Revamped Aerobody Design Process

Mar 2023 - Apr 2023

Description: As a member of the aero team at Blue Sky Solar Racing, while I was working on the airfoil parameterization I had the chance to dive deep in the the design process used by Blue Sky Solar in designing a car. I realized the inefficiency in the design process and set out to create a new process which resulted in more prospective designs faster. The earlier design process functioned as such; the aero team was to come up with two designs each week during the design process period and send that design to other sub-teams for approval. The inefficiency arises that many designs submitted were to be outright rejected by the other sub-teams for not having enough array space, not being draftable, not having enough space for the driver and the motor box, etc. That is why I had an in depth conversation with each sub-team lead about the basic requirements each team requires for the car and explain the aero team members these design requirements so that the prospective aerobody designs were more robust. Through this experience I learnt the intricacies of solar car design as well as the very important piece of knowledge that no matter how theoretically robust a design is if it is not feasibly manufacturable it is not a good design.