Three New Bronze Sponsors

TDK-Lambda, Interface Inc, and Omega Engineering have become our newest Bronze sponsors with donations of parts for a motor dyno I am working on to test the efficiency of our motor and motor controller. We can use this data to make better strategy decisions during the race and to determine if a newer motor is worth the price. The dyno will also be open to other student projects as it provides a motor testing range which is not present in any other MIT lab.








TDK Lambda provided the team with a Genesys 3.3 kW power supply. They has sponsored us with smaller supplies in the past which fills most of our needs, but running the motor a full tilt needs a bit more juice.









Interface has donated a 20Nm torque transducer for measuring torque directly in the output shaft of the motor. This allows for an accurate measurement without other losses affecting the results.













Information is useless without an accurate way to collect it. This 24 bit USB data acquisition module will monitor 16 analog signals ranging from +_ .078V to +- 20V at a 1kHz aggregate sample rate. It also has 500V isolation for peace of mind when plugging in your expensive (from a student perspective) personal laptop!

HSMWorks Sponsors Team with Software

HSMWorks has donated their full CAM software for use by MIT vehicle teams in our N51 shop. The description of their software below is from their website http://www.hsmworks.com/.

HSMWorks is a fully integrated CAM for SolidWorks, which provides effective generation of high quality 2D, 3D and 3+2 milling toolpaths for high speed machining.

The HSMWorks interface is designed for SolidWorks users and machinists alike. If you know SolidWorks, getting to know HSMWorks will be easy and straight forward.

I first used HSMWorks in another MIT lab and was blown away by its ease of use and speed. It is a huge step up from Mastercam 9 which we previously used and is sure to significantly reduce the number of hours we spend prepping for machining. Another plus to HSMWorks is their incredible service. It was less then 24 hours between asking for the software and having the license keys in my inbox!

THANK YOU to the HSMWorks team.

I'm off to make some G-code sans profanity.

~Rachel

Wind Tunnel Testing

We're back from the wind tunnel! We headed up to Michigan over spring break to test the vehicle at the Ford Driveability Test Facility. During the tests, we validated all our CFD results, made small modifications and adjustments, and finally characterized the vehicle in a variety of situations. Here are a couple teasers of the vehicle; you'll have to wait until the unveiling on April 12 for the full view.

In addition to testing the body, we are continuing development of the electrical system. In the next couple of weeks, we will wire the full array and get the basic system up and running before the unveiling.

The vehicle unveiling will occur April 12th from 4-6pm in Lobby 13 on campus! Check our blog for more details as we get closer to that date. The unveiling will feature a formal presentation from the team as well, and is open to the general public.

Body Work

It's January! Classes start in February, so we're at the shop every day. One of our major tasks is finishing the body. We're getting buff and getting cut to improve future performance. Chopper del Sol is shaping up to be a lean mean endurance machine, with the ability to last a long time under the hot Australian sun.

In addition to working on the body, we're redesigning the electronics and taking care of details for the race. 9 months to go!

 

Hong Kong Trip

We were invited to visit the Institute for Vocational Education (Tsing Yi campus) in Hong Kong to participate in sharing sessions. IVE has built two generations of SOPHIE, a solar car, and they hope to compete in the 2013 World Solar Challenge.

Alejandro, Rachel, Maddie, and I were honored to go to Hong Kong and help the talented IVE team. I think that everyone learned a lot and came away with a renewed desire to rayce well.

element14 Sponsors MIT SEVT

We are very pleased to announce our newest sponsor element14, who have donated much needed tools and equipment. We give many thanks to Nicole and others for making this happen.

Here is a short description of element14. Please check them out.

element14 is a new, innovative information portal and eCommunity specifically built for electronic design engineers.  It provides product data, design tools and technology information, whilst incorporating web 2.0 functionality to facilitate communication, interaction, collaboration and information sharing between colleagues around the world.  Users can consult experts, discover trends, post blogs, articles and comments in this world-wide forum.

Body Layup!

Our top mold arrived in Cambridge on Thursday, and we are cooking our layup right now.

From top to bottom: waxing the mold, cutting composites to size, and our curing oven.


I'm super excited to see how it turns out.