1. The Basics Chuck Oravec
Lab Supervisor in Department of Physics – Occidental College
7th Year with the Solar Cup
(323)
solarcup.org
October 14, 2016
Solar Cup 2017

2. The Basics My Responsibilities: Participate in New Teachers Workshop
Put on the technical presentations at all of the workshops with help from 22 Oxy students and my other team members.
Grade technical reports
Woody & I perform school visits
Assist teams who need extra help
Inspect boats at races
October 14, 2016
Solar Cup 2017

3. Workshops New Teachers Workshop
Rules, Guidelines and General Information
Planning and building your boat
Timelines
Demo and discussion of the motor circuit
October 14, 2016
Solar Cup 2017

4. Workshops 1st Technical Workshop at MWD 12/3 Students – Teachers –
Electric Motors
Small amount of theory
Build an electric motor
Electric Circuits
Series parallel circuits
Ohms Law
Report Writing
Teachers –
Drive Train installation
Rule changes
General discussions
October 14, 2016
Solar Cup 2017

5. Workshops 2nd Technical Workshop at Oxy 2/4
Boat Electrical Circuit Building
Reserve a demo board
Bring your own components if you have any
Solar Power
Battery Management
Drive Train Optimization
Report Writing
PSM
October 14, 2016
Solar Cup 2017

6. Bad News First
You are (probably) not going to win the MWD Solar Cup this year
The first year is for learning
October 14, 2016
Solar Cup 2017

7. Rookie Goals Have Fun Don’t get too ambitious
Instill a safety culture within your team
Learn as much as possible for next year
Learn time management.
October 14, 2016
Solar Cup 2017

8. You May Say
But really, I think I can win (or at least do really really well) please what is my best strategy?
October 14, 2016
Solar Cup 2017

9. Boat Building Workshop
Use suggested tool kit as a base
Look at the tool sets of other teams for ideas
Watch how other teams build their boats
Don’t be afraid to ask questions of other teams
Don’t worry if your boat isn’t perfect, it won’t affect your performance at all.
October 14, 2016
Solar Cup 2017

10. A Possible Plan Follow Solar Cup Planning and Building V7.0
Use Patrick Donovan’s Drive Train Kit
Attend Jim Donovan’s presentation during the workshops at Oxy
Ask for help early
If you’re wondering if it’s time to ask for help, it’s already to late
October 14, 2016
Solar Cup 2017

11. Batteries Attend the Battery Workshop at Oxy in February
Choosing the correct batteries
Testing battery capacity
Endurance Race strategy
Solar charging your batteries
Extra battery sets
Coming to races with only one set of batteries is not recommended
October 14, 2016
Solar Cup 2017

12. Tech Reports
Use sample tech reports given out in the workshops as a guide to assigning tasks to your team members.
Dr. Hightower will go over the sample reports in detail.
Use Solar Cup Planning and Building V 7.0 to fill in the details
Divide up the tasks and give everyone a chance to contribute.
October 14, 2016
Solar Cup 2017

13. Ask for Help Ask early – we get pretty busy as the race nears.
School visit in March – April is meant to be a progress check.
If you need extra help we will come to your school to help in any way we can.
However, we will not build your boat for you.
October 14, 2016
Solar Cup 2017

14. Web Site www.solarcup.org
All of today’s presentations will be on the solar cup web site by next week.
Look in the “Documents” tab
All future workshop materials will be put up as soon as the workshops are over.
Other reference documents
October 14, 2016
Solar Cup 2017