The hardware team at Midnight Sun is responsible for all of the electrical systems that drive and control our vehicle. This includes the design, manufacturing and assembly of our Power train, Battery Management System, Solar management and Driver controls PCBs and interconnects.
Important
Upcoming 101 | Tuesday January 12th @ 7:30 PM |
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Weekly Meetings | Standup times (All ET): Saturday’s at 1:30pm and Wednesdays at 10:00pm |
Term Goals
MVP Electrical Mock-up |
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Final Board Design |
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Onboarding |
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Term Projects
Electrical Mock-up |
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Board Cycles |
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Onboarding |
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Member Responsibilities
On-site:
Assembling and validating PCBs that were sent out (there are a loooot…so have fun).
Assembling and validating the electrical mockup.
Off-site:
Creating/modifying schematics and PCB layouts when new design tasks come up.
Performing analysis on the current electrical systems.
Adding to the electrical mockup diagram (mockup is probably not the right word since this is the super comprehensive diagram that ends all diagrams).
Onboarding
Our current plan is to get new members familiar with the electrical systems and get them ready for on-site work in the bay.
There’s already plenty of content on our electrical systems on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpXh_w8mLQdn6FUd2g2Zt7g.
There are also worksheets and powerpoint presentations for better understanding the car: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13uOH0kVVVJOUKoCX0v-2r-Ecw_jVyUPI?usp=sharing
We are currently in the process of creating some new content for bay work.
Software & Programs Used
Software/Program Name | What it’s used for |
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Altium Designer | PCB Design Tool |
LTSpice | Simulation Tool |
Altium 365 | PCB Design file server |
Confluence | All Documentation |
Jira | Task Ticketing Tool |
Your Winter 2021 Hardware Leads & Project Managers
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Aashmika Mali - Technical Lead
About Me
Hi! My name is Aashmika and I have been working on the Hardware team for Midnight Sun since September of 2018! I have been one of the Hardware leads for about a year now, and help make sure that the design and manufacturing of all our electrical systems is thought out and done in time for racing MS14 in the summer of 2021.
On midsun I have helped design a bunch of the boards (like DC-DC and Solar Sense) and ensure that our systems level architecture is suitable for the design of MS14. I have also conducted a bunch of the knowledge shares during the S20 term so you may hear my voice a lot LOL. This term I will be leading the development of the electrical mockup that will be used to conduct integration testing on our powertrain, battery management and driver controls systems.
I’ve co-oped at Magna and Apple for hardware positions. Feel free to reach out to me for looking over resumes and/or any questions about prepping for hardware interviews! I look forward to meeting all of you (virtually) and it should be a fun term.
Talk to Me About
Any questions about systems and board level design, operation, validation, assembly/manufacturing
Any questions about tasks you’re working on
Any Altium or A365 related questions
Any questions about the hardware team’s job
Anything about EE/Hardware coops
(This is from before university but I haven’t changed much)
Micah Black - Technical Lead
About Me
I’ve been on Midnight Sun since my 1A term in Sept. 2018. I am now in my 2B term of Mechatronics Engineering and have completed 3 coops at Aerial Vehicle Safety Solutions, Pegasus Aeronautics, and Tesla. On the hardware team I’m mostly responsible for the integration of all the boards and wires into the car, electrical architecture, hardware validation, and making sure good documentation exists for the car.
On Midnight Sun, I’m also the Battery Technical Lead, and will be manufacturing MSXIV’s 11kWh battery box this term.
Fun facts
I’ve never actually designed a board for Midnight Sun
I broke one of MSXII’s brake rotors during dynamics testing
Talk to Me About
Batteries - cell chemistry, module construction, testing, anything
Electrical testing and using test equipment - how to prove your design works
Writing good documentation / design decisions / testing plans
Deciphering datasheets
Arranging your own coops (or anything about coop / resume critiques)
Spreadsheets - special formulas / macros / custom functions / VBA (I happen to be pretty good at them and seem to get annoyed when they are not done properly - but I’d love to help you do them better!)
Most other engineering / manufacturing related topics
Kristen Shiozaki - Project Manager Kristen Emiko Shiozaki (Deactivated)
About Me
Nice to meet you! I’m in my 2B school term in SYDE, with a background in UI/UX Design and QA. I joined back in Fall 2018 on the Business and Interiors teams. I’m currently the Operations Manager for Midnight sun and am helping lead the Interiors, Hardware and Business teams.
Talk to Me About
Just about anything non-technical for hardware (I’m in the same boat and learning like you guys - just joined Hardware in August 
). You can ask me about the other subteams I’m a part of and I’m also in the job search realm for UI / UX Design. Also down to chat about sports and my weird music tastes (Cpop, Kpop, Jpop, Instrumental, Classical… yikes)
Skills to Thrive on the Subteam
Eagerness to learn
Willingness to learn/being persistent → hardware is a learning curve but overcoming it is rewarding
Time management - working on a design team and school is always a balancing act
Interest in electrical systems and manufacturing
Additional links
Jira board:
https://uwmidsun.atlassian.net/jira/software/projects/MH/boards/14
A365 server:
https://university-of-waterloo-solar-car-team.365.altium.com/