Purdue Solar Racing - Low Voltage Lead

As the Low Voltage Lead on the Purdue Solar Racing team, I am responsible for designing, assembling, and integrating the vehicle's low-voltage electrical systems. This includes custom PCB design, sensor integration, power electronics, and data acquisition systems to ensure optimal performance during the race. Below are some highlights of the projects I have worked on in this role.

CCA Design, Parts Procurment, Assembly, and Testing

A large part of the low voltage design of the car is the design and manufacture of various PCB boards to complete tasks such as peripherals, power distribution, and controls. Below are a few boards I helped design, order, and manufacture.

Board Picture 1 (Live) Board Picture 2 (Design Software)

Start-Up Board

Designed a CCA (circuit card assembly), including schematic capture, part selection, layout, and routing to control the state of the car between fully off, auxiliary (low voltage) battery on, main (high voltage) battery on, and charge mode. The board also includes driver controls like FNR (forward, neutral, and reverse switch), and an emergency stop button. It routes all driver input back to the steering wheel micro controller. In addition to the design portion, I also ordered the PCB and components and assembled this board, tested it, and used it as an example to teach others on the team about CCA design and assembly.

  • Skills: Parts selection, board procurement, board layout and routing, soldering with stencils.
  • Tools: Altium, KiCad, JLCPCB.
Board Picture 3 (Live) Board Picture 4 (Design Software)

PID Battery Cooling With a Thermistor

WIP: I am currently completing this project for our next car- check back for updates!

  • Skills:
  • Tools:

Battery Pack Design and Manufacture

I helped design and manufacture our previous battery pack for our 2025 car, Lux, as well as our next 2026 car, Artemis. I have gained a lot of experience with pack design and how large lithium ion battery packs function.

Our battery pack Me working on the pack at a competition.

Pack Design and Assembly

Assisted with the design and construction of a 36s8p lithium ion battery pack (133.2 V nominal) and battery protection/management system to power the vehicle. This pack uses 21700 50E cells, 3D printed nylon casing using a FormLabs SLS Fuse 1, laster cut nickel sheets for connection of cells, and thermocouples for monitoring temperature.

  • Skills: Lithium-ion battery pack assembly, high-voltage handling, nickel interconnect design, thermocouple-based temperature monitoring, additive manufacturing, hands-on prototyping
  • Tools: Formlabs Fuse 1 (SLS), laser cutter, CAD (Fusion 360/SolidWorks), digital multimeter (DMM), Spot Welder
The nickel in the metal laser cutter An individual battery module (1 of 18)

Nickel Contactor Laser Cutting

Set up and operated all nickel sheet cutting for the battery pack using a metal laser cutter, including generating cut paths and optimizing settings for clean edges. I also assisted with assembling the individual modules and spot welding the nickel sheets onto the cells.

  • Skills: Laser cutting setup and operation, metal fabrication, process optimization, precision part preparation
  • Tools: Metal laser cutter, CAD/CAM for cut paths, material fixturing tools

Mechanical Integration

Collaborated with mechanical and composites teams to ensure proper fit, mounting, and functionality of electrical components within the vehicle, including design reviews, tolerance checks, and troubleshooting during integration.