Solar Boat Design
For the first major project of the year in Advanced Computer Engineering Graphics, we were assigned to design and build a solar boat as group project; ready to race on the date it was set to be due. We were given certain materials to use: a brown paper bag, 4 ping pong balls, a couple types of board, a set of gears, a metal rod, a straw, velcro, a solar panel, a battery, and a motor. From then on you were allowed to use a plastic bottle and 3D design and print any other parts desired.
Our first design was based loosely on a neat looking solar boat; sleek in design. At first, we decided we wanted to 3D print almost all of the parts to semi model off of that boat's look. In fact, the only parts given to us that we were going to use was a water bottle, a couple gears, the motor, the rod, the solar panel, and the battery. Our 3D parts in the plan included skates, a dagger board, a propellor, and a specially designed base with slots for gears and the panel. I personally was assigned to do the skates while Tobias handled the base and Kyle took the speed aspects; propellor and dagger board.
The skates were designed to float on water with a hollow inner design; they also had squares to be even lighter and add a prominent design. The propellor was created large with the idea of moving more water (a mistake as we later learned). The dagger board was slim and attractive and matched the rest of the design. The base was perfect for fitting the gears and the panel; and also floated like the skates. When we had all finished designing our parts in 3D Studio Max, we realized that we had overrun a budget in printing and supplies. Because of this, we elected to remove the base (as it was the biggest part and used the most plastic); this was a huge curve ball in our designing process.
Our next plan of action was to design a new base with the parts given to us. We used the thick poster board and measured out slots leading into the water bottle for the gears and motor. We then built an above base platform out of wooden boards for the solar panel; inevitibely tying it between the boards. After this, the 3D parts that remained were hot glued onto the base.
The test floats and runs did not go as planned. The 3D parts and glue weighed down the incredibly light base. All of these aspects caused the boat to sink on one side and run in circles. It was essentially a water tank, and so we dubbed it "Sherman" before we rethought a new plan.
After a few more rebuilds, we finally had a working model with a much smaller propeller and addition of 'balancers-' wooden boards with ping pong balls on the end. The balancers replaced the skates and held the boat up straight.
On race day, despite all of our hardships, we came out on top, beating out the rest of the class' boats. "Slim Sherman" was dubbed the winner.
Our final working design, as re-drawn on Sketchup, is as follows: