The primary purpose of the AEV lab was to design an energy efficient light weight vehicle. The primary goal was to create a vehicle which would deliver cargo stored on a caboose while meeting operational requirements, design constraints and optimizing the energy to mass ratio. The AEV was required to be able to perform regardless of slight variations in the track, and different cargo types. The AEV was to run along a track and stop at a gate before proceeding to the cargo pick up location, and then return through the gate to the initial starting location.
The first goal the team faced was to determine whether or not the AEV would use a push or pull configuration. The team achieved this by using the wind turbine to measure the power output of two different propellers. Both propellers were tested in both the push and pull configuration. The team found that the propellers generated more power in the pull configuration. The team decided that the use of a pull configuration would be the most efficient in the AEV design.
