The two-week engineering project was somewhat a success but could be improved in many ways. To start with, although our solar power car was able to spin and transform the energy from the solar panels to the motor and leading the fan blade to spin. However, the energy wasn’t enough to turn into kinetic energy and actually push the car forward without any outside support. As of my project now, the solar car is able to spin on its own, but it stays at rest which does not meets the expectation of actually pushing the car forward. Some ways we could improve for future projects are that first, if we could better utilize the time given, we could better solve the issue by changing the mass of the car and the power of the motor. Maybe changing the base into plastic which weights less and buying a bigger sized or energy contained motor online in which could provide enough energy for pushing the car forward. Another thing that I can improve on for my future projects is that I should always make sure that I come up and a plan in which is able to accomplish before starting the process of making and producing. This project really reflected on why its important to plan out everything well and solid first before acting, or else the result might differ and possibly fail to meet its requirements. Last thing I could improve for this project is the collaboration between the group members, as me and Joesph each divided individual roles and jobs in which we decided to work separately first and then assemble everything together. This might seem like a time-saving way to approach the project, but it actually ruined things up, as there were miscommunication in which just messed up the plan and wasted a lot of time. Thus, for future projects, these three major lessons I went through in this project will be reconsidered and hopefully avoided.

For this project, me and my partner Joesph followed our designs and created a similar device as we planned. Although there were some slightly technique changes, however, we followed the design and were able to produce a version of ours out of it. Below is a comparison between our planned and actual product?

Planned                                    vs                                 Reality

Day 1 – Wheels + Chassis making

To began with, we first made the base and chassis of our solar powered car. Me and my parter used plastic straws and hot glued them onto the back base of our car, this was for supporting and consolidating the wooden skewers used for connecting our two wheels.

We purposefully made the back wheel longer than the front because this stabilized the center gravity of our car. By making the back wheel slightly longer, the car runs more smoothly on the track and does not wiggle around when encounters obstacles or outer interference.

Day 2 – Base making

For this lesson, me and Joesph made the base in which provided support for the solar panels, motor and wiring. We used double wood blocks and hot glued them onto the base of our solar powered car.

Day 3 – Assembling all the parts

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For this lesson, we assembled all the parts together and soldered all the connecting pieces. We first measured out the voltage of the solar panels and then found the corresponding motor in which has roughly the same amount of energy as the solar panels. However, we couldn’t find the exactly matching motor, so we went with one which had a way smaller voltage. After choosing the motors and solar panels, Joesph soldered the positive (blue) wire onto the positive side of the solar panel, and the negative (yellow) wire to the negative side of the solar panel. Then, soldering the yellow wire onto the corresponding negative side of the motor (the circle represented the positive side for the motor). Lastly, we connected the positive remaining wires onto a switch in which will control the car’s on and off functions.

Day 4+5 – Final touches + Test and Changes

Final touches

For the last step, we added a fan blade, attaching it to the back of the motor.

First test

The first test did not go as planned, as our car did not even budge a bit. [below is the video of first experiment]

Failed experiment1

As you could clearly see, when exposed under sunlight, the energy wasn’t able to be transferred from the solar panels to the motor. Facing the issue, I used the multimeter and measured both of the motor and the solar panels. Turns out, the motor wasn’t working, so we took out and replaced with a brand new motor and went for test for the second time.

The second time turns out to be a failure again. We asked Mr. Julio and Jerry for help, they suggested that the problem may be the switch interfering with the whole process, so we took out the switch and simply connected the two positive wires together by wrapping them around each other

Last and final test:

This time it finally worked. The motor was able to spin, and the fan blades were moving along with it (check video below)

Successful attempt

Final Looks

Ideas for making:

Throughout this project, I will design and build a device in which will teach the user about energy conservation. This gadget should be long-lasting while being safe for the user. It should also be visually appealing and engaging for the user. My product should be aimed for students, teachers, or adults who will utilize this device as a demonstration in order to learn concepts from it.

Energy transfer is the conversion of one kind of energy into another, or the transport of energy from one location to another. Some of the different types of natural energy transformation contains:

• Solar energy transformation (my choice)
• Wind energy transformation
• Hydro energy transformation
• Gravitational energy transformation

Solar energy transformation: Solar power is the conversion of solar energy into thermal or electrical energy. Solar energy is the cleanest and most prolific renewable energy source. Solar energy may be used for a number of purposes, including generating electricity, lighting or creating a comfortable indoor atmosphere, and heating water for household, commercial, or industrial usage. Solar energy is the radiant light and heat from the Sun that is captured in ways including solar power generation, solar thermal energy, solar water heating, and solar architecture.

Wind energy transformation: The technique of using the wind to create mechanical power or electricity is known as wind power or wind energy. Wind turbines transform the wind’s kinetic energy into mechanical energy.

Hydro energy transformation: The potential energy held in a water reservoir behind a dam is converted to mechanical/kinetic energy, by a hydroelectric dam. A hydraulic turbine converts the energy of flowing water into mechanical energy. A hydroelectric generator converts this mechanical energy into electricity.

Examples of solar energy transformation experiments (my choice):

This video is about watering plants by using solar power. For this experiment, this cardboard designed device was exposed under the sunlight as the solar panel absorbs sunlight and radiation from the sun. When the sun shines onto a solar panel, energy from the sunlight is absorbed by the PV cells in the panel. This energy creates electrical charges that move in response to an internal electrical field in the cell, causing electricity to flow. This electricity flow then allows the water to pass through the tubes and eventually waters the plants.

In this experiment, multiple energy transformation are shown. From the kinetic energy of the handle into mechanical energy of the fan, to the electric energy of the battery to the mechanical energy of the wind turbine, the solar energy of the sun being transferred into the mechanical energy of the fan.