Sunstrike
Event Location: Cocoa-FL
Competition: Junior Solar Sprint
Division: 4-6 (JSS Green)
School: Orlando Science Schools
Team Size: 3
Car Name: Sunstrike
Project Log
Time: 30 minutes
Members: Arjun, Omar
Date: 9/22/2021
Tasks: Got the kit and inspected items, then we started planning how we would design the car. Achieved a few good sketches.
Obstacles: Trying to come up with good designs and deciding which gears we would use.
Time: 45 minutes
Members: Arjun, Omar
Date: 9/29/2021
Tasks: We decided we would go with the 40:10 gear. We started cutting the holes for the gears so that they can fit on to the motor.
Obstacles: Choosing which gear we would go with and trying to make the hole so it fits snugly on to the motor.
Time: 20 minutes
Date: 10/6/2021
Tasks: We put the axle through the gear and wheels and glued the back axle on the the body.
Obstacles: Getting the wheels onto the back axle (it’s tough) and making sure the gear is aligned. We also made sure the back axle was straight.
Time: 20 minutes
Members: Arjun, Omar
Date: 10/13/2021
Tasks: We glued the front the axle to the body of the car, then we put the wheels on the front axle, we also glued the motor onto the body of the car.
Obstacles: Making sure we glued the front axle straight.
Time: 30 minutes
Members: Arjun
Date: 10/20/2021
Tasks: We cut a styrofoam ball in half and glued it onto the center of the car. The styrofoam ball was support for our solar panel.
Obstacles: Cutting the styrofoam exactly in half and making sure the styrofoam that when we attach the solar panel to the styrofoam, it does not interfere with the wheels.
Time: 35 minutes
Members: Arjun, Omar, Atharv
Date: 10/27/2021
Tasks: We also added the battery pack to the car so that if it isn’t a sunny day we can still run the car.
Obstacles: Making sure the wires don’t interfere with the axles and the wheels.
Time: 25 minutes
Members: Arjun, Omar, Atharv
Date: 11/3/2021
Tasks: We got Velcro and placed it on the Styrofoam ball. The motor also was starting to come off so we had to glue it again.
Obstacles: Making sure that the Velcro was dead center. Also, the Velcro kept coming off so we had to try multiple times.
Time: 40 minutes
Members: Arjun, Omar, Atharv
Date: 11/10/2021
Tasks: We tried it outside, and we used the exact distance that they use in the competition, and saw that it curved a bit.
Obstacles: The car curved a bit, and we lined it up so it could get the most sunlight.
Time: 30 minutes
Members: Arjun, Omar, Atharv
Date: 11/17/2021
Tasks: We had to fix up the axle because the wheels kept hitting the car.
Obstacles: We had to reglue the entire axle.
Time: 25 minutes
Members: Arjun, Omar, Atharv
Date: 11/24/2021
Tasks: We tested the car inside, but Omar let it crash into a chair, so Atharv and Arjun reglued the motor.
Obstacles: We had to reglue the motor back into its original position.
Time: 40 minutes
Members: Arjun, Atharv
Date: 12/29/2021
Tasks: We created our account.
Obstacles: Very painful process.
Time: 40 minutes
Members: Arjun, Atharv
Date: 2/5/2022
Tasks: We started creating this website.
Obstacles: Remembering what we did.
Time: 1 hour
Members: Arjun, Atharv
Date: 2/8/2022
Tasks: We worked on this website… a lot.
Obstacles: Nothing really, it was fun
Seems like you had fun building and testing your vehicle. Good idea using a battery pack since the sun isn’t always shining brightly. Part of the Engineering process is to anticipate potential blocks to operation, such as clouds for a solar car. Great job.
I like how you used the Engineering Design Process to continue improving your design. Also, the velcro is genius! That way you can keep changing the angle 🙂
Like Ms. Knight wrote, I really like the detailed log of your progress. I appreciate the honesty and humor, especially about using WordPress and creating web pages.
I love how you kept a diary of all your ideas and how you had to modify things! Your hard work has paid off- your project is awesome!
Keep up the great work!
Arjun, Omar, Atharv, your sunstrike looks so cool! What a great collaborative effort you showed to create this. The log you documented shows the time and effort you put into this project. I am curious if you had a design or blueprint to show?
Great presentation and implementation of your idea!