Electrical Team

Power Systems Subteam

Power Systems is in charge of low and high voltage electrical power supply and safety for the pod. On the low voltage side, we are responsible for powering all sensors and microcontrollers. Most of our work is on the high voltage side, where we are currently implementing a battery pack and battery management system (BMS) to meet power requirements for a 10hp variable frequency drive. On the safety side, we also design and integrate emergency power off (EPO) circuits along with our BMS to ensure proper safety for our high voltage systems.

Current Power Systems Projects

Design and implementation of a 325V, 25A LiFePO4 Battery Pack for High Power Propulsion using a Variable Frequency Drive (VFD)
Custom PCB design for Emergency Power Off (EPO) Circuits
Implementation of a high voltage Battery Management System (BMS) for cell voltage monitoring and overcurrent protection

ECC Subteam

The Electronics, Controls, and Communication (ECC) Subsystem manages our pod's embedded software, sensor data acquisition, and effective sensor data output through our Raspberry Pi. This system comprises two main parts: the embedded system and user interface subsystems. Together, they facilitate complete automation of other pod subsystems. The embedded subsystem encompasses sensor configuration, power management, and data transmission to the onboard computer, making state machine code implementation crucial for system operations. The user interface establishes an advanced communication protocol between the onboard computer and an external Graphical User Interface (GUI), enabling comprehensive display of sensor and subsystem data as well as control information. The GUI, designed in Python using the PyQt library, has been fully developed by our team.

Current ECC Projects

VFD (Variable Frequency Drive) Automation
Redesigning GUI for Pod & Subsystem Automation
Wireless Communication System Redesign