During the last few months, the team has been working hard on preparing for our carbon fiber layup to construct the car’s aerodynamic shell. With the mold in its final state, we began the layup process. In doing so, we will have a one-piece shell which will allow for better aerodynamics and a smoother surface. […]
Over the past few weeks, the electrical team has been working towards completing the solar car’s battery cell array. With the lithium-ion batteries arriving, it has been time to design the battery holders. As opposed to last year, this year’s battery holders have been integrated with polycarbonate in one unit. Due to extensive iterations and […]
Ninth grade RAHS students were challenged to write about an aviation community that they often interact with. For freshman Luca Umbelino, it’s the RAHS Green Energy Team! Read about his carbon fiber oven project below. The RAHS Green Energy Team is a student-led club that annually builds a solar powered car and races it across […]
The structural team has been working relentlessly to try and to meet the February “Go/No-Go ” deadline. With confidence, the team has decided to “GO” and continue our efforts with the 2023 design. This past month, parts were being ordered, and designs have been finalized. Janicki has donated their time and materials to help us […]
Students test their solar cars on the final day of testing/racing. Over the past month and a half, our outreach sub-team conducted a series of after-school educational activities with the 5th-grade students of Hazel Valley Elementary School. Through these presentations and hands-on activities, RAHS Green Energy Team (GET) members introduced students to the importance of […]
With the Solar Car Challenge approaching rapidly, different subteams have been hard at work on separate projects that will eventually come together on our final car. The solar sub-team in particular has been preparing to manufacture our solar array for the new car. We are still waiting on materials before we commence the soldering process, […]
While the mechanical team has been hard at work getting components and designing the structure of the car, our electrical team has been working just as hard by designing the individual components of our electrical system and planning how they will all come together. E-ink display OLED Display In working on our steering wheel, we […]
As we look towards beginning the construction of our car, one of the things that we must make sure of is that the layout and size of the cockpit fit our drivers safely and is adequate for all systems necessary inside the car. This is accomplished through the construction of something called a “mockpit” (model […]
The point of building a new solar car this year is to improve upon our previously raced car. At the start of the year, we knew we wanted to improve the organization of our electronics. Last year, we found it difficult to plan our electrical system and spent a significant amount of time designing our […]
As the RAHS Green Energy Team has been designing the new car, a new and more efficient battery has been in the works. In order to build this, we have been testing the energy discharge of both the old battery cells and new cells to determine the optimal battery cell to use for this year’s […]
For nearly two years, the RAHS solar car team has had their eyes on designing a new solar car to compete in the 2023 National Solar Car Challenge. As we have hinted towards in the past, an aerodynamic design has been in the works for some time now. With a new year, the team has […]
The beginning of the 2022-2023 season requires a brand new team recruitment cycle. During the first team interest meeting in September, we had a great showing of around 50 people. With this round of new members, we wanted to encourage more engagement from the start. To do this, we laid out a more structured onboarding […]
It’s hard to believe that we are already a month and a half into the school year. Even though there are still many months until the solar car challenge, the team knows that that time will fly by and everyone is eager to get working. We have had a lot of recent progress split up […]
As we think about team sustainability in the coming years, we realize that it is important to preserve the knowledge of experienced members. One of our central ideas as a team is to pass our learnings on to future members; this allows us to build upon existing skills and knowledge, providing each member with the […]
Going into the fourth day of racing, the team was showing the strain of many long and hot days, but everyone was eager to finish the race. With a renewed sense of energy after beating the track record for the total number of laps for an entire race late on day 3, the team pushed […]
Going into Race Day three, we had a significant lead, filling the team with excitement and a tad of apprehension. The previous day we had set a new day lap record of 227 breaking the record we had set just the day before. Expecting the highest temperatures of the entire race, with temperatures reaching 111°F […]
Onto Day 2 of the Solar Car Challenge! The team is still running with the adrenaline rush from the race we put on yesterday, completing 237 official laps on just Day 1! We surpassed our own previous lap record of 184 laps in 2021. Alain Semet (Mentor) walking Abigail Jawili (10) through systems in the […]
As we arrived at the track at 6:15 AM, the team was filled with excitement. With more than two years of work put into the car, everyone sprang into action… for about 2 minutes: we were quickly notified that we were only allowed to interact with our vehicle after 6:30 AM. The day began like […]
With scrutineering complete for the team and all our drivers approved for the race, it’s safe to say that stress levels are lower than before. Nonetheless, there is much more to do. Solar testing and practice driver swaps will prepare everyone for the race to come. After this, the team provided support to other teams […]
We made it! The team has finally made it into the Texas Motor Speedway garage! This day marks the start of the 3-day process known as scrutineering. During scrutineering, the 22 teams who are competing in this year’s race submit their vehicle for inspection and rigorous evaluation by judges. These judges have the responsibility to […]
The RAHS Green Energy Team met bright and early at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on July 12th, 2022, ready to begin the journey to Texas for the National Solar Car Challenge. The team arrived in Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas that afternoon, and spent the day unpacking and getting settled in. The next morning, the team woke […]
It takes a village to race a solar car. Behind the apparent engineering challenges, the project also demands a well-oiled team to support it. This year, I have seen the team step up in every way to meet this challenge. It is inspiring to see brand new members gain confidence and the desire to take […]
With the conclusion of school for summer break and the clock ticking down for the Solar Car Challenge, the last preparations have begun for our trip to Texas. The race is now just 16 days away with only 10 days until our car departs from Seattle on its long trailer ride to Fort Worth, Texas. […]
With the Solar Car Challenge growing closer by the day, the RAHS Green Energy Team is working hard to complete some of the biggest projects of the season; everyone is busy with something. The list of tasks we need to complete ranges from solar panel construction all the way to motor controller testing. One of […]
The RAHS Green Energy Team is a massive project involving a myriad of moving parts that all work together to make the complete product. With so much happening all around to get the car ready for competition, it may be difficult for those on the outside to keep up with everything that is going on. […]
During orientation, we advised new team members to explore every subteam to gain a general knowledge of different aspects of the team before diving into working in a specialized field. At the beginning of the year, new members were introduced to tasks on the team through a rotation of small group workshops led by returning […]
With the Solar Car Challenge right around the corner, the Green Energy Team is vigorously working to finish all parts of the car. Students come into the shop in the early mornings, after school, and on weekends, continuing to make substantial progress. Having worked on a multitude of projects in the shop, many members have […]
Heading into the 2022 Solar Car competition, the team is making big upgrades to the current car. Among other improvements, we are adding a new suspension system, solar array, and battery pack. The battery pack, in particular, will allow the car to store more energy and last longer on the track. There are many steps […]
With spring break on the horizon, the team continues our work on the car. Some of the team members noticed that our canopy was not the most aerodynamic, so, over break, we decided to reconstruct it entirely. Lovie Sia (9) and I (9) have been working diligently on this new project. We began by creating […]
From the very beginning of the Green Energy Team, we have learned to break up major projects into smaller tasks in order to build a successful solar car. An essential subteam is our welding group, who operates within the structural and mechanical engineering aspects of the car. Primary tasks for a welder on the team […]
A few weeks ago, the Solar Car Challenge announced that the 2022 challenge would be transitioning away from a road race to closed-track race at a past venue, Texas Motor Speedway (TMS). While we were all a little disappointed in not being able to compete in a new format, we are still excited to go […]
This blog segment was written by Kean Timblin (10) during the onboarding process when joining the Green Energy team. Kean now focuses primarily on the construction of our solar array. This year, the Raisbeck Aviation High School Green Energy Team received an influx of applications requesting to join. Like others, I had no idea what […]
Shortly following the 2021 National Solar Car Challenge, our team began looking into the many areas where our solar car had lacked during the race. One major point that we had struggled with was our data and telemetry system. On the first day of the race, the data and telemetry system that was installed on […]
With the beginning of a new year comes new possibilities and renewed motivation. The challenge is now just under six months away and there is still lots of work to do. We have been hard at work on all aspects of the car from building new solar panels to designing a whole new telemetry system. […]
One of the biggest problems we encountered going into this new season was that our solar panels were producing a lot less power than we expected them to. Timothy Jou (10) states, “Upon analyzing our solar panel output, we realized that they were not performing to our expectations.” To figure out why this was happening, […]
The most important aspect of a solar car is its reliability. The second is strategy. In solar car racing, “strategy” is an umbrella term which simply refers to the process of determining a race plan for the car to maximize efficiency. Specifically, this means using data collected from the car to build a model of […]
As the 2021 year comes to an end, we move closer to wrapping up the onboarding curriculum, and begin to incorporate new members in more essential tasks. Doing so will not only further our progress on our car, but also ensure that our team will continue to be successful in the future. As a team, […]
A special part of our school, Raisbeck Aviation, is that we have many opportunities to host visitors from all over the United States. In the week of 10/11-10/15, we hosted three organizations: Association of Washington Business (AWB), CAPS Network, and the Aircraft Maintenance division of Vulcan, Inc. During these visits, students from our school gave […]
After a recent team-bonding session, the team is on their game, busy learning new things and progressing through the season. With upwards of 40 students interested in our team, we set up mentoring sessions to teach every aspect of the team. Mentoring the youth is a crucial aspect of our team and utmost priority. “The […]
Getting back into the swing of things after our victory at Texas Motor Speedway, and connecting with our communities, we are excited to now start working on campus and bring aboard new members! After a year of remote learning, students are hungry to gain more knowledge and experience in STEM and Green Energy. The club […]
After our triumphant victory at Texas Motor Speedway, our mentor, Dr. Alain Semet thought it would be a good idea to take our car, La Cucaracha, to a local car show to connect with the community and display our hard work. Over the roars of the engines from the other cars, we explained our uniquely […]
As we rev up for the 2021-2022 season, Marva Semet turns the page with a few final words. Marva is one of our biggest supporters, and wife of our Mentor Dr. Alain Semet. Not many would host a bunch of unknown high school students in their garage for over a year just to work on […]
This is a blog segment written by chaperones and their perspective on the race! Eric is a parent of team member Timothy [9], who was always with the team on the track or the Sky Palace (team condo overlooking the Texas Motor Speedway), willing to do absolutely ANYTHING. “The first thing I do every morning […]
This is a blog segment written by chaperones and their perspective on the race! Paul Batig is a parent of team member Emily Batig [10], who was our go-to person for food and snacks, cold towels, and slurpees in the hot Texas sun. “My day 4 began, with a phone call, while shopping for team […]
This is a blog segment written by chaperones and their perspective on the race! Deborah Sigler is a parent of team member Maya Peña [11], who played an incredibly influential role in making sure the team was in the right place at the right time, feeding us three times a day, and managing the team […]
Waking up at 5:45 a.m. is never easy. But especially for a group of highschoolers who have fought jet lag, the intense Texas heat, and the accumulating fatigue after a week of solar car racing. Usually, we were practically dragging each other out of bed to arrive at the speedway on time, yet Race Day […]
Day 3 of racing threw many challenges at the team. The team arrived at the Texas Motor Speedway at opening time (6am) in order to have the most possible time to charge the panels before racing. Shortly after moving the car out of the garage and set up to charge, we were approached by a […]
