Interiors - S2020

Welcome back all! After an abrupt ending to the W2020 term (apologies), we’re back in business. If you haven’t yet, please make sure to check out the updated Interiors MSXIV homepage. Please make sure you are on Trello as well as on all the aforementioned slack channels listed on the interiors homepage.

You’re probably wondering what’s happened with interiors and the rest of the team since we’ve last met. To update you all, the competition we were targeting (the American Solar Challenge, ASC for short) has been postponed to July 2021. Think of it like having a snow day for your hardest final. Nonetheless, we cannot afford to be complacent with this extra allotment of time. We will definitely need as much of it as we can.

tl;dr: This term will be a bit of a rebuilding process for the interiors team. We want to make it a priority to have a strong team that is well integrated amongst itself and the other subteams. Pending Adrian’s departure as the interior’s lead, a need exists to have a stable and effective interiors team that will continue to kick butt as we continue to develop MS XIV for July 2021. The first week of the term will be spent establishing our workflow (given our remote status) and developing good practices for the future. We will put what we have learned into practice by tackling our first project (the battery box cover) which we hope to have wrapped up by midterms (June 20th).

What has happened so far:

Following the completion of ASC 2018, which was our first successful entry into the multi-occupant solar car scene (MOV for short), we set off to build a 4-seater vehicle with improved efficiency and practicality in order to increase our competitiveness. Our goal was to have the top-scoring MOV in all of North America (expected to be competing against ~5-10 other schools the MOV category).

Over the F2018 term, we laid the groundwork for what would be our next vehicle. Midnight Sun 14 (MS XIV, for short) would be a 4-seater MOV with a form-factor driven nearly entirely by aerodynamics. We also decided on opting for a composite monocoque chassis (i.e. minimal amount of metal structure in order to save weight and space) as well as purchasing new motors and motor controllers (due to their high cost we had been using the same out-dated motors for the last several cars). In addition to the technical updates, several team restructuring updates were made too. Importantly, the interiors subteam was established to ensure a car built by a bunch of engineers would also be practical, comfortable, and aesthetically pleasing to be inside.

Over the W2019 and S2019 further work was done to develop the overall shape of the car. The major features included subdividing the interior of the car lengthwise into two halves (we call them pontoons) which are separated by a long tunnel running from the front to back of the car (we call it the catamaran). This reduces the amount of air being forced around the car which in turn reduces aerodynamic pressure drag. In addition, the architecture for the suspension, chassis, and steering was developed during this time.

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Image above: Pontoon boat

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Image above: Catamaran

From the interiors side, CAD models were created for the range of occupant sizes expected to be inside the car. Seating positions (i.e seat back angles, passenger legroom) were determined to ensure the car was as streamlined as possible while still fitting people inside. A wooden interiors mock-up was created to help evaluate our designs and test them in real-life. Additionally, the list of key practicality features (i.e rearview cameras, speakers, steering wheel and pedal set-up, Tesla-esque infotainment display) were decided on.

Finally, over the F2019 and W2020 terms the brunt of the CAD design was completed for the mechanical systems of the car. With the underlying architecture of the interiors decided on, these 2 terms were spent designing the overall look of the interiors as well as beginning the modelling the large interior panels. We established our “fire on the mountain” design which we wanted to aspire towards. The interior design we decided on was part of the Lightyear One vehicle, a “commercial” solar car designed by alumni of the Eindhoven solar car team (they have won the last 4 World Solar Challenges, WSC, in Australia). The key guiding principles of interior design include a minimalistic modern design with the use of fabrics, wooden accents, and a muted grey colour palette.

Using the geometry and rough interior CAD, concept sketches were created to help provide inspiration and vision to further detailed component design.

Throughout the entire team, there were concerns in regards to the completion of the car in time for competition in July 2020. With set-backs in part manufacturing, composites lay-ups, and electrical hardware and firmware challenges, it was decided as a team to withdraw from ASC 2020.

 But that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked.

Closures of businesses and universities as a result of global pandemic all but sealed our fate to not have a completed car in time for July of 2020. However, the decision by the competition organizers to postpone ASC to the following year (July 2021) provided us with a second chance to complete MSXIV in time.

What’s next:

Based on what we’ve learned over the last several terms, we’ve realized that some changes needed to be made to how we operate as a team. For interiors, the 2 main changes were: 1) a need for improved communication with the other subteams/PM’s and 2) a need for better team coherency and flow.

To address the first point, we’ve restructured to include one PM per subteam (Kristen) and having regular weekly meetings with the rest of the mechanical team and hardware/firmware teams (Wednesday evening stand-up).

To address the second point, we’ve come to realize that our priority must be shifted to put our team members first. This means focusing on the development of the interior team members before attempting to tackle our tasks as the interiors team. What you can expect is more frequent 1-on-1’s, more regular inter-team dialogue, more hands-on design practice, and changing how we work to better involve the entire interiors team.

For this term, we will start with a one week team exercise to iron-out workflows and how we break-down projects into distributable tasks. Following this, we will begin tackling our first project of designing the battery box cover. Compared to previous terms, we will only be focusing only on a single project at a time and working to involve the entire interiors team. The goal is to achieve better results through building up a stronger, more interdependent team than we ever have in the past.