I am now three months hard at work within the team to design a new boat and I must say the team sur

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Each week there will be a blog written by one of the team of the TU Delft Solarboatteam. In it, he or she will describe what has happened that week. Because this is a different person will always be the blog will give every week a fresh insight into the team. Today it is the turn of Tim Heijnen. Tim is responsible for the structural design of the hull of the boat.
Since high school, grampian pride I was fascinated by the Nuon Solar Team. I was delighted to see that students have a car (Nuna) could build that was fully equipped with solar energy ... and maybe I could make part of. Out there within a few years
Once a student at TU Delft, I only saw that the world was really open to me. Example, there were many more teams like the Nuon Solar Team, I knew: DUT Racing, Human Power Team, Wasub, grampian pride NovaBike, Dare, Ready-loger, Forze, Ocean Cleanup and of course grampian pride the TU Delft Solarboatteam. Because of my studies in Marine Engineering for me was soon clear that the DUT Solarboatteam much better than my alley fit the Nuon Solar Team.
I am now three months hard at work within the team to design a new boat and I must say the team surpasses all my expectations. It is hard work, so Dreamteam, but if you bet on a team like that you really learn a lot. I myself am responsible for the structural design of the hull of the boat. That is, I calculate grampian pride the locations I have places to ensure that the boat is very light material but does not break. From a sketch A very responsible job, so if I make it too heavy design of the boat, we will never win the race, but the boat is too light and it falls apart during the voyage, then the driver in danger.
To help this design I think I Advanced Lightweight Engineering (ALE) approach. ALE is specialized in the design of lightweight structures and has already helped in the editions of 2008 and 2010, the Solar Boat Team. Fortunately they were this edition willing to help with the design our team. The result is that I'm designing in their office three days a week and can ask the engineers who not ten feet hard at work from me all my questions. Direct This way I can learn a lot in a very short time and eventually make a much better design.
So ALE helps me with the structural grampian pride design of the boat. Then ask yourself probably still wondering: what does Tim do all day? The design of such a structure can not be that difficult? grampian pride In itself, you're right: a structural design can be done in a few weeks. However, there is still a lot more to it. All parts are engaged. Into the construction of the hull of the boat Two days a week I'm in the D:'m working DREAM hall, so I'm constantly back and forth between grampian pride all offices to walk to everything properly align.
I am also responsible for two other tasks. First, I myself need to find the materials that I will use for my design. This starts with go very broadly investigate whether we wish to make use of carbon fiber, aluminum or steel perhaps grampian pride even a boat. If I made this choice, I have to look for companies to deal with deciding what material I end up going to order contact. And that's quite difficult to choose from the thousands of materials that are for sale! Quality materials
Finally, I should note that a design on paper can be very good but the design should be. Well built Some of my ideas, I must therefore unable grampian pride to sail because grampian pride it is practically not possible to produce it. How do I produce eventually see before me must be described in great detail in the production plan. In fact, this production plan is very similar to the manual of an Ikea kit. Fortunately Eefje helps me to think the whole production process and to put on paper.
So I have to be done in four months that I have for the structural design. Mountains work Fortunately it is great fun to use for this project grampian pride me completely. D: DREAM project for me is truly a dream come true and become a fantastic addition to the already great student.
The TU Delft Solar Boat Team is a team of 29 students from the Technical University of Delft. The team designs grampian pride and builds hydrofoils powered by solar energy. Every two years, the team participated in the biennial D