SOAREBOARD

Project Description:

There are a few constraints that the project may have. The first is that our group is not very familiar with solar cells and how they would be able to work on a skateboard. We will have to do a lot of research to learn about the different kinds of solar cells and batteries needed in order to power the board, how many volts the battery can have, and how they work together to power the motor. Most of our group does not have a lot of experience with designing aside from the junior design class, so we will have to do a lot of research on how to design. A constraint with the board specifically is whether or not we should make it water resistant. Since we live in Florida, we know that it rains often and the weather is sometimes unpredictable, so we need to decide if, and how, we want to make the bottom of the board water resistant. We did not find it difficult to decide where to place the solar cells since the board will be facing up while riding, so we will have the cells on the top of the board. The constraint we have with this is what to cover the solar cells in to keep them from being damaged. After some research we decided that we would put a resin over them so it will be clear (and possibly add a slight color). Resin is a lightweight and durable material, and it will not make the board unnecessarily heavy, so it will still be easy to carry around. Since our project will have communication wirelessly to either an app or a controller, having time to test and verify everything may be another constraint. We have a timetable with our estimated dates included in this document, and we believe that this may not end up being a constraint if we get all of our materials on time and stick to our schedule. Another constraint we may have is in the app itself if that is what we decide to go with. No one in our group has ever developed an app before, let alone developed one that is used to control anything wirelessly using bluetooth. Though this seems like something that may be tough, all of our group members have programmed microcontrollers and used LCD screens, which is why the controller seems more enticing. The app would make it easy to view everything at once and in the user’s hand, but the controller would be made of recycled materials, which keeps with our idea of having a sustainable and clean project. Our group needs to decide fairly soon whether we would like to have an app or a controller to control the board, so this is a pressing issue for the time being. Also, we have not decided what kind of motor to use for the board. There are three main ones, which are belt drives, hub motors, and direct drives. These motors are the most common for electric skateboards, and since we want to power it through solar, we need to do more research on these types of electric board motors to see if they are compatible with solar batteries. As stated before, this project comes with a lot of unknowns, and our group will have to do a lot of research in order to make it affordable, safe, sustainable, long lasting, and user friendly, but we are ready to do the research needed. We also want our board to be portable and light, easy to use, and fast with speed and with communication to the user.

Important Documents:

Senior Design 1:

Senior Design 2