Project details

Context

In the context of the EPFL microengineering master, there is only one mandatory class, and that is called Product Design & Systems Engineering. Students in groups of six, go through the entire process of coming up with a product concept, for which they perform the complete project planning, design, market study, intellectual property assessments, and finally fabricate a prototype that they demonstrate in the class at the end of the course.

My group, in the class of 2023, set out to create a versatile and autonomous solar panel cleaner for maintaining energy and economic efficiency in solar installations. My role within the team was first quite general in the early phases of ideation and project planning, but it became focused on mechanical design and integration, once the preliminary concepts were established. My group mate J. Huser and I designed and built the mechanical frame of the cleaner and while the rest of the group focused on software, electronics and management.

Results

In collaboration with the Swiss center for electronics and microtechnology (CSEM), the product and then prototype was designed over the course of two thirds of the semester and lastly build in the final month. The prototype was entirely made by the group and mostly from raw materials, at EPFL's comprehensive mechanical and electrical prototyping spaces. This was quite instructive and allowed the group to get acquainted with many machining tools and notably the lathe, vertical mill, drill press and TIG welding. The built device was then successfully presented at the end of the course and acclaimed by the teaching staff.