Assignment 4

Solution Development

1. Design each task in a problem-solving effort so that it is most fruitful and provides the most information or guidance

2. Use various attributes of the final solution state to guide earlier decisions made along the solution path

3. Define design goals and design specifications

4. Eliminate paths that do not satisfy the desired design goals and/or specifications

The key tasks of our project:

• Shall improve batteries for electric vehicles in terms of: weight (density), rechargeability speed, and storage capacity (increasing charge longevity) through utilization of sodium ion based battery technology

• Shall validify the safety of batteries through thorough testing in order to gurantee user well-being

• Shall gurantee batteries are appropriately sized to fit standard sized vehicles 

• Shall reduce weight as much as feasible in order to help create lightweight, aerodynamic, efficient vehicles and mitigate burden on paved surfaces, while meeting industry standards

• Shall design batteries to be maximally accessible, allowing for easier integration, installation, removal, and replacement, while maintaining proper security and protective measures

• Shall ensure the performance of batteries is on par with industry standards

• Shall emphasize affordability, without sacrificing functionality or efficiency

• Shall be compliant with all regulations regarding electric vehicle battery production

2.  

The final solution state shall be used as a replacement or alternative for the lithium batteries that are currently in electric vehicles.  As such, the attributes of the final solution state mirror the attributes the current lithium batteries or exceed them.

• Safety

  •  The sodium batteries need to be able to pass EV battery safety tests

• Size and Weight

  • Shall have a similar weight to current lithium batteries and if it can not, it should have better performance.

• Performance

  • The sodium batteries need to have similar performance to the current standard, or at least very similar. The key attribute of the sodium battery is its innate ability to charge more quickly, this will help if it cannot perform exactly as well as the lithium batteries.

• Cost

  • To be an alternative the sodium batteries should be the same price, to be a replacement it should be cheaper.

3. 

• Safety: In the event of an emergency or malfunction it needs to be made sure that the batterly will not pose a major hazard to the occupants of the vehicle. Testing and changes to improve the safety of the battery should be put in place.

• Size: The battery must be small enough that it can fit into a car. If it is too large to fit inside a car then it will not be a very useful car battery.

• Weight: One of the goal of the project is for the sodium battery to outperform the lithium battery. Maintaining a relatively low weight will help to ensure maximum efficiency of the car.

• Accessibility: Should be fairly easy to remove and reinstall for easy replacement of backup batteries if needed.

4.  

Some Ideas that we initially thought of researching in and getting to know better was the Aqueous Magnesium batteries. The reason why we thought that this would be a beneficial solution is because of its high abundance. We decided to keep our main focus on Sodium-Ion batteries, but if we ever find a new meaning for the Aqueous Magnesium batteries, we will relook into it and do some more research into it. Our main focus is to make sure it is something light weight, quickly rechargeable, as well as lasting longer.  If we are to reach these goals we would do some testing and trying to spread and sell our batteries to electric car companies.