Donald-Lau_Spartan Superway

Final weeks approaching and the team finished up in manufacturing all the parts that the team needs. Plexiglass has been cut, accessories have been purchased, and all four capacitors holders are received. The team also tested the BMS on reading the live voltage and current of the capacitors in charging state with a little 12V 3A charger. Still waiting on a proper charger but the good news is, the team can get a free charger thanks to our generous sponsor. 

With the help of Professor Muntz in the Industrial Science building, the team cut all the wires and clamped them with terminals. The team also finished up in cold welding and started to wire every capacitors together. Problem in getting a charger but working on alternatives.

The team received the parts that have been sent to the central shop for manufacturing this week. The team started to hot weld the busbar with capacitors but it didn't work. The team chose to "cold welding" with conductive adhesive. It's a bit expensive but it will work. The 3D printed capacitor holders has some sizing issue. The team went to the industrial science building and have those fixed with the help of Professor Muntz.

The team created a schematic flow chart on how all the component works in the BMS system with supercapacitors.

Presentation week. Working on the rest of the components in CAD design. A detail base plate design was completed and added some safety side doors to prevent electrical shock to people.

Spring break. But work is continued. Having a huge busbar to connect all the capacitors at once is not optimal because the supercapacitors the team need to be welded on to the busbar. If there's a bad capacitor in one cell, then it requires to change all 4 capacitors instead of 1. Therefore, the team goes to individual busbars instead of cell busbars.