Solar Enclosure Placement

Evaluate different options for the placement of the solar enclosure. Connect with Chassis, Aerobody, and Electrical teams about different options and considerations.

Considerations

Other things to think about:

• Access for debugging electrical boards when inside the system?

• How do we remove the enclosure to debug the boards outside the system?

• Enclosure size and layout

  • Solar sense board is 112mm x 213.5mm

  • Nomura board size is 40.0 x 90.0 x 16.2 mm (W x L x H) OR 90mm(W)×40mm(D)×19mm(H)

  • Nomura boards must face solar panels

  • Minimum interior height > 16.2mm

  • Minimum interior width > 240mm (6 nomura widths)

  • Minimum interior length > 202mm (Nomura + solar sense height)

Options

Present a few options with screenshot locations and discuss pros and cons.

• left side bar under trunk hinges

  • Open

    

    Pros:

    • Shorter wiring run when compared with placing it on trailer bars, decreasing electrical losses

  • Cons:

    • Longer wiring runs compared to catamaran cover.

    • Possibly difficult to access

• On top of Catamaran Cover (which runs between the A and C planes, in the middle of the car)

Open

Beautiful Swigglies

• Pros:

  • Short wiring run which decreases electrical loss

  • Does not interfere with the trunk hinges

• Cons:

  • Makes accessing rear electronics enclosure more difficult

  • Adds extra weight on top of Catamaran cover

• Flat against trailer bars

  • Pros:

    • Does not interfere with trunk hinges

  • Cons:

    • A lot of electrical loss due to the long wiring needed to go

Note this page about locations on the chassis: Chassis Mounting Reservations (Slide 40 in the linked google drive presentation is about the Solar Enclosure)

Areas of Caution

Chassis Considerations

• Braking Mechanism on lower left area of C-Plane

  • Reason: Interferes with the rear brake lines of Dynamics Assembly

• Seats near the C-Bulkheads

  • Caution: Seats block us from placing the solar enclosure on the front-facing side of the Bulkhead C

• Trunk Hinges

  • Caution: Do not mount enclosure in the upper part on the back of the C-Plane as this will interfere with the trunk hinges.

• Seat Belt Mounts on Middle-Lower section of C-Plane

Electrical Considerations

• Charger and ACS Charge Monitor

  • Caution: Space limited on the rear trailer bars for placing the solar enclosure placement

• Vehicle Charger Input

  • Caution: Don’t place the solar enclosure near the top left and right sides on the C-Plane as it interferes with the charger inputs and the trunk hinges

• Brake Light

  • Caution: Make sure that the solar enclosure does not interfere with the brake lights

• Motor Controllers on the trailer bars

  • Type: secondary consideration