Define a Problem
The goals of this project is to get the car moving, to include either a solar panel or hydrogen cell, and to reach 3 meters the fastest.
Generating Concepts
One of the first ideas i thought of was to make the car thinner and smaller. This would mean less energy used to move the weight. I could see why people would go with the basic design since it works but i feel like this design could be a little more efficient. Using my calculation, it would seem that the battery puts out the best power and that the combo i chose was a series circuit with a solar panel and two AA batteries. Parallel circuit could work but it would be better and more efficient with a series.
Develop A Solution
Construct And Teat Prototype
includes solar cell and 2 twin packs of AA batteries.
Moved 1 meter
Moved 1 meter
Evaluate Solution
My experience with the solar panels and hydrogen cells were decent. Don't get me wrong it was cool messing and learning how to use them. I kinda wish it could have been on a bigger thing other that a car but this was a good start. The wiring was also a good start since it got everyone some experience. The testing in the packets was a pain in the behind but i understand it was for the better. One thing i really enjoyed is getting everything right and seeing your car start moving. Its like seeing a baby walk for the first time, it's pretty dope. The machine didn't even work until i put batteries on it. I still think it would be faster with batteries since it is a more reliable source of energy and power. One of the mistakes i made was not knowing how to draw the circuits early on. I only somewhat figured out after Dylan showed how they should be drawn. Another mistake i made is not putting the gear on the other side when we were racing since it made my car make a circle which was kinda terrible. Probably the biggest is not getting the series circuit to work because if it dd it would have been faster based on the calculations of the packet.The main skill i learned was how to wire, calculate voltage and current, and how to get the vex machine working.
Present Solution
There are many limitations to solar energy. First of all we can harness it but it is not as efficient as we want. The other problem is storing it. Batteries are made out of fossil fuels and are not capable of holding all the energy of a day and night cycle for solar cells. Then even before that is even creating the cells. That takes fossil fuels which we are trying to reduce the usage of. If the cells were very efficient which at this moment they are not, we would only be needing a fuel cells to completely power things such as homes and businesses. More and more scientist are trying to figure out how to make it more efficient and i am hopeful for the future that my kids will have the luxury of not spending as much on electricity as people in this age.