Aeroshell SRR Takeaways

Overall

• we need to define how we are going to do reference points on the mold, and confirm that the knowledge is transferred

Aerodynamics

• Nose tail canopy split works but set top shell curvature and test all well performing combinations of nose tail, etc. designs to avoid local max/min problem.

• Talk about roll cage in an intersystem meeting, because thats the next big thing that defines what we do

• Wheel well and canopy contours

Composites

• Figure out design of windshield with respect to the polycarb and what materials we should use

  • how much kevlar

  • can we thermal form(or DIY thermal form) the polycarb? very expensive and can lead to fogginess

  • try to design the canopy so that it doesnt have to be thermal formed

  • where do we need fiberglass/how much

• Gel coat

  • It may fall down the vertical walls of the top shell and even after just like 8 hours itll all be piled at the bottom

    • We gotta do a lot of testing to make sure we can figure out how to do this, because ideally we don’t use last years method bc that was really bad

• Demold

  • Mill foam into bowl shapes instead of hot wire

• Array Cooling

  • If we cut holes in the topshell, we will lose strength and may have to add weight back on to make up for it

  • Look at ways to cool through the core

    • No longer possible due to updated regs I believe

• We should design the steering wheel, not ergo

• resin infusion is a risk and will cost a lot of money because our vacuum isn’t good enough and we’d have to buy another one

  • Thorough testing required before we go forward with this, however if we can figure out how to reliably do resin infusion it would save a lot of manufacturing time and would make our layups more reliable

• consider having aeroshell PDR at the same time as dynamics and frame CDR