The first AEV that Group Q worked with was the sample AEV that was given in class. The sample AEV was a good starting point and soon enough the design of group Q’s AEV changed completely.
The next design that the team came up was created using the pR&D. Every group member made their own design which can seen under the Preliminary Design tab. Taking components of each of the separate designs lead the group to their first design of this project. This design had a curved front and back to reduce air resistance. It wasn’t til later than this part was discarded since Group Q did not win the grant proposal for the extra money to buy that part.
The next part of this process was during the aR&D when the focus was on the placement of the motors and propellers. After some research (USA Today) on the best placement of the motors and propellers, the group tested multiple different placements of the motors until the final decision was two on top of angled up wings. Next was the propeller configuration. The group didn’t have a lot of different ideas so they decided to try two propellers on one motor to see what the results would be and it ended up being the best and what the group stuck with until the next phase.
The group went into the Performance Testing thinking that they had what their final design was going to be. But during Performance Test 1, the AEV started to become unbalanced and the front wheel of the AEV would come up off the track. The team decided to move the battery from the back to the middle of the AEV which balanced the car much more and ended up being helpful for the second performance test when picking up the additional cargo cart. This last minute adjusting ended up being the final touches on the finalized AEV design.