NUsolar End of the Year update

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Another school year came to an end! We thought it’s a good time to share an update on the NUsolar team’s status and goals for the upcoming year.

FSGP 2018

Due to logistical issues, we haven’t been able to receive the solar cells for SC7 in time and will not participate in FSGP2018. It’s unfortunate that we won’t be able to attend a race with Seven this year but we will use the extra time to do more road testing with  Seven and prepare it to do great next year! In the meantime, we wish best of luck to all teams that will compete in FSGP and ASC 2018.

Car Status

Seven is ready for Chassis testing staring Fall Quarter. Full car assembly should be ready for testing by Spring Quarter.

Rolling Chassis is complete

  • Functional Chassis
  • Brakes installed
  • Interior panels installed
  • Battery box is finished and batteries are mounted
  • Electrical systems are independently tested

Solar Cells are in progress

  • Design of main and supplementary arrays is complete
  • Encapsulation of cells is in progress. We will receive all parts before Fall Quarter
  • Researching mounting and surface treatment methods 

Aeroshell is in progress

  • Top carbon-fiber shell is complete. Still needs to be reinforced with Nomex.
  • Rib design is complete and panel manufacturing is in progress.
  • Bottom shell mold is treated and ready for layup.
  • Basic design of top shell mounting is complete
  • Canopy design is in progress

Telemetry is in progress

Team Status

Many of NUsolar’s most experienced members are graduating this year. Thank you for your contribution to NUsolar, Ethan, Frank, Kerui, Fellipe, Austin, Alexander & Sylvia. We’ll miss you!

Team Leadership for the next year was selected. Ieva (2020, ME/MaDE) is our new Project Manager, Chris (2021, ME) leads the Business Team, Charlie (2020, EE) leads the Electrical Team and Lindon (2020, ME) leads our Mechanical Team.

Goals

Team Goals

  • A detailed plan for Fall Quarter and high-level plan for the year ready by the end of the Summer
  • Cross-Team training
  • Improved new member retention
  • Increased member involvement outside of designated work times
  • Updated promotional and informational material, apparel and sponsorship package

 

Car Goals

  • Functioning chassis testing during FQ
  • Testing of full car assembly and >100 miles on the road during SQ
  • FSGP 2019
  • Preliminary design of SC8 
  • Collaboration with other Northwestern Car teams for design evaluation and member training
  • Utilize alumni network in design of SC8

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