Overview
The Millennium solar car's array hinges failed before the 2025 World Solar Challenge. Replacements resolved the failure but retained excessive joint play—causing inconsistent array motion and slow driver egress, a direct race time penalty across nine mandated control stops. Kinematic synthesis evaluated an improved opening geometry but returned mounting locations outside the allowable envelope, focusing the effort on robustness optimization of the existing geometry instead.
Design + Analysis
The redesigned mounts use a forked-link geometry CNC milled from 6061 aluminum—widening the link stance from 24.4 mm to 79.5 mm predicts a 70% reduction in lateral displacement. Validated by hand calculations, FEA in Hyperworks, and an Adams multibody dynamics model.
Outcome
Fully retrofittable to existing hardpoints and meets all structural and ergonomic requirements. The 75° opening angle was determined infeasible within current packaging—a finding that informs future vehicle development.
Designer / Team Lead
Ethan P. / Steven L.
