During the past few weeks, many accomplishments have been made in the electrical department. One major goal this semester was to create a panel layout that incorporated both the sprint and endurance configurations. This upgrade will provide the team with easily accessible components in hopes to avoid error when preparing for competition. The double panel layout design is now complete and will be constructed when all materials arrive. In the meantime, Vanessa will begin constructing the casing for the panel. This casing, mandated by the Solar Splash competition, will provide a cover for the electrical components to protect them from external components such as water. Rather than being constructed from plexiglass like last year, it will be made out of polycarbonate. This change was made as this material proves to be much stronger than plexiglass and it is easily manipulated.

Updates will be provided soon on the progress of the construction of the panel layout. Stay tuned!

Vanessa Lauren will be responsible for updating the boat’s electrical system for the Solar Splash 2020 Competition.

A number of issues occurred during the 2019 competition that affected the boat’s performance and thus the team’s success. Battery performance, however, was the main culprit. The boat was being powered by UPS deep cycle batteries which are not ideal when powering boats. Additionally, the Maximum Power Point Tracker (MPPT) malfunctioned, resulting in the team being unable to track power consumption of the batteries. In hopes to avoid these issues during the 2020 competition, the team will be using Odyssey PC625 batteries measuring in at 12V, 17Ah, and 220 CCA. Rather than one MPPT, the team will be using two, in hopes to avoid another burnout. A new schematic for both sprint and endurance configurations will be created, in hopes to simplify the design and create a more efficient system. Simple changes will also be done, such as designing new panel layouts, adding quick disconnects, and a new panel cover.

John will be responsible for the Motor Mounting System, and corresponding propeller location. 

For the 2020 Solar Splash Competition, our team has decided to utilize a dual outboard motor system. The dual outboard system will allow for different outboard motors for the sprint and endurance events. In order to achieve these two different drivetrain systems a motor mount has to be designed and manufactured. Our goal this year is to create a motor mount that allows the team to easily change the drivetrain system.

Matt Carpentieri will be responsible for the Drivetrain System.

One of the major changes to this year’s design is the sprint motor. We will be converting the existing sprint inboard into an outboard motor. One of the main constraints is the weight of the outboard, because it will no longer be supported inside the boat. The goal is to make the outboard motor as compact as possible, while also gearing up the motor to achieve higher RPMs than last year. This will be achieved through the use of a BrecoFlex timing belt and modifying the pulley ratios. The existing endurance design is geared up to run at peak efficiency. However, the current outboard can be lightened, as well. This will be accomplished by machining pockets into its pulleys, as well as creating more lightweight spacers between the outboard plates.

Chris Mulqueen will be responsible for Data Acquisition.

It is important for the team to have the ability to efficiently gather and store data about the performance of the boat. This allows for the data to be analyzed later on to locate issues or possible improvements for the boat to optimize its performance. This year’s goal is to successfully measure the voltage and current of the batteries, the current and RPM of the endurance motor, the speed of the boat, and the pitch angle. An Arduino Mega 2560 will be the microcontroller board used to acquire and process the data from the various sensors. The current designs include having hall effect sensors to measure the currents, an optical sensor to measure the RPM and a pitot tube along with a differential pressure sensor to measure the speed of the boat. These sensors convert the data into voltage signals for the Arduino to process, which means the voltage of the batteries does not require a sensor. Instead, it will need a voltage divider because the voltage of the batteries far exceeds the operating voltage of the Arduino Mega 2560.

Anna will be responsible for the onboard telemetry system and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU). 

The biggest issue with the 2019 telemetry design was that there was no correct data being transmitted from the boat. This made it difficult to target problematic areas during testing. The goal this year is to simplify the design by integrating a Toughbook Laptop on board. It will display the boat’s speed, pitch angle, motor and battery currents, and battery voltage using the Arduino Mega 2560 and LabVIEW. The IMU will directly connect to the laptop which will make it easier to obtain data from the sensor during testing.

Jason Varley will be responsible for the steering components of the boat as well as managing the weight distribution and placement of the subsystems.

A number of issues with the 2019 design was based around weight distribution, where the center of balance for the sprint configuration was in front of the center of balance for the endurance configuration. The goal this year is to get these center of balances in a better position to achieve a displacement hull for endurance and a planing hull for sprint. Additionally, this year we will be directly steering outboard motors instead of using rudders as previous years had done. This will allow us to have a greater turning radius, as well decrease the drag that was created by the rudders. We plan on having a motor turning radius of 60 degrees. This will allow for quicker turns while also considering the safety of the skippers. I will be implementing a custom T-bar and chain and sprocket to achieve an appropriate turning ratio between the steering wheel and motor.