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Design of the Centaurus
Centaurus is the University of Minnesota's 8th generation solar
vehicle. Design work on Centaurus began in earnest in the fall of
2006, and major construction began in the fall of 2007. The car was completed in late June of 2008.
Aerodynamics
 Due to rule changes for the 2008 North American Solar Challenge, the
Centaurus aerodynamics team had to deviate significantly from past
designs. New rules mandated an upright driver seating position, which
required a much taller car. A variety of designs were created in
SurfaceWorks, and tested in Ansys/CFX. Once a design was chosen,
female molds were created in order to produce the actual aeroshell
through a fiberglass a nomex core lay-up process. Fiberglass was
chosen for both the top and bottom of the car this year due to its
light weight and lack of electrical conductivity. Carbon fiber was
used strategically to reinforce lift points on the bottom of the car.
Array
One of the many things that the team takes great pride in is the car's
solar array. The UMNSVP is one of the very few collegiate teams that
research, test, string, encapsulate, and assemble their entire solar
array in-house. Market availability led the team to choose A-300 silicon cells over the gallium-arsenide cells used in the Borealis series cars. The array team used the laminator designed and built
by the Borealis III team to construct Centaurus's solar array to exacting standards.
Electrical
 The team is extremely proud that nearly all of the electrical
components on the car are designed and manufactured in-house. Building
off of years of work done by previous teams, the Centaurus electrical
team redesigned all of the electrical systems on the car with an eye
towards reliability and ease of maintenance. Improvements to the power
trackers, battery protection, and driver interface circuitry have been
coupled with a re-written and cleaned up codebase. A new, custom
designed motor and motor controller are included on Centaurus, although
backward compatibility with the old motor and controller has been
maintained. The team is very excited to see how the new electrical
system performs in competition.
Mechanical
 The mechanical team produces one of the most reliable and cleanly
designed cars in collegiate solar racing. Improving on the excellent
reliability and durability of Borealis II and III, the team continued
to optimize previous designs. The chassis was constructed out of
fiberglass composite panel. Double A-arm suspension was used up front,
while a single swing-arm was utilized in the rear. |
