Green Lightning!
Event Location: Cocoa-FL
Competition: Junior Solar Sprint
Division: 4-6 (JSS Green)
School: Suntree Elementary
Team Size: 4
Team Name: Green Lightning
Solar Car Name: Dark Lightning
Made by: Rogan W. (5th) Liam M. (6th) Theo C. (5th) Brady J. (5th)
January 23- Gear Ratio (1 hour) R.W., L.M., T. C., and B.J.
On our first day, we worked on the gear ratio, and by the next meet, we used a 16 to 42 gear ratio for maximum power, even though there would be a lower speed.
February 13- Prototype Flash 1 (2 hours)R.W., T.C., and B.J.
We made a prototype to see if there would be any unexpected problems with it so we could prevent those problems from happening on our real car. We saw that the motor had to be on the right of the vehicle or it went backward, so we were glad we made a prototype. We used a smaller solar panel for our prototype because we didn’t want to damage our solar panel if there was a problem.
March 21- Finished Car try 1 (3 hours)R.W., T.C., B.J, L.M.
One problem we encountered while attaching the wheels was that the car leaned backward, so we tried to fix that by putting the back wheels on the bottom, but that caused the pinion gear not to be able to turn the gear connected to the axle. We used a different pinion gear that was slightly larger, and that worked. However, the wires weren’t long enough to power the gear. So, we used another solar panel and scrapped the whole car, and started over.
March 23- Finished Car try 2 (3 hours)R.W., T.C., B.J., and L.M.
After building the base of the car, which includes the chassis and actual car body, we started deciding on a name. We thought about using the name Odin Phineas Fett, but we liked the name Dark Lightning better. We needed to use longer wires, so we used different types of wires that have alligator clips and attached those to the solar panel’s wires and the motor. We used a reused salsa dip container for our Ping pong ball carrier.
April 17, 2023, R.W., T.C., AND B.J. 1 hour
Today we got the idea to use a cork mechanism for the guide wire. You pull out the second cork and the hook drops down, allowing you to slide the guide wire in then you pull it up and add the second cork, securing the guide wire.
We did the trials today. The weather was partly cloudy. In the first trial, the time was 4 seconds. In the second one, the time was 5 seconds. In the final trial, the guide wire hook got stuck, and the time was 9 seconds. The distance of each trail was about 3 meters. We will be sure to adjust the hook before the race
April 12, 2023, T.C, R.W., B.J., AND L.M. 2 hours
We have some sketches of our car below
The drawing on the right is by Theo, and the one on the bottom was done by Rogan.
Us planning how to fix the car’s wheels
Working on the website and checking the rules
Now that we have finished our car, it is time for decorations!