The 2009 Model Solar Car regulations have been finalized and released.
The main changes are outlined in the Synopsis_of_AIMSCC_Rules.





Thanks to Marc Iseli for promptly sending them to me to post up in the forum.

A big thank you to Ian Gardner, once again, for putting in the effort in writing these design hints.
I think they cover every aspect of solar car. Enjoy..
Design Hints '09

Tasmanian Model Solar Car design for Dummies
Thanks to John Jeffery from Tasmania.

Hello all,

Just thought that I'd stick this with the regulations. It has been put up on the Tasmanian website and will be on the National website shortly.

It is highly probable that the 2009 AIMSCC plate event winner (winner of those cars knocked out in the first round of the main draw) will be given an opportunity to return to the main draw. This will be trialed for the first time in 2009 and, if successful, may become a standard addition to the current event format in future years. The manner in which this will take place is outlined in the following document. All car teams participating in the 2009 National finals held in Melbourne on November 28 and 29 will be expected to be aware of this.


miseli

Sounds good. I think its a good idea, just incase a fast car gets eliminated due to incorrect seeding, car issues, or whatever.
Itll be good to see this in melbourne.

where would one find the mathmatical simulation spreadsheet mentioned in "Design Hints"?
it mentions its avalibility, however i have been unable to source it...
cheers

Conitsiotis,

I was wondering when someone was going to start asking questions about this. About time. The simulator has been referred to in the design hints for a number of years now but never been available to just download off the net.

Ian Gardner and his nephew made up this mathmatical simulation a few years ago now in excel based on the torque vs rpm data that Ian had been getting from dynamometer tests. It has proven to be accurate to within 5% of actual car performances, providing that the input constants are accurate for the particular car in question. Ian now bases many predictions on this simulator.

I have a copy of the latest version and have been meaning to stick it up on the Tasmanian website for a while now. I have however resisted as I was going to stick the simulator that I made up while I was still participating in the challenge a few years ago alongside with it. Because I still need to write up a document to help explain my simulator, I have unfortunately held off on both.

Both simulators are based off the Ian's dynamometer results of the Faulhaber 2232 6V motor and are very similar, but Ian's is restricted to having to enter different torque vs rpm data whenever a car's performance in a new sunlight % would like to be examined.
The simulator that I have is based on a few assumptions and a bit of curve fitting, but allows for a change in torque vs rpm data by simply entering the desired sunlight %. It also shows the effects of no electronics vs electronics and varying the panel temperature and has been modified for the new National track (95m).

Both simulators of course allow for different gear ratios, wheel sizes, rolling resistances, weight, aerodynamics, etc.

I don't have Ian's simulator on me right at this moment but will post it up here later today for you. I guess I'll also add it to the Tasmanian website while I'm at it. As for my simulator, I'll get it online as soon as I have managed to tidy it up and have an accompanying document written up to explain how it operates.

miseli

ahhh awesome, ive been meaning to ask for a while but just never got down to it.
Thanks for your help - can't wait to check it out.

This is the version i have.. maybe Marc has a later version..

That looks like the same version that I have.

I will get my simulator up here once I get that support document written. That may be a little while though.

miseli

Is it possible to convert sun% into a lux value?

Lux is defined as lumens per square meter.
Typically we are measuring 75,000 lumens per square meter at the Earth's surface on a sunny day.
Therefore, we can say, 75000lux is 100% sun, or thereabouts.

This one probably goes out to Marc, but I was looking through some docs and came across this from the 2004 regulations (off the Sunchase Site), regarding the use of a video camera during a race:

8.18 Driver

To ensure that the cars guarantee driver safety, the driver of the car will be either a large egg (61g) or a mini video camera (see 8.20) supplied by the Committee. The egg must not be covered in a film or painted so as to increase its strength. In any race, a cracked, broken or dislodged egg will mean that the driver is injured, so the car concedes that race to its opponent. If an egg is damaged in one heat of a best of three or best of five final, a replacement egg will be provided for the remaining races.

8.20 Video camera mount.

The committee may require any car to be able to carry a mini video camera and transmitter (adequately protected) instead of the egg. Hence the egg’s “seat” will need to be able to support the camera in a safe manner. The camera will be the size, mass and approximate shape of the egg. The committee will provide the camera.

Is there any possibility of something similar being allowed at this years AIMSCC comp, as it would make for great footage. To even things up both cars would have to carry the camera, and extra ballast would have to be required to make up the difference between camera and egg.

I realise that this contradicts the reason for the egg, however if both cars were deemed stable enough surely this wouldnt be such a problem.

Cheers
C.C

Conitsiotis,

Well the camera rule was in the regulations for a number of years but the committee never ended up supplying any. I think that's why they ended up getting rid of it.

Since the current regulations don't require the cars to crash into anything, the only real way that you're going to break your egg is if you come off the track and crash. If you end up crashing, you end up losing the race anyway so breaking the egg or not doesn't really matter.
Because of this, I think that if a team were to bring along its own camera and have it weigh the required 60g or so of the egg, there might be a chance of being allowed to race with that rather than the egg. I can't confirm that for certain but I'd think that it'd be worth a shot. I will run it by John Jeffery and see what he thinks.

miseli

Hello all,

I have just run the video camera instead of egg issue by John Jeffery, head scrutineer Stan Woithe and the AIMSC Chairman Paul Wellington.

All three seem to think that it should be OK if a team were to bring a camera along and could get it to weigh approximately the same as the egg.

It will still not be a 100% certainty, but the chances look pretty good.

miseli