Positive Energy
Event Location: Cocoa-FL
Competition: Junior Solar Sprint
Division: 4-6 (JSS Green)
School: Coquina Elementary
Team Name: Groovy
Project Name: Positive Energy
Team Size: 5
Fixing the connector on the bottom was one of our first tasks. We had connected the wrong eyelet at Destination Mars and wanted to make sure we had a strong connection that was centered the correct way.
Adding the electric tape was tricky because it was so small. The hardest part was figuring out the wiring and making sure it would all stay connected. This took patience and lots of help! We added switches to the car so we could flip a switch and not rely on the clips to the batteries or solar panel.
This is Positive Energy. Our car measures 11 inches long, 5 1/2 inches wide, ad 4 3/4 inches tall. It has a gear ratio of 2:1 and we chose that ratio for the bigger gear. The gears seemed to move so much smoother when we tested it so we stuck with it. Our car weighs 10.4 oz with the AA batteries and 8.8 oz without and it did not blow away in the wind we had when we were testing the car.
Coquina Elementary 6th grade team!
Digital Logbook
| Date: 3/19/24 | Task: Design change | Time on Task: 1 hr. |
| Attendance: Riley, Amaya | ||
| We went over the rules and requirements for the solar competition and talked about the design changes for the solar car. We drew a design change and made a list of parts. | ||
| Date: 3/20 | Task: Design | Time on Task: 1 hr. |
| Attendance: Riley, Amaya, Neveah | ||
| The car was taken apart and the door was cut for the payload container. The lid was glued to the base of the car in the old Mars dirt collection box. The axles were realigned and glued into place with new axle holders. | ||
| Date: 4/01 | Task: Continue Rebuild | Time on Task: 1 hr. |
| Attendance: Leilani, Amaya, Riley, Neveah, Arianna | ||
| The wires were taken off and reconnected with power switches to control the solar panel or the batteries. We cut the sides to add to the car and added the stickers. We also watched a video on gear ratio and building solar cars. | ||
| Date: 4/02 | Task: Start the website and finish the car | Time on Task: 1 hr. |
| Attendance: Leilani, Amaya, Riley, Neveah, Arianna | ||
| We attached the electric tape and finished gluing all the pieces in place. We worked on the information for the website, including the gear ratio understanding, and took all of the measurements. | ||
| Date: 4/03 | Task: car drawing | Time on Task: 1 hr |
| Attendance: Leilani, Amaya, Riley, Neveah, Arianna | ||
| We had a Girls in Stem meeting that cut into our time for our solar car build, but we were able to check our specifications and change our alignment one more time. We also wrote our video speeches. | ||
| Date: 4/04 | Task: test the car and finish the website | Time on Task: 2 hrs. |
| Attendance: Amaya, Neveah, Leilani | ||
| We recorded our videos, took pictures, and made sure we had all our information correct. We tested our car outside in the sun with battery and without. We needed one gear adjustment and were done. | ||
Test Runs
| Vehicle Test Information | Test 1 | Test 2 | Test 3 |
| Solar or Battery | Solar | Battery | Solar |
| Weather | Sunny some clouds | Sunny some clouds | Sunny |
| Date and Time of Day | 04/04/2024 3:10 pm | 04/04/2024 3:17 pm | 04/04/2024 3:25 pm |
| Distance Traveled | 20 ft | 20 ft | 20 ft |
| Time Elapsed | 18 seconds | 4.78 seconds | 6.78 seconds |
| Speed (distance divided by time) | 1.11 ft per sec | 4.18 ft per sec | 2.94 ft per sec |
| Comments and performance | First try. Was slow and seemed stuck on the pavement. There was a cloud overhead as well. | The battery run was fast and straight. | Much faster without clouds. |
| Ideas for improving the car’s performance (if any) | Picked up the car and moved a gear over away from the base of the car. This made the wheels move faster. | The car did not really go straight on the pavement so we checked the alignment again and it was correct. | Need to retape one of the connections. |
beautiful work ladies!😁
Very nice documentation and website.
Good job making improvements to your vehicle and adapting it for the Junior Solar Sprint competition. Clever reuse of the payload space!