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Week 9

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Week 9 Goals: Analyze test data, work on final report and final presentation This week the group had two main goals. The first of these was to analyze the data collected from the stationary and mobile tests that were performed. Tables 1 and 2 display the data gathered for the stationary and moving tests respectively. It is quite clear that the moving solar cells were much more effective than those that were stationary. While the voltage decreased with each measurement for that stationary panel, that of the mobile cells stayed relatively consistent. This shows that the moving solar cells gather more energy throughout a certain time period. Table 1: Results from Stationary Test Table 2: Results from Mobile Test The second goal was to begin working on the final report and presentation. For the final report not much is left to be done. In the previous week, the group completed a final draft which was then submitted and commented on by the section instructor and TA. E...
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Week 8

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Goals: Continue Prototype Testing and Reassemble Solar Cells Throughout the duration of this week, the group continued to work on the prototype and to gather data. Everything worked well except for the fact that we needed four solar cells to be able to generate enough voltage that could be picked up with a voltmeter. Unfortunately, the need for four solar cells meant that it was too heavy to be moved by an servo coded by an Arduino chip. Therefore we compromised and decided to move it ourselves and manually move it a certain degree every hour. Everything seemed to be working well until when we reached the end of the testing and the prototype that was sitting on the ground was picked up by the wind and thrown over to the other side. The force shattered the fragile solar cells and completely ruined the prototype. Before this happened, we were able to gain a lot of data for our project but we weren’t able to finish up those results. Therefore, this week in the lab we worked on making ...
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Week 7

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Goals: Assemble Solar Cells and Start Prototype Testing The group set out to achieve two main goals this week. The first of which was to assemble and test the solar cells to ensure they were function properly. With the help of Mohammad Nozari, this goal was achieved. On Thursday, two of the group members, Abbey and Rebecca, met with Mohammad to discuss how to properly assemble the cells and clear up any other questions the group had in regards to solar energy in general. The following day, Abbey went to the innovation studio and assembles a one by four solar panel that would be used for prototype testing. The image displayed below, titled Figure 1, shows the final product of the fully wired solar cells.  Figure 1: Completed Solar Cell Once the solar cells were wired, prototype testing was able to being. Due to the fact the window frame was too heavy for the servos to lift, a smaller prototype was created. This can be seen in Figure 2a, 2b, and 2c below. Two sets ...
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Week 6

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Goal: Start Construction of Solar Cells, Continue Debugging Code, and Write Final Draft This week, the group set out to achieve multiple goals, beginning with the construction of the solar cells. Rather than order individual solar cells, the group chose to opt for a complete solar cell kit. The kit included fifteen six inch by six inch solar cells, a flux pen, a soldering iron,  and tabbing wire. All of these items are pictured below in Figure 1. Assembling the solar cells proved to be more of a challenge than initially anticipated. The instructions included in the kit were very vague and, due to the group’s lack of solar cell knowledge, were very confusing. To insure we assembled them in the proper manner, we reached out to Mohammad Nozari, a TA here at Drexel to answer a few of our questions and help guide us through the process. He is currently doing research regarding solar cells and kindly agreed to meet with us during the upcoming week. Figure 1: Solar Cell Kit Compo...
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Week 5

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Goal: Complete Construction of Window and Debug Code Two goals were laid out for this week, beginning with completing the construction of the window frame. The measurements for all aspects of the frame can be found in Table 1 of the Week 4 post. Figure 1 pictured below, displays the unassembled pieces of wood used to make the frame. The pieces of wood on the left were used for the overlay while the pieces of the right were used to assemble the frame itself. Figure 2 and 3 show the the fully assembled version of the overlay and frame respectively. The solar cells that will be used for this project arrived in the mail this week and they will begin to be tested and attached to the window in lab this coming week. Figure 1: Unassembled Frame Base and Overlay Figure 2: Overlay of the Window (Solar Cells Attach to this Portion) Figure 3: Base of Window Fram The second goal was to debug the existing code to fix any issues that still need to be resolved. Acquir...
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Week 4

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Goal: Begin Construction of Window and Generate Majority of Code The group set forth two main goals for this week, the first of which was to start the construction of the frame and base for the window. In lab, basic measurements were laid out for the window; These measurements can be seen below in Table 1. The window will move through various angles depending on where the sun is located in order to maximize the amount of energy it can make. The motor, which will power the movement of the solar cell covered window overly, will be connected to an Arduino chip. Code written by the group will make the overlay rotate a certain number of degrees in a specific amount of time . The general path the solar cells will travel through is pictured below in Figure 1 and a CAD drawing of what the outermost frame will look like is down in Figure 2. The green colored boxes in Figure 2 represent the solar cells and the yellow lines represent the visible part of the wooden frame. Table 1: Basic Me...
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Week 3

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Goal: Order Majority of Materials and Write Skeleton of Code One of the main goals for this week was to order the majority of the materials needed to create this product. The two things that purchased were the Solar Panel Cell Kit as well as the LED light strips. It is estimated that these items should arrive within the next week.  Once the group gains possession of the items ordered, the building process will be able to begin.  The second main goal for this week was to gain a better understanding of the Arduino Software and create a base code to operate the system. The Arduino chip is a necessity for this project because it is an intermediate step between the motor and the window. Without it, there would be no way for the the two objects to communicate to one another, resulting in an unusable system. Figure 1, which is pictured below, displays an image of the Arduino itself along with the other parts included in the kit. Figure 1: Image of a Basic Arduino Chip ...
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