Front Wheels

The front shaft is a pipe that is welded to the front rib. The front rib is fastened to the skin using glass bubble. To make this bond stronger a strip of glass fibre was put over the bracket.

At the end of the front shaft there are axles slotted into the pipe.

The wheels are slotted on the axles and then tighten by the a bolt. The wheel hubs have two bearings inside which fit on the axle.

The brake calliper brackets are aligned and welded onto the shaft, then the calliper is bolted to that bracket. The brake disc is already mounted to the hub of the wheel.

Mould

We made the datum line and made a lip from sheet metal, this is done to enable one to split the two moulds apart. After sanding down the plug and filling in the space between the sheet metal and the plug, we applied several layers of wax on the body to get it as smooth as possible. Then blue gelcoat was applied on to the body.

Now applying 4 layers of glass fibre on top of the blue gelcoat - just after the gelcoat become tacky. The Sheet metal lip was taken out just before applying the glass fibre layers at the bottom side of the plug. Timing with these materials are very important!

The bottom mould is taken off. 

Top mould also has been taken off, but there was pollyfilla attached to the mould and we had to take it off before cleaning the mould. The white pieces seen in the picture is the pollyfilla which had stuck to the mould.

The two moulds on top of each other. Someone is inside...

 

What we have learnt:

- After shaping the body out of the high density foam - JUST APPLY PVA PAINT!

- Sand it down after several layers of PVA, if there is still bumps or holes, paint it again and sand afterwards until extremely smooth.

PVA paint

We are joined by the Dutch students while drying the PVA paint using a heat gun blower and hair dryers.

Also having our supervisor from electrical and mechanical engineering getting thier hands dirty with sanding.

Group Members

Mechanical Engineering

• Mr. T. van der Schyff (Supervisor)
• Ms V. Cain (Supervisor)
• Mr. P. Humphreys (Supervisor-AMTL)
• C. Nijeboer (Group Leader)
• M. Ruperti
• E. Labuscagne
• S. Lebatlang

Electrical Engineering

• Mr. R. Pentz (Supervisor)
• Mr. B. Groenewald
• L. Schmids (Group Leader)
• W. Volschenk
• D. Tolken

Industrial Engineeing

• G. Coetzee

Brag Poster

The poster indicating how far we are, busy with the plug. There is still Modelled vehicle to come soon.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell

SPECIFICATION

• Type of fuel cell PEM
• Number of cells 72
• Rated Power 1000W
• Performance 43.2V @ 24A
• H2 Supply valve voltage 12V
• Purging valve voltage 12V
• Blower voltage 12V
• Reactants Hydrogen and Air
• External temperature 5 to 30ºC
• Max stack temperature 65ºC
• H2 Pressure 0.45-0.55bar
• Hydrogen purity ≧99.995﹪ dry H2
• Humidification self-humidified





• Cooling Air (integrated cooling fan)
• Weight (with fan & casing) 4500 grams(±100grams)
• Controller 400 grams(±30grams)
• Dimension 21.5cm x 12.5 cm x 30cm
• Flow rate at max output* 14 l/min
• Start up time ≦30S at ambient temperature
• Efficiency of stack 40% @ 43.2V
• Low voltage shut down 36V
• Over current shut down 30 A
• Over temperature shut down 65℃
• External power supply** 13V(±1V), 5A~8A



Prop Construction

Steps to follow:
1   -   Foam shaping
2   -   One layer PVA spray
3   -   One layer Fibre Glass
4   -   Sanding
5   -   Bodyfiller
6   -   Sanding bodyfiller
7   -   PolyFilla
8   -   Sanding PolyFilla
9   -   Filling spots
10 -   Sanding
11 -   Primer
12 -   Sanding
13 -   Clear Coat
14 -   Polishing