Full-Scale Solar Team

For the week we finally have our prototype design on solidworks, the solar team was given the green light to begin purchasing parts and getting everything ready for assembly. Patrick has taken the role for assembly lead and is in charge of the assembly of the prototype as well as testing the gator clamps that are awaiting arrival. Further work on the wind loading slides from last presentation needs to be done. We are in talks with Ralion about getting the solar panels and we will have those in the shop by the weekend. We hope to have the initial steps of the assembly completed by next week as well as the clamps tested.

This week, the Solar PV team delivered our presentation focusing on the finalization of our solar array design, future plans for testing on materials to make sure they're up to snuff, and our plan for acquiring all the materials we need to finish construction. We've divided this all into several parts. 1. Contact various purlin manufacturers and get quotes. Whatever quote we decide is the best for the money, then we will pursue that option. 2. Finalize our solidworks design so that we can size all the pieces properly. 3. Get in contact with the central shop or any 3rd party shop to manufacture a couple of brackets that we need. 4. Reach out to the materials enginering department to gain access to the materials lab and do testing on materials. 5. Finalize any discrepancies that we have with any mis-information that we have. Sticking to this strict guideline, the team will work tirelessly to get everything lined up so that construction can begin immediately.

For the week of 4/10 we resumed from spring break. Some tasks that the team accomplished over spring break consisted of finding ideas on Google Patents and research components for structures. We will continue to meet with Prof. Furman outside of the allotted time. For the week to come we will research C channels, look up different seem clamps and their costs. Additionally, the Solar team will create clamps on SolidWorks and integrate with C channel and solar panel frame. Lastly, we will find all components for solar array installation and price.