Summary
The energy from solar radiation is the most abundant and potentially the greatest source of renewable energy. Research is constantly conducted around the globe aimed at increasing solar cell efficiency and may one day enable us to harness the full energy of the sun. The technical design project that we have undertaken is attempting to introduce senior engineering students to solve the problem of designing, building, and racing a safe and functional car that is powered via sunlight.
The objectives of the technical design project are as follows:- Design a composite body
- Design Solar array configuration
- Design suspension system
- Design Electrical system
- Optimize Design
- Test Mechanical system
- Test Electrical system
The solar car project will be designed following lean six sigma’s methodology DMEDI (Define, Measure, Explore, Develop, and Implement). DMEDI is a methodology used to systematically conduct projects that require a new designed process or product. The Define phase provides a clear problem statement that charters a project with a defined scope and Outcomes. The Measure phase is the step where the team converts the needs and specifications of the project into measurable and quantifiable targets. This allows for prioritizing and quantitative reasoning for making decisions or creating alternatives. In the Explore phase the team will then create a conceptual design of the solar car based on the data collected and analyzed in the measure phase. Then in the Develop phase the team optimizes the conceptual design to capture all the needs and specifications of the solar car. Finally, the solar efficient car will be fabricated into a full scale working design.
