flux solar car crush zonee€¦ · flux solar car crush zone my first project on the solar car team...
TRANSCRIPT
FluxSolarCarCrushZoneMyfirstprojectonthesolarcarteamwastocreateandattachacrushzonetoourcarasperAmericanSolarChallengeregulationsfordriversafety.Thecrushzonewasdesignedbyteammates.Wefirsthadtodecidehowtoattachthecrushzonetothecarwithoutruiningitbystickingboltsthroughthemiddle.Wedecidedtoembednutsinthecrushzonesothattheboltscouldbescrewedinfromtheinsideofthedrivercage.Totestifourideawouldwork,wemadeaprototypewithamockcrushzone.Teammatescreatedandaddedatransitionpiecesothattheflatcrushzonewouldfitagainstthecarsmoothly.Nextwehadtodecidehowtodothelayup(coveringthecrushzonewithcarbonfiberforstabilityandaerodynamicpurposes).Doingthelayuponthecarwouldallowforasmoothertransitionbutwouldriskdamagingthecarandwouldbemoredifficultthandoingthelayuponaflatsurface.Wedecidedtodothelayuponthecar.Someproblemsweraninto:
- Whenwetriedtoattachthecrushzonetothecar,theboltshadtobeperfectlyangledandwehadtroublescrewingthemintothenuts.Weendeduptakingthenutsoutandembeddingtheheadsoftheboltsinthecrushzonebackwardssothatthenutscouldbescrewedonfromtheinsideofthedrivercage.
- Thetransitionpiecedidnotfitperfectlytothecar,leavinggapsthatwouldcauseproblemswhencreatingthevacuumagainstthecar.WefixedthisbyfillinginthegapswithvacuumtapeandusingBondoputtytosmoothoverthetransition.
Nextwedidthelayupandhopedthatitwouldwork.
1. Tapevacuumbagontocar
2. Coverwithepoxy-soakedcarbonfiber
3. Applypeel-plyandbreather
4. Vacuum
Turnsout,thiswasnotsuperaerodynamic,sowediditallagainonasmallerversionwhichmetregulations.Thesecondtime,theprocesswasmuchfaster.