Missouri S&T Solar Car Team

2012-2013 Solar Car Team!

2012-09-29T19:06:24Z

Say hello to this years Solar Car Team! We're starting off with a clean slate and a whole lot of energy and optimism! We plan to finish Solar Miner VIII for the 2013 Formula Sun Grand Prix next October. In addition, we are also working on the designs for Solar Miner IX.

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Batteries are in!

2012-06-06T03:31:58Z

Our new batteries came in today after team member Dan Leafblad drove to Lee's Summit, Missouri. He received the new Lithium Ion Polymer cells from Dow Kokam, the company who provided the cells for Solar Miner VII. The new cells will be used during the 2012 American Solar Challenge.

Thank you, Brewer Science!

2012-02-23T03:27:51Z

The Missouri S&T Solar Car Team would like to thank the fine folks at Brewer Science for showing their support. Their generous donation will help keep the team rolling as the ASC draws closer.

For more than 30 years, Brewer Science has developed innovative designs for a wide array of electronic equipment including sensors, displays, semiconductors, MEMS and LEDs. Based in Rolla, MO, Brewer Science has supported the Solar Car Team for several years.

You can learn more about Brewer Science at www.brewerscience.com.

The Jig is Up

2012-01-27T01:34:31Z

Over the last week and a half the team has been hard at work building two wooden jigs. The first jig was designed to hold and move the machining foam for the under body mold after being fitted together. This layout successfully cured and was loaded onto the trailer. We're scheduled to head out to Advanced Pattern Works tomorrow morning. We are hoping to lay up the lower body before the third week of February. We have pictures on Facebook. Take a look!

We are still alive!

2012-01-21T02:53:30Z

Sorry for the lack of posts over the last several months. Please rest assured that the Missouri S&T Solar Car Team is still alive and kicking.

Here at our new home in the Kummer Student Design Center we've been hard at work to construct the latest and greatest in solar-powered vehicles. 1800 pounds of machining foam donated by General Plastics Manufacturing Company is cut and nearly ready for shipping to Advanced Pattern Works, LLC. They will complete the shaping of the mold for the lower body and wheel fairings. We would like to thank both companies for shaving an incredible amount of time off of the construction of the lower body.

We would also like to give a special thanks to the Missouri S&T Formula SAE Team for their donation of solid titanium blocks. It will be put to good use in the front suspension, shaving weight and handling bigger bumps. Our design for this year weighs in at a minuscule 300 pounds! If all goes according to plan, this will not only be the lightest solar car in Missouri S&T history, but the lightest car to ever be raced in the American Solar Challenge.

If you haven't checked out January's edition of The Sunspot, take a look! We're going strong and don't want to lose momentum, so a February/March issue is in the works as well.

Interested in Joining the Missouri S&T Solar Car Team?

2011-08-30T14:56:50Z

Then come join us at one of our informational meetings this week.

The first will be held tomorrow, Wednesday August 31, at 7pm in Electrical Engineering G31.
The second meeting will be held on Thursday September 1, at 7pm in Electrical Engineering 111.

We will talk about the team's history, structure, and the plans for this year. There will also be FREE pizza and soda at both meetings.

See you there!

Updates to come

2011-08-16T20:10:35Z

The noticeable absence over the last 6 months will be ending soon. Many updates to the site are in the works, as well as many other items. We also would like to apologize for the absence of the sunspot newsletter for close to a year, and we will have a new one coming out in the next 2 months.

A general summary of what has happened since the last blog entry:

The team made it to Indy, after what became a difficult build process. After working around the clock (several of us spent 48 hours over the weekends in April) to finish the car, we arrived in Indy during one of the coldest weeks possible. Over the course of the week, SMVII survived a fire and a broken spindle, at least 2 team members injuring their left legs*, and then some uncooperative electronics. By the final day, we were able to get onto the track, thanks to the help we recieved from our good friends from Principia College. After 90 laps, the rear tire blew out, and the left kingpin snapped after SMVII spun around and stopped while facing the wrong way. Overall, many of us learned alot which we are going to put to good use this year at the American Solar Challenge.

For the day to day updates of the event (with pictures), check out the Experience This blog.

*After a couple of days, a few of us realized that everything that went wrong (including injuries to one's self) happened on the left side. No injuries were serious thanks to Sergeant Letha Young.

And we're back...

2011-01-23T06:00:00Z

Now that the team is back from winter break (although a few members spent their time in Rolla), you can tell that there is going to be a solar car race soon. Members are working diligently to finish modifications to Solar Miner VII and figure out who will be lucky* enough to drive around the track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May. But while the weather here in Missouri continues to drop snow on us one or two days each week, the team is finishing up new designs and analysis and then completing paperwork.

The month of February will see the solar car team making the plugs and molds for our new wheel fairings. At the same time, SMVII's suspension will be modified to use new brakes and hubs. While the chassis and body are getting their face-lift, the battery box will receive some slight modifications. To help change up the weight distribution, more batteries will face the front of the car. And to help our modules stay at a nice temperature, the box is going to have two powerful fans pushing air through, controlled by a new board designed over winter break (I will post pictures once the boards are assembled).

*Lucky enough to be under 6' 0" tall and be flexible enough to egress.

Fall Semester Update

2010-12-16T02:30:00Z

This past semester has been extremely hectic for the team. Earlier in the fall, the majority of the team's efforts were put towards car showings and recruiting efforts for the team and university. Many days were spent on the road during September and October, going to different places between St. Louis and Quapaw, OK. The main event in St. Louis was the St. Louis Green Homes Festival, where Solar Miner VII became the main attraction. Festival goers stopped by the SDELC's tent to check out, and even jump into, SMVII. The highlight of the day occurred when Justin Reynolds drove SMVII down to the miniature solar car races. The last major event was in Quapaw, OK at the unveiling of Umicore's new germanium wafer plant. At this event, team members showed off SMVII to the leaders of the local community and high-ranking representatives from other photovoltaic and battery manufacturers.

After the car showing season came to a close, the team began to focus on the next competition. This May, SMVII will be competing again in the 2011 Formula Sun Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. For FSGP, SMVII will receive many modifications and improvements. Many of these will be completed and ready for fabrication in the next month. While all of this is going on, the electronics for our next car have been almost entirely completed and the design of the body and chassis are progressing nicely. Check back in the next few weeks to find out how SMVII will transform, and an update on our next car.

Work Day this Saturday

2010-08-27T20:27:21Z

We will be meeting in the office, 112 ERL, at 10am tomorrow before going down to the shop to work on SMVII. We will be teaching new members about the car's systems and how to work on them.

We will also have a design/general meeting on Monday at 7:00 PM in the EE building.

First Meeting of the Fall Semester

2010-08-17T20:16:05Z

The time and location for the year's first meeting has been confirmed. We will have our first general meeting on Thursday, August 26, at 7:00 PM in room EE G31. We will update the website if any meeting time changes occur. Anyone interested in joining the Solar Car Team should attend. We will give a presentation about the team and explain our plans for the upcoming year. If you have any questions, feel free to contact one of our officers.

Good job, Solar Miners!

2010-06-28T15:09:10Z

Yes, the 2010 American Solar Challenge is over. But we're already looking forward to the next race. Congratulations to all the Solar Miners for their remarkable achievements this year. This is one of the coolest things you could do in college, in our opinion.

If you haven't been checking out Experience This!, you're missing out on information about the final day of racing, a report on the Taiwan team, great photos, and a post about unsung heroes.

On to the finish

2010-06-26T16:27:50Z

UPDATE: Missouri S&T crossed the finish line at approximately 1 p.m. The order of today's finish was Stanford, Germany, Minnesota, Michigan, S&T, Calgary, and Taiwan. Those are the teams that have made it in so far. Michigan is the unofficial overall winner.

UPDATE: Solar Miner VII is making its way through the Chicagoland suburbs. We haven't gained or lost any ground today. There's some chatter that Michigan has been passed by Stanford and Minnesota, but the Wolverines are going to cruise in for an overall victory.

Missouri S&T started the last day of racing as the fifth team to leave Normal. (The teams leave stage stops according to their overall position in the race, not their finish in the last stage.) We are half-way to the finish at Naperville. The team is getting closer and closer to the Chicago suburbs, running at approximately 50-55 mph. Everything looks good for a finish around 1 p.m. The standings appear to be: Michigan, Minnesota, Germany, Stanford, Missouri S&T, Calgary, Taiwan...

Sprint to Normal

2010-06-25T13:40:02Z

11 a.m. -- Made it to Normal ahead of Germany in third place for the stage. Right at two hours racing time today. Very strong performance. The finish line will be crossed tomorrow. Would be very cool to be the first team to cross the finish line, even though Michigan's got the overall race more or less locked up.

10:45 a.m. -- We are almost to Normal. The stage stop is on the campus of Illinois State. Germany is behind us. Minnesota is fixing a blown tire.

10:36 a.m. -- Michigan and Stanford have arrived at the stage stop.

10:35 a.m. -- Correction! Our car is farther up the road than we thought. Germany and Minnesota went by the scout vehicle -- but S&T is a good 15 minutes further along. Sorry for the confusion. We're running in third for the stage.

10:30 a.m. -- Germany has been spotted up the road, nobody's quite sure when they got ahead of us. Anyway, heading into Bloomington/Normal, it's Michigan, Stanford, Germany and S&T.

10:10 a.m. -- Solar Miner VII is nearing Clinton, Ill. It's going to be a short racing day. Michigan and Stanford are up near the stage stop in Normal. S&T hasn't seen any other cars this morning. We are looking to be the third car to arrive in Normal.

Good morning. Michigan and Stanford stopped in Decatur, Ill. S&T is on the northeast corner of Springfield. Minnesota is about 30 minutes behind S&T. We assume that Germany and maybe a few other teams are also in the vicinity. Minnesota had some kind of problem yesterday that caused them to fall behind on this stage; not sure what happened. Today will be a sprint to Normal. It shouldn't take the lead cars long to get there. We'll pass along updates as we get them. Hopefully the information is helpful to some of you.

Thursday race updates

2010-06-24T15:15:52Z

4:25 p.m. -- Go over to Experience This! later for a wrap-up report and photos of river crossings, etc.

4:00 p.m. -- S&T is in Litchfield, Ill., flying along, racing fourth on the day. The team expects to make it to the Springfield area before they have to stop. Heard something about Minnesota having to pull over not too far from where we're at, but it could be misinformation.

2:48 p.m. -- Minnesota is tweeting that they just passed Michigan. Michigan folks on interweb chat are discussing a rumor that Minnesota has a brake light out.

2:45 p.m. -- Leaving Alton. Pulled out as Kentucky pulled in.

2:05 p.m. The top five cars have now made it to Alton. Today's order is as follows: Michigan, Minnesota, Stanford, S&T, Germany. The racing has been pretty tight.

1:40 p.m. -- Haven't heard from our team. Hopefully they get into Alton soon. A lot of the other teams have been chattering about this giant hill on 47 near Warrenton. Apparently it was just a killer for some of the cars.

1:35 p.m. -- Report: Michigan and Minnesota got into Alton back to back, then Stanford rolled in three minutes after the Gophers.

11:40 a.m. -- If you're looking for overall official race results, go here.

11:35 a.m. -- Lots of cars in the lead pack have crossed the Missouri River at Washington, most within minutes of each other. The teams to cross the Missouri so far (in order, we think) include: Michigan, Minnesota, Stanford, S&T, Germany, Taiwan and Calgary.

10:40 a.m. -- Minnesota is close to Michigan. Stanford is behind them. Then Calgary and S&T. Just turned north at St. Clair.

10:30 a.m. -- No new reports at the moment. But Tommy Tran got interviewed on KY-3!

10:15 a.m. -- S&T briefly stopped to reset the drive electronics. Now we need to pass Calgary again, but Solar Miner VII is back up to 55 mph. For awhile, we were running in close proximity to our new SUNY friends.

10 a.m. -- S&T passed Calgary between St. James and Cuba. Taiwan is stopped on the side of the road in downtown Cuba. Back in Rolla, Germany lost about 15 minutes at the start.