rack. I was learning how to use the band saw to cut the C- channel. It was time-consuming; however, I was able to cut the C-channels faster.

For the CFD, I was able to improve the meshing and get better with setting up the simulation. In Figure 1, the result of drag and lift coefficient, and drag and lift force were succesful calculated. This result will then be used to calculate for FEA, the stress analysis. Therefore, I will be able to test to see if either my team's design work or not.

Figure 1: Results of CFD simulation to find for drag and lift coefficient, and drag and lift force
In Figure 2, it shows how the velocity behaves when it hit the wall. In this case, the wall is the curved solar panel rack. When wind hits the top of the curvature wall, it generates a maximum wind speed on the top and a minimum speed at the bottom. This behavior of the wind creates a pressure difference between the top and bottom of the solar lack. As a result, it generates a lift force on the solar rack. This can damage the solar rack. Therefore, knowing the drag force and the coefficient force is very important. Because it will help me figure if my team's design is strong enough to withstand in the worst-case scenario.



Figure 2: The maximum and minimum velocity is shown on the CFD simulation






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