Well now that everyone is busy with exams the shop is pretty quiet. One of the many things I've been looking forward to talking about for a while now has been the solar cell array. The array is the power house of the car and the main factor as to how well the car will do in the upcoming race.
For the first time ever the UC Solar Team is constructing its own array. In the past we have outsourced the work to an industry professional. Constructing an array all on our own is no small feat. Assembling almost 2000 cells into a large 6m^2 array is very painstaking and delicate work. Also at 4 connecting pads per cell this means that roughly 8000 tabs will have to be cut, bent, and soldered. The cells are also incredibly fragile and a slip up can result in instant solar cell conffeti (I know from experience). There is also another process that must be done to the cells before they go onto the car called encapsulation but that will be for next week.
Building the array in house has many advantages though. We we're able, with the help of one of our sponsors (Day4Energy) to test each cell we had in stock (about 2200) and eliminate bad cells as well as match compatible cells with each other to optimize the array. We we're also able to manufacture the panels in odd shapes to fit certain areas of the car as well as make last minute changes to the array layout.
The array team is now working on panel #13 counting down from 35 so only about a third of the array remains to be completed...
See ya next week.
Tim Gamber
Electrical Engineering Manager