Thanks Genasun and EMA Services!

Now that things have settled down a bit and Chopper is back in Boston, we would like to thank Genasun and EMA Services for all the invaluable help they gave us in constructing our battery pack.

First, a huge thanks to Genasun! Alex MeVay and Alexander Hayman of Genasun ( also alums of the team) designed our pack and battery protection system. They were also kind enough to offer us a place to construct the pack as well, and we spent several long days putting together all the batteries, PCBs, and wire cabling. Check out some pictures from the assembly party below!

David screws hardware into some of the PCBs 

 Kelly checks the alignment of the battery tabs before placing the top PCB 

Close-up of the batteries

Julia cuts zip ties holding the two PCB panels together. Almost done!

And of course, another huge thanks to EMA Services. who assembled our BMS boards free of charge. Thanks for helping us out, even during your vacation time!

The team is ready to get started designing again, and we look forward to working with Genasun and EMA Services, as well as all our other sponsors, for our next build cycle. Keep checking the blog, as we'll be posting updates about our progress. 

More 2012 ASC Photos

Chopper del Sol's top basks in the sun to get a nice morning charge.

Chopper del Sol in action during dynamic scrutineering.

Team members quickly push the car to the beginning position.

An official looks over the car before dynamic scrutineering.

The insides of Chopper del Sol.

Dillon practices the driver egress test.

The electrical team works on the battery pack.

The team prepares for the afternoon charge.

Officials look over the car as Chopper undergoes a morning charge.

The team poses at some farmland near Normal, IL.  

Our awesome America sticker on the nose of Chopper.

The team prepares to load the car into the trailer.

Sweet MIT logo on our fairings.

Dillon prepares to undertake dynamic scrutineering.

The team checks out the car at the finish line in St. Paul, MN.

Fashionably Late

After arriving in Goshen, IN, the next stage stop was Normal, IL. Day 5 began alright, but about half an hour later, the car's motor shut off and would not restart. The electrical team began to debug the problem in a nearby grass lot. However, to make the situation even worse, a thunderstorm poured down rain and created an unsuitable working environment. With no other options, the team decided to trailer Chopper del Sol to Normal, IL and try to debug the problem there.

The last and final day of ASC required teams to cross the finish line at St. Paul, MN. After arriving in Normal, IL, the electrical team spent all night fixing a battery pack issue and successfully had Chopper del Sol driving around....at least they thought so. About forty-five minutes into our drive to St. Paul, MN, the car's motor shut off again and would not restart. Since the last stage stop closed at 4PM, the team had two options: push the car across the finish line or try to debug the problem and drive in with pride. True to the MIT spirit, the team decided to fix the issue and try to make the stage stop before 4PM.

Since it was raining heavily yet again, the team trailered Chopper once more to a parking lot about 20 miles from the finish line. At 2PM, the electrical team quickly got to work. After an hour and a half, the electrical team had successfully fixed the issue! With only thirty minutes to spare, the team sprang into action! By 3:55PM, we had driven 17 miles and only had 3 miles left to reach the finish line. Thanks to a MIT alumni at the finish line, the officials extended the finish line closing to 4:10PM. With only a few minutes to spare, the MIT team rushed forward to reach the finish line. At exactly 4:08PM, Chopper del Sol finished the 2012 American Solar Challenge.

The team is all smiles as MIT officially finished ASC in St. Paul, MN.

Despite all the setbacks, the MIT team never gave up. Even with all the late nights of work and despair, every minute of the journey was a valuable and fun experience for all the members. The 2012 American Solar Challenge was an underdog story that will never be forgotten. 

We would like to thank all our sponsors and fans for making 2012 ASC possible! Without your support, none of this amazing journey would have been possible. More pictures of the race and team will be uploaded to the blog shortly.

 

Race Update: Day 4

As we said in our last update, Chopper Del Sol experienced a moderate crash on Sunday, the second day of racing for the American Solar Challenge. It came on a day that would have allowed us to move up to 2nd or 3rd place if we had been able to maintain our pace. But with the goal of winning the race a  very, very distant hope (we were penalized almost 1300 minutes for trailering our vehicle because the crash occurred so close to the start of the stage and the penalty is based on how many miles the car is trailered), we have set out with a new goal: to finish this race.

We arrived in Ann Arbor on Sunday afternoon and quickly set up a place to work in the parking lot of our hotel. The crash thankfully only damaged the composite body and didn't affect anything structural. So we set out to patch up the broken composites and the slight jigsaw puzzle that the lower front part of the body had become. We worked through the night and all of the next day, and by the end of the day we had a functioning body. Meanwhile, our electrical team were working on the battery and some other issues that came about after the crash. The work continued until Tuesday morning, the start of the next stage. At 9:10am, Chopper Del Sol was again in one piece and was out on the road, prepared for another day of racing.

We headed out from Ann Arbor in the beautiful, mostly clear day. The heat was quite extreme, about 100 degrees fahrenheit (and even hotter in the car), making it quite difficult on our drivers. Julia started out the day, driving 170 miles to Kalamazoo, MI, where we had a checkpoint and Western Michigan University. The heat proved to caused some temperature issues with our battery pack, but beyond that, Chopper ran quite smoothly considering what had happened 2 days ago. After the check point, Dillon took control of the car and drove it to Goshen, IN. We have been able to pass a number of teams in this stage, although our overall time is still far behind the other times because of the penalties that we have received. But we are happy to be back out on the road and racing our solar car. Tomorrow morning we will head out to Normal, IL, the next stage stop.

More updates will be coming soon with pictures showing the work that has been done on the car and everything else that had been happening. Right now, we all need to get some rest in order to be ready for another race day tomorrow. Be sure to follow everything that is happening at http://americansolarchallenge.org/.

ASC Day 1 & 2

As you might have read on our blog, we have been hard at work preparing for the American Solar Challenge 2012. We were very excited to start the race in Rochester yesterday, July 14.

Out of twelve teams, we were able to gain four positions over the course of the first day of racing while using relatively little battery due to good sun.

Today, we woke up to a thunderstorm that only worsened as the race day continued. Unfortunately, as we entered Ohio, the solar car hydroplaned and hit a pole on the side of the road. Our driver was well-protected and completely unharmed. However, the car sustained significant damage to the composite upper body.

The team is working diligently to repair the car and get back onto the road as soon as possible. We are confident that we will be able to finish all repairs by tomorrow afternoon and continue the race on Tuesday morning.

Ready to Rayce

Over the past week, everyone on the team has worked hard to finish up some final fixes to the car. And we are proud to announce that we are now qualified to race in the American Solar Challenge!

Taken last Friday before we left our shop in Boston, MA for Monticello, NY.

Friday afternoon. After a long 4-hour drive (luckily with minimal traffic), we  arrived at the Monticello Motor Club, where the car will be scrutineered.

The team relaxing on the grass after the long drive. Our Aero Lead Thomas plays the guitar. 

 The next 6 days consisted of intense scrutineering and last minute work done to perfect every aspect of our solar car Chopper del Sol. Many late night work shifts and energy drinks later, we passed all 8 of the scrutineering inspection stations (Array, Driver, Body and Sizing. Electrical, Battery Protection System, Mechanical, Dynamic, & Support).

ASC sticker and our team number.

Beautiful sunset at the Monticello track.

Today (July 12th) is the last day of scrutineering. In order to qualify for the American Solar Challenge, our three drivers, Tom, Dillon, and Julia, must complete a total of 105 laps on the track.

Driving down to the track.

Our EEs getting a few hours of sleep during the track race.

Our Mechanical Lead Buchman is prepping the tires for the tire change.

At exactly 3:44.47PM, our driver Julia crosses the finish line for the 105th time,  officially qualifying us for the race from Rochester, NY to St Paul, MN starting Saturday!

We will be driving to Rochester tomorrow for the pre-race showcase of all the solar cars at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). If you are around this area, drop by and say hi! The race will begin on Saturday, July 14th, at 9AM. Stay tuned for more blog posts and updates on the race!

We would like to extend a sincere thank you to our sponsors, supporters, friends, and families. We would not have been able to get this far without you!