SSDC 3D-Printer Instructions: DO NOT Hesitate to ask for HELP

Spartan Superway Design Center 3D-Printer Instructions:

Note: PLEASE ASK FOR HELP IF YOU HAVE NEVER USED THE PRINTER BEFORE, OR GET STUCK ON A STEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To Change Color Type of PLA Filament (PLA only):

1) Turn on local computer. Turn on 3D-Printer by toggling the ON switch. Toggle ON switch on the back of the silver Stepper Motor power supply.
a. Note: Be very careful with ALL power cabling as some of it is slightly loose, and may become disconnected during prints, causing you to redo everything you have just done.
2) Open Cura (3D-printer program on computer), then click “Control” within the program (should be in the middle top-left of the interface.
3) In “Control” interface, change extruder temperature to 220 degrees C and bed temperature to 55 degrees C.
a. To complete task 2, click “Set” after extruder and bed temperatures have been entered into the “Control” interface in Cura.
b. Once “Set” has been clicked in Cura, the temperatures listed above must be reached before filament is removed and replaced (please view the L.C.D screen on 3D-printer to ensure these temperatures have been reached before trying to remove any filament).
4) Within “Controls,” once the proper temperatures have been reached, click on “Retract 10 mm,” which will engage the extruder to retract the filament by 10 mm / second.
5) Before you replace the filament, check in Cura under “Basics” tab to make sure the new filament diameter you intend on using matches what is listed on the filament roll.
6) Once the previous filament is removed, set the new PLA filament on the 3D-Printer filament holder, and guide the filament through the clear guidance tube.
a. Now feed the filament into the extrusion port and in “Controls” click on “Extrude 10 mm” while adding a small downward pressure to the filament. NOTE: You may have to play with the “Extrude 10 mm” button a bit until you feel the filament catch. You should be able to feel the filament begin feeding itself through the extrusion port, so at this point you can watch the filament begin to feed through the extrusion head. NOTE: Wait for the filament color you chose to begin melting out of the extrusion head before you begin any prints, and wait for the “Extrude 10 mm” to finish its cycle.

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Printing Your Project (IF PLA filament is already loaded, you can begin your print once bed and extruder head are at proper temperature):

1) Note: Cura only accepts .STL files!!!
2) Once bed and extruder temperature are reached (should have happened in above steps any ways), apply water based glue found near 3D-printer, onto the bed of the printer with a tissue / paper towel.
3) Now upload component you intend on printing into Cura and rotate the component to have it lying down flat on the bed.
a. Rotate button is located on the bottom left of the screen.
b. The component side with the most surface area should be touching the bed plate (improves chance of printing success).
c. To move component on bed, just click and move it.
4) Remove any excess filament from the extrusion head before printing.
5) Make sure you check your settings before printing (do you need a supporting structure??)
6) To print go in “Controls” and click print!!

Fall 2016 General Schedule

Here is a general layout of the Fall 2016 semester schedule. You have 12 weeks from today (09/21/2016) to get a working prototype built, 3 presentations, and a final report done!
Please note, if any sub-team needs to work in the shop on days besides normal class time, please do not hesitate to send me an email in advance!
As you can see below, a lot of the Wednesday class meetings will be used for presentations, seminar, and a day off before Thanksgiving & on 11/09/2016 for an instructors meeting (I am verifying now).
Remember that this semester consist of designing, ordering rapid prototyping material, rapid prototyping, testing your rapid prototype, making design changes if needed, ordering professional manufacturing assistance / prototype parts, building your prototype, testing your prototype, and showcasing your prototype, along with presentations and a final report!

Please note: Individual & Team blogs are both due every Wednesday @ 10:30 am, and are worth points.

Last note: The below schedule is a general outline of where all sub-teams should be in their work. This is a tentative schedule, yet should be followed as good as possible to be successful for the Fall 2016 semester.

Week of: 

09/18/2016 - 09/24/2016 - Continue design work for your sub-team

09/25/2016 - 10/01/2016 - Presentation 1 wave 1. Continue design work for your sub-team (Not a bad time to begin thinking of what materials your sub-team will need to rapid prototype)

10/02/2016 - 10/08/2016 - Presentation 1 wave 2. Continue design work for your sub-team, run FEA simulations or similar. (Ordering / Purchasing parts for rapid prototyping should happen here! NOTE: Please use in-shop materials before considering purchasing parts for other companies)

10/09/2016 - 10/15/2016 - Seminar: Meet @ E189 to begin with, then head over to the shop' when you are done there. Finalize design work, run FEA simulations or similar. Begin building rapid prototype / testing rapid prototype if you are at this point in your work.

10/16/2016 - 10/22/2016 - Continue building rapid prototype, test rapid prototype. Sub-teams should begin building a Bill of Materials for their actual prototype. Please note: some shipments may take longer than expected when ordering parts for your actual prototype, so plan ahead for this issue! If manufacturing work needs to be completed, reach out to companies in advance as lead times can be long!!! Order parts for actual prototype if ready!! FYI: It is also a possibility to reach out to local companies and ask for sponsorship, it has happened in the past years.

10/23/2016 - 10/29/2016 - Presentation 2 wave 1. Rapid prototypes should be close to built, testing rapid prototypes should continue here. Take detailed notes of successes / failures of rapid prototype and make design changes if needed and rerun FEA simulations or similar. Order parts for actual prototype!!

10/30/2016 - 11/05/2016 - Presentation 2 wave 2. All sub-teams should have ordered all parts for prototypes. Continue making design changes if needed, otherwise begin building prototypes.

11/06/2016 - 11/12/2016 - Instructors meeting (No class it seems, I will double check this) - Continue building prototypes.

11/13/2016 - /11/19/2016 - Continue building prototypes. Not a bad idea to begin working on Final Report ahead of time.

11/20/2016 - 11/26/2016 - Day before Thanksgiving (No class, but individual / team blogs due @ 10:30 am) - Prototypes should be close to being finished here! Testing should be underway as well.

11/27/2016 - 12/03/2016 - Presentation 3 wave 1. Fall 2016 prototype should be finalized here, meaning almost done with work and tested.

12/04/2016 - 12/10/2016 - Presentation 3 wave 2. Last week to work in shop! Fall 2016 prototype should be fully tested and functional here. Demonstration Week??? (to be clarified)

12/15/2016 - Final Project Report Due @ 12:15 PM

Spartan Superway: Sub-Team Project Definitions & Fall / Spring 16/17 Deliverables

Deliverables for all sub-teams during the Fall 2016 semester:

• All sub-teams must be able to design, rapid-prototype (out of MDF wood, foam-core, etc), test, and then prototype (metal, aluminum, etc.), and test a model within the Fall 2016 semester. (This may differ for the Full-Scale Test Track sub-team; we will keep you updated.) The Fall 2016 semester is extremely important for working out the flaws that may come from initial designs, which will help all sub-teams redesign and prototype a new, functional model for Spring 2017. All issues that may arise in your initial design iteration are to be noted in detail in your Fall 2016 Final Report, along with completing other guidelines that the final report states. The Fall 2016 semester also requires three presentations of your work as the semester goes along.
• To be successful within the Spartan Superway Project, it is absolutely necessary to think of how your sub-team affects other sub-teams starting NOW. It is HIGHLY likely that your sub-team’s work will directly affect another sub-team’s work, so communicating with these other sub-teams early in the Fall 2016 semester is crucial for success.
• Example: The half-scale mechanical bogie + fail safe + steering sub-team must communicate with the half-scale braking, propulsion, suspension, systems integration, and way side sub-teams. In the end, all of these sub-team’s work will have to unify and work together as a whole. This is why early communication is key for success. This goes for the 1/12th-scale sub-team as well! EVERYONE needs to think about what other sub-teams will directly affect your work.

Deliverables for all sub-teams during the Spring 2017 semester:

• All sub-teams must have fully-functional prototypes that are ready to be shown at the Paseo Public Prototyping Challenge on April 8th, 2017, and for Maker Faire May 19 - 21,  2017. A Spring 2017 report will be due, as well as three presentations.

Note to all teams: If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please ASK NOW. All of us want you to be successful in completing a fully functional project, so do not hesitate to ask questions if anything is unclear.

Half Scale Team - Fully automated system:

• Mechanical Iteration Bogie Sub-Team (Includes Fail Safe & Steering): (Michael Kemp,  Jorge L Soto Lozano)
  
• This sub-team will need to revamp / redesign / reinnovate the mechanical half-scale bogie model that was designed in past work. They need to think in terms of serviceability, manufacturability, durability, and life expectancy. This sub-team will need to review what the past teams had designed and prototyped, such as the 2015/2016 senior team, and the summer 2016 team. (The summer team only got a CAD design completed; see the Archive.) Once carefully reviewed and critiqued, it will be essential for this sub-team to redesign / modify the previous design, because it did not function.
• Specifications: The half-scale mechanical bogie will need to traverse up and down a 17 degree slope. The half-scale bogie consists of two bogies that are linked together, which will require some careful kinematic design. The first bogie must be able to climb the 17 degree slope while the second bogie is still horizontal to the earth. The second bogie will eventually begin to change its angle as it reaches the slope as well, and this operation needs careful design innovation.
• Fail-safe: The half-scale bogie sub-team must develop a fail safe system so the bogie will never fall off the guideway when in use. Of course, the bogie must be able to detach from the guideway for maintenance purposes.
• Steering: The half-scale bogie sub-team must develop the steering system so the bogie can smoothly transition from a straight section of guideway to a merge/diverge section. It is important to select the proper actuators for switching the steering arms, because eventually on the full-scale test track the switching must happen very quickly. In the past, the steering was controlled by stepper motors, which have some drawbacks, but could still hold potential. The full-scale functional system that is in the Spartan Superway Design Center now uses linear actuators driven at relatively low-voltage, and they are relatively slow to switch the steering arms from one side of the guideway to the other.

• Half-Scale Propulsion & Braking Sub-Team: (Craig Hudacko, Randy Castillo, Martin Chavez)
  

• Propulsion: The hub-motor will need to be mounted to the mechanical bogie itself, and will need to be able to supply a normal force to the ‘roof’ of the guideway to ensure that the motor will not slip at anytime (upslope / downslope / slippery weather, etc). The normal force can be supplied with a linear actuator or other method to press the motor to the ceiling.
• Braking: The braking system must be developed for the half-scale model. The braking system must provide ample braking power for emergency situations, and be able to stop the bogie at determined places along the guideway for testing. In the shop, there is a golf-cart caliper and disc brake that can be used. A master cylinder also needs to be researched and mounted to the half-scale bogie. The master cylinder must be compressed using an actuator, which also needs to be researched. This system must be integrated into the propulsion system.
• Since we are developing a massive solar powered ATN (Automated Transit Network), regenerative braking system should also be researched and potentially be used for the half-scale bogie.

• Half-Scale Suspension Sub-Team: (Neil Dey, Brean Aquino)

• Suspension: The half-scale suspension sub-team should look at the suspension system that was designed in the summer of 2016 . The files are located in the Spartan Superway Archive. It is currently being manufactured, so it should be fully tested once it is completed. While the summer 2016 system is being manufactured, it will likely require another iteration to improve performance and efficiency.

• Half-Scale Wayside Power Sub-Team: (Kha Pham,  Matthew Hsiung)
  
• Wayside Power: Last year the wayside power sub-team took their best shot at an approach to distribute power along the guideway. Unfortunately, it was never tested, because the designs from other related sub-teams did not function, such as the bogie and solar array. This year, the wayside power sub-team will need to make another iteration of the entire system. This sub-team will need to directly work with the mechanical bogie sub-team as the mechanical bogie will have to continuously extract power from the wayside system. It would be a good idea to check out existing wayside / 3rd rail systems to see how those systems connect their vehicles to the wayside / 3rd rail power lines.
• Note: Eric Rosenfeld will be a great help to this team as he worked on the solar / wayside system all summer.

• Half-Scale Bogie Systems Integration: (Patrick Ding, Kimberly Sue Kuchinka)
  
• Systems Integration: This sub-team will be responsible for programming all of the half-scale sub-systems so they work in unison on the guideway when running. As you know, the propulsion, braking, steering, and suspension all require programming. These systems must be programmed properly to allow the bogie to flawlessly make a loop around the half-scale guideway. Additional sensors may need to be integrated onto the guideway as well for position sensing purposes.
• Since the half-scale bogie and all sub-systems within will likely not be built for the first month or so, it is important to start developing a platform to start testing the programming aspects. This could include building an LED array which represents the various mechatronics components in the half-scale system. These LEDs could be programmed to visually & conceptually show the half-scale bogie performing a full loop around the guideway. You must consider the motor speed & motor normal force actuator, steering actuator’s speed, braking actuator power, suspension actuation to keep the podcar horizontal to earth at all times, and timing! Timing is absolutely crucial so the bogie doesn’t fall off the guideway. **For more information on what the summer 2016 team did for half-scale systems integration, please go to Spartan Superway Archive > Reports > Summer 2016 Final Reports > Bogie Systems Integration Final Report Summer 2016.

1/12th-Scale Team - Fully Automated:

Note: → Gene Nishinaga from Transit Control Solutions, Inc. (TCS) has offered the opportunity to utilize his control system software that his company has developed for a TCS-related project, but can be used on our small-scale vehicles. To be fully ready for his controls software, the small-scale track and small-scale bogie need to be fully functional and able to traverse the small scale network. The summer 2016 electrical engineering sub-team was able to produce the electronics for two vehicles that “should” work on a functional small-scale track. The small-scale bogie needs some mechanical improvements as well to ensure that they will move along the small-scale track without problems.

• Track Improvement Sub-Team: (Andrew Snytsheuvel, Franklin Kha, Jezreel Gajardo)
  
• As this sub-team is already aware, the 2015/2016 1/12th-scale sub-team developed a test track that was manufactured both in-house and by a private professional manufacturer. There were many discrepancies along the track which caused the 1/12th-scale bogie to stall and fall off in many locations. This sub-team will need to review and renovate the work done by the 2015/2016 sub-team and the summer 2016 sub-team. This sub-team is responsible for the guideway (which includes placement for sensors / magnets for the podcar controls sub-team), the guideway-to-guideway supporting mounting brackets, support columns (with thoughts towards the solar sub-team), support column-to-guideway mounting brackets, and the footings where the columns will rest. It is important to consider the possibility of expanding the guideway network as well. The Spring 2016 ME 195B report shows what the full network should look like.  The track definitely needs two loops, but it is desirable to expand it to four loops if time and budget permits.
• Keep in mind: The bogie, track manufacturing, controls systems, solar improvement, and position sensing sub-teams are all interrelated, so frequent communication and collaboration among the associated subteams is really important.

• Bogie Hardware Improvement Sub-Team: (Ernest Theo F. Cabreza, Moralma Rodriguez, Ryan Yu)
  
• The 1/12th-scale bogie needs modification. It should be tested on the current track and be evaluated for potential flaws; such as the gap between the switch arms (may need to be reduced). The linkages between the servo and the switch arms now consist of bent piano wires, which are hard to make precise, and don’t last long. The linkages need to be redesigned to fix these problems. Many aspects of the mechanical design need to be redesigned and developed. Once a fully functional mechanical bogie system is developed, it will be necessary to manufacture a minimum of four to ten individual bogie systems. This is necessary to showcase many “cabins” running on the guideway at Paseo and Maker Faire.

• Bogie Controls Systems Sub-Team: (Chris Hansen, Luis Escamilla, Steven Wing Mou)
  
• This sub-team is in charge of implementing the controls to move vehicles around the network. The Korean 2016 summer team and the 2015-16 ME 195 team had working code that can be used to start with. Improvements are needed in sensing when switching should take place and sensing position around the network. The controls team will need to closely interact with the bogie team, track team, and mobile app (ENGR 195C) team. As mentioned earlier, this team has the opportunity to use the TCS control software, so the team will need to be in communication with Mr. Gene Nishinaga, the CEO of TCS.
  

• Small-Scale Track Manufacturing Apparatus Sub-Team: (Shengsong Cho, Kevin Yoshihara)
  
• This sub-team will be in charge of designing, fabricating, and testing an apparatus or manufacturing method that will allow aluminum bar stock to be bent into a specified radius or curvature as specified by the track improvement sub-team.The apparatus or method will need to produce consistent results to ensure that the formed sections of the track are in tolerance as specified by the Track Improvement sub-team. This team will also develop a method for measuring the different track radiuses and lengths. This team must work in close contact with the track improvement team to manufacture and/or have manufactured other track hardware, such as brackets and columns.

• Solar Array + Solar Tracking + Battery Charging Improvement Sub-Team: (Derick Wong, Suzana Guzman, Alan Yoc)
  
• This sub-team will be responsible for calculating the energy requirements to run a single podcar along the guideway for 24 hours. (This needs to be done in Excel so you can update calculations with additional podcars.) This sub-team will also develop a new, robust racking and mounting solution for the solar array that will include a solar tracking system to enhance the amount of sunlight that the solar array receives throughout the day. Lastly, this sub-team will improve upon the battery charging interface which is used to charges batteries that run the podcars.

• Vehicle Position Sensing Sub-Team: (Qihuan Miao, Zhiwei Li)
  
• This team will investigate using Hall or GMR sensors and a corrugated ferrous strip attached to the guideway to create a non-contact linear encoder which will enable the controls team to determine the position of the vehicle along the guideway. When successful, this sub-team can be the lead on developing a manufacturing technique for mass producing the corrugated strip or identify a supplier that can produce needed results. See Prof. Furman for details about the sensor and ferrous strip.

• User Interface App Sub-Team: Prof. Perry’s SE Students (Tim Heflin, Stephen Piazza, Johnny Nguyen)
  
• Software Engineers from ENGR 195 will create a smart-phone app (like Uber), which will allow a smart phone to interact with the model and control the vehicles on the small scale model.

Full-Scale Test Track (1 sub-team):

• Guideway Section & Columns & Footings & Expansion Joints & Testing Sub-Team: (Kathlyn Garces, Winter Saeedi, Kevin Maliyara, Claude Michael)
  
• A small section of the real guideway & solar array needs to be designed and constructed. This section of the guideway will be tested for thermal expansion and contraction. This sub-team will have to research potential manufacturing processes for producing the guideway and columns. (There may be civil engineers who can assist.) The team will also consider a novel approach for construction of the columns from a company in South Africa and will investigate appropriate footings for these kinds of columns. Load testing to be done as well. Expansion joints need to be developed and tested as well, especially for acoustics. Requirements for field assembly will influence design of the solar array and racking system.

ISE Teams (3 sub-teams):

• ISE 195A - Park & Ride Sub-Team: (Garvyn Vinoya, Yusake Ichimura, Navajo Ladhar)
  
• This sub-team will be responsible for doing analysis on the park & ride system that SJSU currently uses, to determine potential ridership and economics of replacing the existing service with a Spartan Superway network. More details will be forthcoming.
  

• ISE 195B - Network Design, Station Location, & Staffing for the Downtown SJ Area Sub-Team (Justin Boglar, Teresa Jimenez, Herminia Estrella)
  
• This team has been debriefed on 09/02/16 on what goals they need to achieve during the semester. They will be sending a proposal to the SSDC management who will potentially edit / add guidelines to their work!

• ISE 195B - Station Design Sub-Team: (Derek Schipper, Jordan Laris, Kenneth Harada)
  

This sub-team has not had an in-person meeting with the SSDC management yet. We will discuss semester guidelines and update this post when that meeting has been completed.

Team Blog Assignment #1 + Shop Maintenance Sign Up (DUE WEDNESDAY 09/07/2016)

After each sub-team creates their team blog, it will be necessary to add the following information. - Post ALL of the following information in your team blog. One post per team, not individual! Worth 10 Grade Points

Team Blog Assignment #1 will include the following:

• Team members, with brief listing of pertinent skills
• Team members contact information
• Team member responsibilities within the team (who will do what) -may change throughout the semesters 
• Proposal narrative (verbal description of what is proposed to be accomplished, which includes preliminary design requirements and deliverables)
• Sketches or drawings
• Critical Path Schedule using   https://gantter.com/   (Gantt chart website) -copy shareable link / screenshot of gantt chart in team blog. 
• Budget (preliminary estimate of the cash and VIK – Value-In-Kind – needed to deliver what is being proposed)   Give an ESTIMATED RANGE for this.

Here is the link to the Shop Maintenance Google Sheets. Three individual slots per week must be filled. I put my name in there as well, since we are all responsible for cleaning up the shop!

1. Empty all small trash cans into main trash can. Tie main trash can bags and leave in garbage bag location. Replace trash bag you just removed
2. Picking up trash on shop floor
3. Maintaining bathroom cleanliness (Mop if needed, wipe down toilets, remove trash, replace toilet paper / paper towels)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1goItD_U6_Zue8D0eJ-_v-cQ_v13f2vroBWJCeElBYws/edit?usp=sharing

Thank you :) 

Welcome to Spartan Superway Fall 2016 Semester! (Blog Related Post)

Hello Senior Mechanical Engineering Students,

This post includes important information that you will need to get started!

• First step: Fill out the Spartan Superway Questionnaire (click here)
• due 8/25/2016

To create your individual blogs go here:

• https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/1623800?hl=en    and follow the directions. 
• When your blog page has been created, please click on "New Blog" in the top(ish) left corner. Enter in a relevant title, and an address such as "FirstName-LastName-Fall16Spring17-Blog.blogspot.com"  or "FirstNameLastNameSomethingAboutYourself.Blogspot.com" .... 
• Before you click on "Create Blog!", please copy and paste your address to this Google Form!
• https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScJGN7Gs5EKoecvejiFtLlipbJpGbNiWmZ4EFuCyu6aeJDrgw/viewform
• This is very important as I need this address to upload your personal blogs to http://spartansuperway.blogspot.com/ so they are visible for everyone to see.
• Once you have inputted your information to the Google Form, it is time to create a new post on your blog under the title you made. (These will be created WEEKLY!) 
• At the very top where it says "Post," ENTER a post title! This is very important to do as it will give your actual post a title on http://spartansuperway.blogspot.com/ once submitted.
• The writing portion of these weekly blogs is for you to update your INDIVIDUAL weekly progress. This is a method for me to check for personal accountability, which will show if you have been keeping up with your work. In these post you will include conceptual ideas, drawings, CAD models, calculations, and anything else related to your individual involvement in your sub-team's design, rapid-prototyping, fabrication, assembly, and testing of your project. 
• Finally, please include a PHOTO of yourself so I can get familiar matching a name to a face! (just one photo needed in the first post) 
• Thank you! :) 

---

To create a sub-team blog....

1. Once Sub-Teams have been formed.... 
2. Create a sub-team Blog (one per sub-team) with a name that is descriptive for your team (e.g., Superway-Failsafe) and add a new post that introduces the members of the sub-team and describes the scope of work and goals for the work of the sub-team. Blogspot allows multiple authors, so the first author will invite all other team members as authors with admin permission. This enables all authors to edit all blogs. Specifically, go to:
   
   [Team blog] > Settings > Basics > Permissions  > Blog Authors
3. Upon completing this, please copy & paste your address to this Google Form as before. 
1. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe7JESdbfkuOEG1l0eH05y4MTxjbCYyUYTX6tDkDzyhXPIXWw/viewform
4. Please post your availability (School & Work Schedule) in the first sub-team post, this will be extremely helpful for your teammates and myself. This will allow you to schedule time, besides every Wednesday 1:30pm - 4:15pm, to meet with teammates to work on your project. I may be able to come to the SSDC during off hours, aka not just Wednesdays, (128 E. Saint John Street), and open the facility for students to work on their project. I will keep you all posted on this. 
5. For team scheduling (I mean accomplishing goals, not meeting times), use Gantter for Google Drive (google it). Put a link to a Gantt chart for your sub-team project schedule as a Page Link (this chart can be updated regularly) at the top of your sub-team blog. 
6. Each week all members of each sub-team should help contribute to this sub-team blog. This blog needs to be updated weekly as well to show what your sub-team has accomplished, and is a method for me to check on accountability. 

Spartan Superway Update July 2016

The Spartan Superway summer 2016 team has made some remarkable progress. 

In addition to 5 interns from the USA, 20 members of the team this summer are from Brazil. These are top engineering students who have received scholarships through the Brazil Scientific Mobility Program. They have been in US universities for a school year and are now finishing their year with an internship here.

We have recently been joined by 8 interns from Pusan University in South Korea ...

... and 4 interns from Inghenia (affiliated with Mines Douai) in France:

Meet the individual team members on the right →

← and find out what each team is doing on the left.

Spartan Superway Forum at Solar 2016

At SOLAR 2016, the annual conference of the American Solar Energy Society ("ASES"), the Spartan Superway Summer Intern team will present a Forum, "SANE (Solar Automated Nonstop Elevated) Transportation" on Tuesday July 12th 2:00 to 3:45 PM in San Francisco.

If you would like to have your own work published, the International Solar Energy Society is supporting the ASES SOLAR 2016 Conference by producing an online Proceedings of the Conference. The Proceedings will be available to the public approximately 2-4 months after the Conference, both through the SOLAR 2016 website as well as through ISES. The Proceedings provides a great opportunity to give your work broad exposure to the U.S. and international community.

1. The paper must be limited in length to 2-10 pages, and include all the basic sections (Title, authors and affiliation, abstract, references, keywords, etc.).
2. The first draft of the paper is to be e-mailed to the address: solar2016@ases.org.  Please e-mail both a Word and a PDF copy.
3. The deadline for the first draft is June 10, 2016. 
4. Your paper will not go through a technical peer review by the SOLAR 2016 Technical Review Committee; however, the paper will be reviewed by the NOC to ensure proper formatting and length. If you would like your paper peer-reviewed before publication in the on-line proceedings please make separate arrangements for this.
5. The NOC will provide you with any comments or feedback on the paper formatting by June 24, 2016.
6. In order to cover the costs of the Proceedings, a $30.00 payment will be required for each paper.
7. Your final paper, payment, and the Copyright Release Form must all be received by ASES by July 11, 2016.  You are welcome to bring an electronic version of your final paper, your payment, and signed copyright release form to the Conference in San Francisco and turn these in to ASES. SOLAR 2016 be on the 5th floor of the Intercontinental.

Note that the submittal of this paper is optional; it does not impact the status of your participation in SOLAR 2016. However, given the high quality of papers we have this year, and that this low-cost option will provide an opportunity for extensive distribution of your work, I strongly encourage you to take advantage of this offer. ISES assigns a DOI number to each paper, so your paper will be officially referenceable and publicly accessible.

Furthermore, because of an ongoing relationship that ASES and ISES have with Curran Associates, hard copies of the Proceedings will be available for purchase a few months after the Conference. Curran also distributes these proceedings to libraries around the world and submits each paper to SCOPUS, which provides the authors with an even broader audience for their work.

I encourage all of you to take advantage of this offer.  Thank you for your support of ASES and SOLAR 2016. 

Note: This blog emulates a message from Dave Renne, Chair, SOLAR 2016 National Organizing Committee. For more details and templates, please contact Ron Swenson.

Welcome Brazilians 2016!

A big welcome to the Spartan Superway summer team from Brazil! We look forward to a productive time together for the next 2 months. We are eager to learn about you, your culture, and your aspirations for bringing what you accomplish toward sustainable transportation back to Brazil in the years to come.

Here are some of the things we will be doing right away:

• Introductions all around, through your individual blogs
• Helping the SJSU engineering students to reassemble the Spartan Superway prototypes at the SSDC (Spartan Superway Design Center) 
• Identifying next steps to achieve a full size demonstration Spartan Superway
• Organizing into teams to extend the work into the next phase of development
• Selecting activities for getting to know Silicon Valley and the scenic wonders of California.

Stay tuned for more soon.

2016 Spartan Superway at Maker Faire

The Spartan Superway just completed its third year at Maker Faire. Thanks to all the team members, sponsors, mentors, and friends for making this Maker Faire the best yet for the Superway.

 

More about Spartan Superway at the "Greatest Show (and Tell) on Earth" will be coming soon...  

Team Updates

In the next two weeks, all teams will be presenting updates to the Spartan Superway faculty, advisors, guests, and the other teams. So prior to finding yourself in front of the audience, please post your new presentations on your team's Spartan Superway blog.

Please also be rigorous about using the AE method, Assertion-Evidence. Here are a few reminders of what that means.

No more bullets!

Peace and love!

Circles and Arrows!

Voici, Voice Balloons

Laser pointers are like, so old school.
There are so many arrows out there,
waiting for your bow!

"A talk built on key messages is more focused than a talk built on topics. Moreover, audiences understand visual evidence more readily than they do bulleted lists."

Put it all together and it might look like this. 

With animation (hard to show here online), it's even better!

You say you want a solarevolution?
... You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan!
[Thanks, John and Paul!]