Saturday, November 17, 2012

Starting Anew

Hello everyone!

Sorry for the lack of updates, our team has been busy designing our next solar cars! After much consideration, the MIT SEVT has decided to compete in the 2014 American Solar Challenge with a three wheel vehicle. In conjunction, we will also be designing and constructing a four wheel vehicle in preparation for the 2015 World Solar Challenge. There will be plenty of work, but we want to race competitively and still be prepared for future races. With the change in design from 3 wheels to 4, there has been a lot of discussion about the overall structure and design. Currently, the aerodynamics team is working on simulations and designing the car shape. Here are some cool pictures of what they've been up to:

Simulation performed by Alastair Gregory.

Simulation performed by Alastair Gregory.
On the electrical front, a motor change is in order. Currently, our team is looking into Mitsuba and CSIRO as viable options. However, we won't know for sure which motor to use until we perform some dyno testing.  On the mechanical front, the team is currently designing the suspension system to be improved from the last system. Overall, the team is excited to begin fresh and hunker down to build two vehicles in three years!


WOO!