Week 4 (11th May week)

After getting the 16x2 Liquid-crystal display (LCD), we were very eager to test it out. We were thrilled that the outcome was positive. We tried out different programs such as Autoscroll, Blink and CustomCharacter.

Fig. 1

Fig. 1 above shows the program for Cursor which displays the text 'hello, world!' and also the cursor which blinks every 500 milliseconds. The cursor was able to blink at a specific interval thanks to the delay() function. 

Fig. 2

Fig. 2 tells us how the delay() function works in detail. In essence, the complete program looks like so in Fig. 3 below. 

Fig. 3

After completing our task for this week, we are now able to understand the programming functions and components required to program such elementary LCD. As mentioned in our previous post, we hope to work with other types of LCD for instance, Graphical LCD (GLCD), as it is more aesthetically pleasing to the eyes and much clearer for the driver to look at the parameters displayed.

Week 3 (4th May week)

This week we met up with Multi-Disciplinary Project (MDP) and Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering (MAE) students who are also involved in the Solar Car project.

We started off with discussing about our progress with them and vice versa. From there we explored on ways on how we could delegate our tasks evenly to increase the efficiency of our work. One of the main concern that was brought up was the Liquid-crystal display (LCD) for the solar car driver.

Few of the concerns that were highlighted was the aesthetic display, parameters to display and feasibility to implement the display. As compared to Sunspec3, a 20x4 LCD was used for the driver display of the car. Thus, for this year, we decided to improve the driver display by using a Graphical LCD (GLCD) as it is more aesthetically pleasing to the eyes and much more clearer for the driver to look at the parameters displayed. However the downside of using a GLCD was, it consumes higher power than a normal LCD which contributes to a higher total power loss of the car. After scrutinizing the advantages and disadvantages, we made a conclusion to stick with GLCD. This is because after thorough research on the different brands of GLCD in the market, we were able to find a suitable display that was both aesthetically appealing and has a low power consumption.

Moving forward with that, we met up with one of the MAE students to discuss about the placement and the size of the LCD in the car. The initial idea was to place them by the control panel. However, after great deliberation, we realized that the placement was impractical for the driver as it was not at the eye level. Therefore, the placement had to change. Fortunately, we were able to decide on the size of the driver display and with that we were able to check driver display from our telemetry list.

To conclude this week, we learnt that working on such a big project like this demands various solutions to problems and concerns. Finally, we have agreed upon the usage of GLCD with MDP and MAE students. Besides that, we have taken into consideration the feasibility and practicality of the driver display.

Week 2 (27th April week)

This week we met Mr Steven Chew again to update him about our progress, mainly the  straightforward yet tedious experiments found in the Arduino training kit.

He then brainstormed with us a few salient points namely:

1) Batteries / BMS
2) Solar Panels + MPPTs
3) Motor 2WD + Controller
4) Race Strategy
5) Voltage Measurement
6) LCD Display

We were instructed by Mr Steven Chew to appraise the existing possibilities and solutions to problems for all the points stated above.

For batteries, solar panels and motors, we covered on the different connection components that has been used for SunSpec3 which can be implemented for the current SunSpec4. We looked into the different current and voltage sensors that are suitable for each of the 3 mentioned components. Few of the components mentioned were the Amploc current sensor that was implemented in SunSpec3 and Avago voltage isolator IC chip.

For race strategy, it includes performing a route simulation to test the energy, speed and time of our car. The actual current and voltage utilized by our car must also be noted down.

Voltage measurement correlates with current measurement and this means that we ought to take in consideration of the speed, temperature and sensitive calibration of our car.

Finally, we were told that we can start to experiment with the different size of LCD displays for our car. We hope to embark with a 16x2 display, then later a 20x4 display.

Week 1 (20th April week)

During week 1, we went in depth on the telemetry side of SunSpec4. We looked into the different important parameters that we have to attain data for our telemetry side.

The parameters were namely:

1. Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) current from 3 different strings of solar cells

2. Battery current and voltage

3. Motor current from 2 motors

4. System voltage

5. Speed of the solar car

6. State of Charge (SOC) of the battery

Alongside with these parameters, we have output displays that gave us the data for the above stated parameters. The output for these are mainly the driver LCD display, RF modem for wireless transmission of live data logging and SD Card for input data logging.

As such, with all this information, we had our block diagram that consisted of the different parameters needed and the output for the data logging.

Following up from the previous years of SunSpec3 and SunSpec2, for our MCU in SunSpec4,  we will be using Arduino board too. This is because not only it is user friendly, it is also interface friendly for us to use different electric components that aided us to attain the data parameters for the solar car.

With that, we moved on to research on the uses of the Arduino boards and we started our hands-on for the following week.

March 2015 FYP training

Over the 6 weeks of March - April semester break, we underwent in-house solar car training to know about the solar car project that has been ongoing since the SunSpec1. We were exposed not only to the electrical aspects of the solar car but also mechanical aspects of it. The in-house solar car training was covered over a span of 5 weeks.

The different aspects of the solar car are:
1. Battery
2. Solar Panel
3. Motor / Drive
4. Telemetry & Route and Strategy
5. Mechanics of solar car

Each week is dedicated for all the different aspects of the solar car - in this case is the SunSpec3 and SunSpec4.

In the first week, we covered on battery. During this week, we learned the battery type, state of charge of battery and the battery connection which is 34 Series and 36 Parallel. Aside from that, we were taught on the steps on using the instrument for charging and discharging of the batteries.

The second week was on solar panel. During this week, we were introduced to the specifications of solar cell, electrical connections and the calculations of the solar cell panel energy, current and voltage measurement. We were then taught on how to plot a graph using the data collected from the ekometer to measure the irradiance of the solar cells.

For the third week we learned about the motor/drive section. We learnt about the different types of motor that the car will be using which is the Mitsuba motor. In addition to that, we learnt about the calculation for the current, voltage, power and efficiency.

In the fourth week, we covered telemetry and route and strategy aspect. We had to infer from the previous year's data to determine the control stops on where to overnight for that specific day. Also, through observing the data, we could determine the areas that will consume the largest amount of power. As such, it will enable us to strategize on energy consumption throughout the race.

We wrapped up the last week with mechanics of solar car. We were taught on how to change the tyres of the car- from deflating it to pumping it. Besides that we learnt the different mechanical system that is crucial for a car such as the chassis, brakes and suspension.

With the background knowledge that we have garnered, we understood the overall important specifications of the car that is crucial for the car to work. Moving forward, we were able to start on our journey focusing on telemetry.

Introdcution to Telemetry - Solar car SunSpec4

For this year, we will be taking part in the World Solar Car Challenge 2015 that will be held from 18 - 25 October. The name of our new solar car is called the SunSpec4. The SunSpec4 car built-up consists of both electrical and mechanical systems aspects. In our case, we are focusing on the electrical system aspect which is - telemetry.

Telemetry as defined by http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/telemetry  is, "The wireless transmission and reception of measured quantities for the purpose of remotely monitoring environmental conditions or equipment parameters." The term is also used in reference to the signals containing such data.

As such, in the context of our solar car - SunSpec4 - the telemetry system is an important aspect of the car. It measures live logging of data information of the car which sends to the team through wireless connection. Since obtaining and monitoring of live data logging of information is important and crucial during the race, in this blog, we will be posting updates on our research and progress which will help us in the strategy planning for the race completion.

We would like to apologize for our timeline of posts which does not harmonize with our schedule.

On a final note, welcome to our blog! =D