On Wednesday, June 4th, we unveiled our 5th generation solar car, SC5. The unveiling was a great success, with a large crowd and media. Even though we just unveiled the vehicle, there is still a lot of work to complete before the race this summer, so we keep on working.

-James

We have just donated 'Nergy to Adler Planetarium to be on display for about a year. Having the car on display will allow other to learn more about who we are as a team, as well as inspire and educate other people on how they can use alternate energy, such as solar power, in their lives.

In construction news, things are moving ahead. We have now attached the belly pan to the top of the shell. Also, we are now preparing to solder the solar cells together. Things are moving along well.

-James

NUsolar currently has several exciting construction projects underway: welding of our frame is nearly complete, numerous small but important components arrive daily, and we recently completely reorganized our garage and installed a wall of shelving and cabinetry. On the electrical front, we received our solar cells and our currently testing them, we are constructing the battery pack with the help of one of our major sponsors, and we are wiring and testing the many electrical circuits necessary to power the car. Construction is moving at a brisk pace, and we are eager to complete our first assembly and get our car on the road as soon as possible.

-James

We have been very busy so far this quarter, as construction is raging on. We have cut out our belly pan and preparing to attach the rest of the bottom shell to the top shell. The frame is currently being welded together, while other components for the car are currently being built in the shop. There is no sign of slowing down as we are getting excited about how great everything is coming out.

-James

During winter break, we built the shell, and it looks great! As the next quarter begins, we will be putting all the pieces of the car together. Currently, we are building the frame of the car. This means that we have an exciting quarter of construction ahead of us.

-James

Over the past few weeks we have prepared the molds for transportation to Detroit. Tomorrow we will be driving to Detroit. Then, on Monday we will start construction of the shells at Roush, which will last the entire week. After this, the team will be taking a break for the holidays, so everyone will be well rested so we can finish construction of the whole car next quarter. On that note, I would like to wish all our sponsor, friends, and families happy holidays.

-James

As the quarter is winding down, we are preparing for our winter break trip to Detroit so we can professionally build our Carbon Fiber shell at Roush.

-James

Female Shell Mold
We have just constructed the female mold of the shell with help from Cass Polymers and SC Enterprises. The female mold is made from fiberglass and resin, and was laid up directly over the plugs (male mold). After we laid up the fiberglass, we vacuumed bagged the mold overnight to allow it to set while getting all the air bubbles out of the fiberglass. In the end, the mold came out looking great! Currently we are preparing to build the shell directly from this mold.

-James

The Race Route
The race schedule has now been posted for the 2008 North American Solar Car Challenge. The race will begin in Dallas, Texas, USA on July 13, 2008 and end in Calgary, Alberta, CANADA on July 21, 2008. For more details see the North American Solar Challenge 2008 Schedule.

-James

Solar Car Educations Sessions
NUsolar organized various education sessions to educate new members. The sessions were lead by current team members and included overviews of electrical and mechanical system, sponsorship and basics of solar car. Much of the team’s knowledge is gained organically. Education of team members is great importance to the team.

Meeting with the Dean
Representatives of NUsolar met with Associate Dean Stephen H. Carr and Assistant Dean Ellen Worsdall of the McCormick School of Engineering. The purpose of this meeting was to update the Dean and the school on NUsolar's progress and to collaborate on outreach possibilities

NUsolar is Huge
In this fourth week of the quarter, the team is glad to see that the majority of new members are still with NUsolar. The tally at this week's Team Meeting was forty.

Plugs still look great
The plugs that Vytas Bradunas (Operations Chair, Acting Team Captain) has been bragging about (constantly) are looking fantastic. They were made by APW, based on NUsolar’s design

-RC

As the new school year begins, things are looking bright for NUsolar. The foam plugs for the shell have arrived, which is the female mold. Also, the kickoff meeting for new members on the team yielded well over 50 people, beating expectations. This makes sure that we have more then enough members as construction of our next car begins.

Currently, we are tooling up on knowledge and finishing up calculations to allows us to begin construction of the frame for the car in the next few weeks. During this whole process, we are going to have a tv crew from the Big Ten Network taping us to create a documentary on NUsolar.

-James

In the past few weeks we have ordered and received the materials for our shell. The first phase of our vehicle construction begins this week as our shell molds are carved out. We'll then use our molds to actually build our shell starting on September 18. Once we have our shell made, we'll paint it and attach the solar cells which are scheduled to arrive in less than two months.

The team is preparing to return to campus for the fall quarter where we will continue heavy recruitment of new team members. Our new members will join us as we engage in one of the most construction intensive phases of our project where we'll build our aluminum frame, steering and suspension system, and electrical components

-Michael

The team has been focusing heavily on design during the first month of the summer. Specifically, we have been finalizing the frame and shell design, and integrating the two. We have been in detailed contact with the companies that will help us machine and build the shell, and are currently ironing out the final details. Construction of the frame and shell is scheduled to begin this summer and conclude during the course of the fall quarter.

In addition, we have run several small scale tests of the actual shell molding process. Over the next week, we will run one or two more tests on shell materials, and do stress analysis on the processed samples. This will help us navigate the tradeoffs between building a heavier, stronger shell verses a lighter shell while maintaining a significant factor of safety.

-Michael

The past two weeks have been action packed with the continuation of shell and suspension design for our next vehicle and several days on the road with our current car, NU'Nergy. We performed extensive vehicle testing in Wisconsin on April 14th and 15th, gathering data on the power consumption of our motor at various speeds and under various road conditions. We noted a few issues with our batteries and electronic transmission system, which we have since corrected, and are in the process of analyzing data from about 5 total hours of driving.

On April 21st we attended Adler Planetarium's "Astronomy Day for Kids" where we displayed and demonstrated the car for hundreds of visitors. Throughout the day we answered questions ranging from "Is that a spaceship?" from kids to detailed technical questions about the motor, electronics, and suspension systems from their parents. We will be out in public again on Saturday, May 5 at the Museum of Science and Industry. Hope to see you there!

-Michael

The Northwestern team continues to advance on all fronts: we have recently brought a new data collection system online and extensive vehicle testing is planned for the coming weekend to determine the power usage and performance attributes of the vehicle. Also, design continues on our next-generation vehicle, with the frame geometry nearly decided, rough part designs for suspension components established, and final modifications in the works for the shell. Our sponsorship team has recently secured two new donations and three public relations events are scheduled over the coming weeks.

-Pat

We are continuing work on the next-generation vehicle design, and recently settled on our shell concept. We have made substantial progress with our fluids analysis, especially where we are using new software to our team, and we are optimizing our design parameters to minimize drag and maximize solar cell area. The major structural vehicle systems (shell, suspension, and frame) are underway and integration will be taking place soon.

-Pat

The last few weeks have been full of progress on all fronts: Airtech, Inc. has recently joined our list of sponsors with a substantial donation of layup materials, we have completed round 1 of our next-generation shell design and analysis, and construction of a new array stand for our current vehicle will begin in a few days.

-Pat

With the new regulations for the 2008 North American Solar Challenge now in hand, NUSOLAR is energetically working to design our fifth team vehicle. There are several new design challenges to tackle for this project, especially the new upright driver position, and the team has dedicated the winter quarter (January to March 2007) for comprehensive vehicle design. Construction is scheduled to begin in March and occupy much of the year.

-Pat