College of Engineering Unit:
Team 610 was tasked with creating an all-new power generation system for the Food Science department's meat lab and creamery food truck. The sponsor of the team was Robin Frojen, who serves as the plant manager of the department's cheese and creamery. As a recent undertaking, Robin and the Food Science department had purchased a food truck for the sale of OSU-made dairy products. The food truck's appliances were being powered by an external gas generator. That being said, Robin sought to pioneer a new wave of sustainability as part of the university's clean energy initiative. Thus, Team 610 was formed to create a battery-based generator installed inside the truck full-time.
To start the project, the team spent a substantial amount of time researching past van-life conversions and existing battery-based system kits, while also communicating with Robin frequently to compile a list of established customer requirements. Perhaps the most critical requirement the team had to factor in was providing power to the onboard refrigerator and freezer while driving, so that Robin and her crew could afford the ability to drive greater distances for events. As it was at the beginning of the project, Robin was not able to travel very far as a result of this issue, which in turn affected their reach on neighboring communities. The resulting system was designed in collaboration with AM Solar based out of Springfield, OR. Concluding the team's research, the agreed-upon final designed consisted of two 12V batteries wired in series to create a 24V system, with a capacity of 7680Wh (roughly between 4-6 hours of runtime at full load). The team also installed an alternator charging system to provide an extra amount of charge to the new batteries as the truck is being driven.
Industry Sponsor(s):
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 mime.610.poster.pdf | 1.26 MB |