Renegade Runners

Team Information

The Renegade

Car Name: The Renegade
Team Name: NSU Renegade Runners
School Name: NSU University School
Team Members Names:
Lorenzo R and Niko M

Design Documentation

Top View without Solar Panel

Side View #1

Side View #2

Back View

Front View

Close up of our motor and gears.


Project Log

DateHoursTasks / Work DoneObstacles EncounteredModifications to Car
8/231hourWe drew our idea of what our car would look like. We started to gather materials. Since it was our first time building a solar car, it wasn’t easy to come up with a building plan.
8/301hourWe worked on creating our body.It took us a long time to cut the body.
9/61hourWe built supports to support our body’s sides.It was hard to position the support bar.
9/131hourWe taped and glued our car.The glue kept breaking apart.We put the sides up for speed.
9/201hourThe bars to hold the passenger kept falling off.Putting the passenger in the car.
9/241hourWe cut the wood for the ball-holder and cut wood for more security.It was hard to put our wheels and motor on.
10/11hourWe cut a hole to fit the motor.Time went too fast.
10/81hourWe put on our back wheels.We accidentally punctured the top right side of our car.
10/151hourWe attached the wires and alligator clips to our motor and battery pack.It took us a long time to find good gears.
10/221hourWe finished our motor system. There is a motor, switch, and battery pack. We will have to place it so that there is not too much weight in one place and so that everything fits on our car body.Time again went too fast. It is hard to get things done in a small amount of time.
10/291hourWe put on the switch and the motor.The motor fell off when we were running the car. We will have to add it back on next time and figure out how to secure it better.The switch and the motor were added to the car.
11/61hourWe put the motor on (again!).Our car went backwards! We had the wires on the wrong terminals. We decided to mark them so that it doesn’t happen again.
1/171hourWe put on the solar panel. The car looks awesome!We had to replace the wheels.
1/241hourWe put on the guide so that we could run it on the guidewire. We decided to put it underneath the car.We needed to make sure that we put the guide on straight and that it was not going to rub on the ground.guide is on the car
1/311hourWorked on Web Page.
2/281hourWorked on Web Page.
3/63hoursWorked on Web Page.
3/91 hourWe ran our car outside
3/111hourWe ran our car outside
3/161 hourWe ran our car outside on battery and on solar panel
3/173hoursWorked on Web Page. Put on The Wind Shield on the car.added part 1 of the wind shield
3/201hourWorked on Web Page. Put on the other part of The Wind Shield on the car.added part 2 of the wind shield
3/2130minWorked on Web Page.
3/221hourFinished the Webpage. When we get back from our spring break we are going to try to make changes to the car so that it will run faster.
4/31.5We added a 3cm x 3cm piece of wood to the car so that we can have our race number displayed. We also put velcro on our wires so that they would not interfere with the wheels or gears.Velcro to hold wires. Pieces of wood to display race numbers.

Design Drawings

Design Drawing: Top View

Design Drawing: Side View


Final Car Specifications

Car Size with PanelLength: 39.0cmWidth: 12.1cmHeight: 12.2 cm
Weight with Panel 105 g
Wheel SizeFront wheels: 3.7cmBack Wheels: 3.7cm
Gear Rationmotor gear: axel gear
18:60
= 3:10

Materials Used


ItemApprox. Cost
New:
Solar Made Solar Panel (3V)38.25
small white gears, wheels and axels3.99
Solar Made Motor (3V)5.25
balsa wood3.99
spacers for bearings (4)2.31
batter pack without switch0.26
switch3.85
piece of black binder comb to hold guide wire0.07
dowel pieces1.25
alligator clips (5)0.70
Consumables:
masking and duct tape
solder
Velcro
hot glue
Total Cost: 59.92

Test Results / Trial Runs

Test Runs 1 – date: 3/09/24

Weather conditions: Sunny, some clouds
Ran on panel or battery? both

Observations of results: straight

Any recommendations for improvements:

AttemptTime, S (seconds)Distance, M (meters)Speed, M/S
19.78 seconds (with battery)20 m2.04 m/s
212.80 seconds (with panel)20 m1.56 m/s
3

Test Runs 2 – date: 3/11/24

Weather conditions: Ran in hall (no sun)
Ran on panel or battery? battery

Observations of results: straight

Any recommendations for improvements:

AttemptTime, S (seconds)Distance, M (meters)Speed, M/S
16.89 s16.5 m2.39 m/s
27.69 s16.5 m2.14 m/s
37.12 s16.5 m2.31 m/s

Test Runs 3 – date: 3/16/24

Weather conditions: Great sunny day
Ran on panel or battery? panel

Observations of results: straight

Any recommendations for improvements:

AttemptTime, S (seconds)Distance, M (meters)Speed, M/S
19.03 s20 m2.21 m/s
29.40 s20 m2.12 m/s
39.62 s20 m2.07 m/s

Test Runs 4 – date: 3/16/24

Weather conditions: Great sunny day
Ran on panel or battery? Battery

Observations of results: Our car went straight

Any recommendations for improvements: Our car is going straight but we have to find a way to improve our speed.

AttemptTime, S (seconds)Distance, M (meters)Speed, M/S
110.72 s20 m1.86 m/s
212.57 s20 m1.59 m/s
3

Test Runs 1 – date: 3/17/24

Weather conditions: Great sun
Ran on panel or battery? panel

Observations of results: Our car went straight!

Any recommendations for improvements:

AttemptTime, S (seconds)Distance, M (meters)Speed, M/S
18.9320 m2.23 m/s
2
3

Video of Our Car Running


Vehicle Features Video


Additional Information

This is a picture of our two electrical circuits. It is the same DC motor in both circuits.

One thought on “Renegade Runners

  • Unique way to build holding the ball right into the basic design, instead of it looking like a last second addition. I like it!

    Reply

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