We’re updating this page for Fall 2023, we’ll go over it together on August 30, 2023 and finalize how its going to look then.
Midnight Sun’s Battery Box Team is in charge of giving the car power to move (as well as helping with electrical integration). Our main battery pack is essential for two functions:
Store excess energy collected from solar cells
Provide supplemental power for our vehicle on days with limited sunlight, or when we want to go fast, or when we drive up a hill (or all three at once)
We assemble hundreds of lithium-ion battery cells into a battery pack that provides the necessary voltage and current for our motors to power MS(XV)!
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Member Responsibilities
Depending on whether you’re onsite (in the bay) or offsite (remote), you will gain exposure to different elements.
For onsite members, you’ll gain exposure to:
Battery module engineering and manufacturing including but not limited to:
Spot welding
3D printing
Manufacturing techniques
Adhesives
Bolted connections
High voltage safety
Battery testing strategies
Attending weekly team check-ins and working sessions over the web on discord / in-person @ the bay (Sedra Student Design Center in E7!)
For offsite members, you’ll gain exposure to:
Design and analysis of battery pack components including but not limited to:
Research and design for battery testing and manufacturing
3D printed mounts
High-current electrical connections
Data processing for battery tests (using python)
Thermal simulation for module optimization (SimScale/Ansys)
SOLIDWORKS design for battery pack components
Exposure to the supplier-interfacing process
Attending weekly team check-ins over the web on discord
Required Skills
You are:
A student passionate about design (interest in cars and batteries is a bonus)
A hard worker, with the ability to complete tasks with minimal supervision (but we’re always here to help)
A quick problem solver who isn't afraid to think outside the box
Willing to learn new skills and improve your existing skills
Strong time management skills for daily tasks and able to work on multiple projects simultaneously
Good to Have / What You’ll Learn
We don't expect members to have anything other than the above skills, however, the following are nice to have:
Basic understanding of Design for Manufacture (DFM) and Design for Assembly methodologies (DFA) (combined, they’re commonly referred to as DFMA)
Someone with exposure to a CAD package (SOLIDWORKS preferred)
Knowledge of solid mechanics (stress analysis, failure methods)
Exposure to rapid prototyping (3D printing)
Basic battery building knowledge (e.g. series and parallel, cell module and pack levels)
Exposure to technical drawing creation
Communication
We should stick to less ppl here as possible to avoid confusion with new members. Also, including emails may be a good idea if ppl want to join after first general meeting and mech gen is over.
 | Battery Box Co-lead: Owen Li When: Anytime remote! |
 | Battery Box Co-lead: Eric Zhao When: Onsite some weekends and most weekday afternoons, remote communication otherwise over Slack |
Pic of Donna | Battery Box Co-lead: Donna Kim When: Onsite some weekends, available most weekday afternoons and always available on Slack Email: d28kim@uwaterloo.ca |
Pic of Jenna | Battery Box Project Manager: Jenna Kim Insert when Jenna’s available |
 (This is from before university but I haven’t changed much) | Battery Box Advisor: Micah Black When: Onsite some weekends and weekday evenings, remote communication otherwise over Slack |
Where to Go From This Page
To get you accustomed to navigating our massive and often confusing Confluence, on the left sidebar, please head to the previously pre-recorded recordings:
Mechanical space > MSXIV > Electrical Integration > Battery System > Zoom Meeting Recordings
You should skim through these videos. They might be A LOT to take in at first and you probably won’t understand some of the things that Micah talks about. DON’T WORRY! As you spend more time working on tasks you’ll remember some of what you heard in these videos and it’ll make a lot more sense. In the future its really useful to re-watch these videos when working on tasks as it can help you better understand how your task fits into the bigger picture! (I don’t remember if we even used these videos in Fall 2022, the onboarding project is probably enough to start for the new members I think)
First, join our Discord, Slack, and Trello if you haven’t already! Feel free to reach out to Donna if you’re not sure how to join.
Once you’re in, check out the Intro Project (Getting Started - Onboarding Project)!
And then, schedule a 1-1 with Donna and …. so we can get to know you and learn about your goals with the team :)
PS: There are general mechanical seminars about all sorts of interesting things (Drawings, CAD, Composites, Materials Testing). They are great to check out to learn more about the car and engineering skills. More details to come in the check-ins! (Don’t think we had this Fall 2022 either)
Estimated Time Commitment for Onboarding
Task | Estimated Time Needed |
|---|---|
Attending First General, Mech 101, and first Battery Box check-in | 3.5 hours total |
| 1.5 hours total |
Working through Intro Project | 4 hours per week for 3 weeks (12 hours total) |
Current Projects
These are the main tasks we have yet to do in Fall 2023. We’ll try to assign everyone to the task they’re most interested in! More details can be found in each task’s Trello card (ask Donna if you need someone to add you to Trello) and by contacting each task’s project lead.
Trello: https://trello.com/b/V6Ktj92J/battery-box (not sure if we want to put the link or if we’re trying to keep the Trello as clean as possible with less members, feel free to delete)
Project | Description | More Information |
|---|---|---|
Auxiliary Battery | Smaller battery pack separate from the main batteries. Serves several purposes:
Relevant tasks: | Project Lead: Darton Li For more information: |
Battery Module Manufacturing | Our main battery pack is made up of 9 modules connected in series, with each module being made up of Li-ion 21700 cells in a 4S8P configuration. Relevant tasks:
| Project Lead: Donna Kim For more information: |
BMS (Battery Management System) | Battery packs are dangerous to use without an electrical system that checks its health/state (temperature, current, voltage, charge balance). The BMS actively keeps track of the state of the modules and actively protects the cells while also informing the driver of the state of the pack. Relevant tasks:
| Project Lead: Jenna K. For more information: |
Enclosure | The enclosure is the box that holds the main battery pack and also the BMS boards. Relevant tasks:
| Project Lead: Nicole Choe (You can also contact Shem Kim if Nicole is busy/unavailable) For more information: |
Telemetry | Our Strategy team uses data about the battery pack to figure out how to optimally use the energy we have stored. They will be following our car in a separate car (not a solar car, just an ordinary one), getting sent this data and communicating with the driver during the race. We have to send this data wirelessly to the car, which is what Telemetry is about. | Project Lead: Katharine Laughton For more information:
|
This is just a brief overview of the projects we’re working on. As you can see, Battery Box is a cool mix of Mechanical, Software, and Electrical engineering (perfect for Trons, anyone interested in branching out to other engineering fields, or if you’re just trying to diversify your toolbox). Fall 2023 is when we’re going really heavy into the manufacturing phase for our sub-team, so it’s going to be a great way to get hands-on experience + some design work as well!
MSXV Battery Box Table of Contents