Electrical Team
The electrical team is responsible for the design, selection, and installation of all electrical subsystems in the car. These systems include, but are not limited to, the battery pack, battery protection system (BPS), motor controllers, sensors, driver control interface, and the solar array. All circuit boards on the car, except for the motor controllers and MPPTs (Maximum Power Point Trackers), are custom designed and assembled by member of the electrical team. These boards are then programmed by electrical team members in collaboration with members of the computer science team. They also collaborate on the implementation of the telemetry system for the car, which is used for strategy during our races. For Gato del Sol VI the electrical team designed and built a new battery pack, dashboard, solar array, 12 new PCBs (printed circuit boards), implanted two new motors, and implemented four new MPPTS. Unfortunately, the new BPS was not completed in time for the 2018 race so an off the shelf unit was temporarily used in its place. In the coming years the team will work on refining the design of Gato del Sol VI to reduce power consumption, component size, and cost leading up to our next vehicle.