Francisco-Trejo-SpartanSuperway

For the week of 5/8/19 we had our prototype evaluation. Overall the professor and Ron seemed very pleased with our final product. We had met our design goals and we were given some further advice on how to improve the structure of the canopy. We then prepared the presentation for friday. I took the lead on the presentation and had tasks assigned for each of us to complete. We were more than prepared for our presentation for Friday and I believe it is our best one yet. -Francisco Trejo

For the week of 5/1/19 I have finalized the CAD model for our prototype. I have also received the gator clamps and we have begun to lay out our materials for construction. I finished up some shop drawings that will help with assembly. For the upcoming week I will be helping finalize the assembly of our prototype and work on some FEA for certain portions of the canopy if the ansys fea does not work. We have about a week left. -Francisco Trejo

For the week of 4/24/19 we had another meeting with furman, I created our prototype on solidworks which was a smaller 3 panel array with actual cross sections of the purlins and other parts we need for full construction. He liked what we had and gave us the green light to begin purchasing parts. I began to inquire about the gator clamps and expect to receive them by tuesday of the upcoming week. -Francisco Trejo

For the week of 4/17/19 I finished creating a 9 panel array for the presentation and also met with professor Furman on tuesday to inquire more about our current progress. We found some additional purlins that might be beneficial along with a gator clamp which is exactly what we need to clamp the panels underneath. I am reaching out to the company to get a quote and learn more about their purlins. I will also set up a to-do list so the other can have tangible goals to accomplish by the time we meet with the professor next week. The end is near but there is still a lot left to do. -Francisco Trejo

For the week of 4/10/19 I worked on creating different CAD models of varying clamps to get an idea of what we are looking for. I also met with professor furman and we narrowed down the idea for a simple clamp using a standing seem clamp and C channels for the solar racking rails. Working with the other members of my team I have set tasks to make sure we can get the presentation done and CAD models with the new simplified clamp in place. I will continue to work diligently and speak with the professor to aid my team and I in completing this project. -Francisco Trejo

For the week of 3/27/19 I created a basic one panel structure so we can start to envision what our prototype will look like. After relaying more ideas to the professor we have come to an idea of what our clamp mechanism will look like. I will continue to create a structure on SW that we can work with as well as creating clamping mechanisms to see there validity. We are making great progress and hope to keep the momentum up leading into April -Francisco Trejo

For the week of 3/20/19 we managed to design some frames on solidworks to have a structure to work with. Jordan has come up with some of ideas that are really getting us thinking on better ways to clamp the solar panels from underneath. For next week we are focusing on getting a racking solution for the panels to see how the clamp will interact with both the panel and the solar racking. I will follow up with the velcro people but have yet to get a reply. More and more work and effort needs to go into our project. Spring break will be a crucial time for us to really get at it. Here's to staying positive. -Francisco Trejo

For the week of 3/13/19 we sat down with Furman and the others and went through the curent designs we had in mind. Overall it was a great brainstorming session and we left with clear goals and what to do next. Fully focusing our efforts on providing methods for bottom installation, we have come up with great ideas. This following week we will continue to generate concepts and hope to narrow down which ones to begin prototyping some. -Francisco Trejo

For the week of 3/6/19 we presented our presentation to the class and a friend of Ron's. Our presentation was well delivered but it has come to our attention that some parts of our design have unfortunately missed the mark. Personally I will step up and do what is necessary to ensure that my team and I can achieve success. -Francisco Trejo

For the week of 2/27/19 we were preparing for the upcoming presentation. We have worked on finalizing the design and have found the solar panels that we will be using for the canopy. The design has been reworked with a bit in order to accommodate the clamping system we found thanks to Ralion. Overall this weeks attention will be dedicated to completing the presentation. -Francisco Trejo

For the week of 2/20/19 we had a meeting with both FUrman and Ron to hammer out some final design requirements for the solar canopy. Specifically speaking with Ron we narrowed down the top 3 must haves for the design Able to be manufactured using industry standard parts aesthetically pleasing have a water collection system With help from Ralion we are close to figuring out where we can have a workspace. He is also assisting with some of the calculations and mounting solutions thanks to his connections. We're working to have meetings outside of class to further discuss what needs to be accomplished in order to have a successful semester. -Francisco Trejo

For the week of 2/13/19 we will continue to work on our design and now with a more settled budget we can be much more realistic with what we can build. We are working to figure out how much floor space we will need for makers faire so we can let Eric know for the application. Other than that we are still working on a finished design and considering other options to build something for makers faire. -Francisco Trejo

For the week of 2/6/19 we finally met at the new facility and spent most of the day getting our bearings. We talked with Furman and Ron about scaling down or project due to our lack of floor space and the general consensus was that we will continue to build a full scale model. We have delegated task on slack and look forward to starting the semester and improving. -Francisco Trejo

For the week of  12/5/18 we have begun to work on the final project report. The workload will be distributed equally among all 3 group members and we hope to finish our first draft by the 14th and use the rest of the time to make any necessary revisions. I am still gathering more information from the 3M companies to get back to use on their potential use for our project. With the unfortunate news that the SSDC will no longer be allowing us the given space we are a bit uncertain about the future of our project. If we need to scale down the project and build a miniature version of it we could potentially build a full set of canopies to get a better idea of how they would look stretched out on the track. -Francisco Trejo

For the week of 11/28/18 we presented our presentation #3 to the class. We received great feedback from both professor Furman and Ron. While we did not have every aspect of our design ready for the presentation we are confident that we will have the rest within a weeks time. I have gotten in contact with the vendors for the 3M velcro and hope to hear about one of their distribution centers soon so we can get a price estimate on the 3M velcro. We will soon begin to work on the final report for our project and that will be encompassing the majority of our time for the rest of the semester. -Francisco Trejo

For the week of 11/14/18 we met with professor Furman to get insight on how we are doing so far with our project. He gave us good advice on what we still need to improve and do further research on. Since we are not meeting for 11/21/18 we have developed extensive tasks for each other over thanksgiving break and everything is being communicated on Slack. I will be looking into varying racking solutions for the solar panels, we have a preliminary design but other options are necessary. I will also be constructing a rapid prototype out of toothpicks to get a sense of what our finalized design might look like. While looking into potential sponsors I found that Sunpower has a university program that offer their products at a discount, we will be applying for that program and will attempt to approach them directly as well. -Francisco Trejo

For the week of 11/7/18 we heard of the unfortunate news that may befall our senior projects if we are unable to keep being at the current location. With the negative news this has not deterred us from coming back and fully achieving all the goals we have set out for the project. We came up with a better set of deliverables to have by class next week utilizing the Slack website. I am to conduct further research on ways to fasten the solar panels onto the canopy, I will be referring to Sunpower and do some research and see if they would be able to sponsor us and provide some of their panel mounting systems. With the uncertainty of the warehouse however this may be futile as there would be nowhere to place the panels but will follow up on that in the future. -Francisco Trejo

For the week of 10/31/18 we got together and further developed out ideas on how to assemble our canopy system. We have a few different ideas on how to get everything on top of the canopy but after our meeting with the instructors we now have new methods to take into consideration. Weekly team calls continue to benefit the team and keep us on track. -Francisco Trejo

For the week of 10/24/18 we presented our Presentation 2 to the class. We got some well needed feedback for what we can improve on as well as a better idea of what we need to accomplish. We need to converse with the guideway team to make sure our canopy can integrate well with theirs. One big aspect is how we will connect multiple parts of the canopy together and as a team we need to come together to figure that out. It has taken a while for our team to form the correct chemistry to effectively work together but I believe we are finally starting to go down the right track. -Francisco Trejo

For the week of 10/17/18 we were able to start constructing our powerpoint for presentation number 2. We looked over the comments left from presentation 1 and discussed n how we can further address those issues and improve. Further development for the CAD models are under way and expect to have 2/3 different designs by Oct 31. Weekly zoom meetings are proving to be very beneficial on top of meeting on wednesdays so we will continue to keep that up as the semester goes by. -Francisco Trejo