Full-Scale Solar Team

On the week of 11/14, The Full-Scale Solar Team is continuing work to provide an excellent solution to mounting and servicing solar panels from underneath the solar mount frame. Along with this, the team is also solving how to put the frame onto the guideway when construction of the frame is complete, as well as keeping the manufacturing of the frame as simple as possible, preferably avoiding custom parts to ensure a faster and cheaper production of these frames in the future. In summary the work for this week heading into Thanksgiving break will be as follows. 1. Each member will tackle a different solution for servicing the solar panels     - Jordan: Will test industrial velcro as a viable solution     - Patrick: Will test griping mechanism from the underside of the frame     - Francisco: Will test griping mechanism from the outside of the frame, just as a fall-back case to ensure that a design will be made Figure 1: Industrial Strength Velcro ...

On the week of 11/7, the Full-Scale Solar Team was able to develop the end goal for the solar canopy fixture on SolidWorks, shown below in Figure 1. Figure 1. Solar canopy mount. For the method of mounting the solar panels to the fixture the idea of using a clamp to secure the panels was chosen, as opposed to using an adhesive or industrial grade Velcro. This was chosen with the idea of having the least amount of error when assembling the solar canopy during installation. The decision of the specific clamp is still in discussion, but will look something like the one in Figure 2. Figure 2. Concept of clamp to secure panel to fixture To stay on track, a small-scale prototype will be developed to provide a hands-on feel. A 3D prototype will be printed in addition to an Ansys of the CAD model and cost for parts. Lastly, the Full-Scale Solar Team will analyze the comments from our adviser and create a list of what we are missing and/or need.

On the week of 10/31, The Full-Scale Solar Team is working on building a solid assembly for the canopy system. This assembly will provide a much more detailed design on how the solar panels will be attached to the canopy.  Here is the preliminary design concept for the canopy fixture that will support up to 9 solar panels on it. We've discussed ways to attach the solar panels to the canopy, after having another meeting with our instructors we have come up with more ways that we potentially want to use to support the solar panels. Possible methods include industrial grade adhesives, industrial velcro, even a sheet metal clamp with piranha like teeth to clamp onto the underside of the solar panels. We will be coming to a conclusion to what system to use by the end of this week. Here is the progress for the canopy with actual joints found on mcmaster, this assembly will be done before our class on the 7th. Other considerations to take into our design is the wind loading condition...