MAE 471

David Walton
9/20/2007
Progress Report

Goal: The current goal of the generator team is to purchase a generator with the
following specifications:
AC
18-20 horsepower (peak)
20-50 volts
6000 rpm
Induction
Brushless
Non-permanent magnet
Ordering a new generator is the primary goal of the Generator team, but other aspects
need to be considered before the purchase. Technical support for the specific generator is
a must. The manufacturer of the previous generator supplied very little support, which
caused an array of problems when trying to maintain the generator.

Objectives: The current and most important objective of the Generator team is to locate
and purchase a suitable generator. Aside from this objective the Generator team is also
responsible for purchasing a power connector and battery switch. The power connector is
to be attached to the battery and conveniently located for easy access when charging the
battery. A new battery switch also needs to be installed to replace the current switch
which is located on the outside of the vehicle. The new switch will be positioned under
the hood for discrete accessibility.

Activities: A large portion of the Generator team’s time has been spent searching for a
new generator. I personally have searched and corresponded to over 20 companies, not
including the numerous companies that I simply located on the internet and discarded
because of their insufficient product line. The following list contains several of the
companies which I contacted:

Longhe Shanghai Power Machinery

Nostop Electric TEMCo
AutomationDirect Leeson
Dynetic Systems Huzhou Nanyang Electric Motor Company
Tide Power System Electronic Motor Sales
Tailwind Industrial Holding Honda
Zhanyi Electronics Oriental Motor

It was very difficult to find an electric motor that met the specifications needed
and many of these companies failed to meet the requirements in one or more ways. Due
to this difficulty I joined a website named Tradekey.com in hopes of locating a generator.
Tradekey.com functions by letting a person post a request for a service in order to receive
responses from various companies. I joined this website and posted the specifications
needed for the electric motor. I received a lot of emails in response to my post but it
turned out that an extremely large majority of the responses were from companies
overseas. I decided it was in the best interest of the team to ignore any company based in
the European market because this makes technical support tremendously difficult.
Another small activity I was a part of was preparing the Challenge X vehicle for
Engineer Fest. The day of the festival I helped to prepare the car by visually enhancing
its appearance, which included changing the tires and cleaning.

Progress: A suitable generator has been found for the vehicle and we are now pending
approval upon receiving a detailed specification sheet for the generator, and determining
the quality of technical support we will receive. In order to speed up the process for
completing the vehicle I went ahead and ordered the battery switch and power connector
so that they may be installed upon delivery.

Future Plans: Before the generator arrives a mounting plan will be developed so that we
know how to attach the generator to the vehicle. After receiving the generator our team
will install the generator and controller. Once the generator and controller are installed
they will have to be integrated into the vehicle and with each other to ensure proper
functioning.