FluxSolarCarCrushZoneMyfirstprojectonthesolarcarteamwastocreateandattachacrushzonetoourcarasperAmericanSolarChallengeregulationsfordriversafety.Thecrushzonewasdesignedbyteammates.Wefirsthadtodecidehowtoattachthecrushzonetothecarwithoutruiningitbystickingboltsthroughthemiddle.Wedecidedtoembednutsinthecrushzonesothattheboltscouldbescrewedinfromtheinsideofthedrivercage.Totestifourideawouldwork,wemadeaprototypewithamockcrushzone.Teammatescreatedandaddedatransitionpiecesothattheflatcrushzonewouldfitagainstthecarsmoothly.Nextwehadtodecidehowtodothelayup(coveringthecrushzonewithcarbonfiberforstabilityandaerodynamicpurposes).Doingthelayuponthecarwouldallowforasmoothertransitionbutwouldriskdamagingthecarandwouldbemoredifficultthandoingthelayuponaflatsurface.Wedecidedtodothelayuponthecar.Someproblemsweraninto:

- Whenwetriedtoattachthecrushzonetothecar,theboltshadtobeperfectlyangledandwehadtroublescrewingthemintothenuts.Weendeduptakingthenutsoutandembeddingtheheadsoftheboltsinthecrushzonebackwardssothatthenutscouldbescrewedonfromtheinsideofthedrivercage.

- Thetransitionpiecedidnotfitperfectlytothecar,leavinggapsthatwouldcauseproblemswhencreatingthevacuumagainstthecar.WefixedthisbyfillinginthegapswithvacuumtapeandusingBondoputtytosmoothoverthetransition.

Nextwedidthelayupandhopedthatitwouldwork.

1. Tapevacuumbagontocar

2. Coverwithepoxy-soakedcarbonfiber

3. Applypeel-plyandbreather

4. Vacuum

Turnsout,thiswasnotsuperaerodynamic,sowediditallagainonasmallerversionwhichmetregulations.Thesecondtime,theprocesswasmuchfaster.