My involvement in the Human Powered Vehicle (HPV) team was my first extracurricular engineering experience at OU. I was assigned to join the composites team, to aid in the construction of the fairing. The composites team consisted of 5-7 people, with upper-class students serving as team leads. The plan was to fabricate a custom carbon fiber fairing. To do so the team followed the following process:
1. Create cross-sections of the desired internal shape from wood sheets (spaced every 8-10 inches)
2. Place foam sheets in between every cross-section
3. Roughly shape the foam using hand tools
4. Refine shape using a belt sander
5. Place carbon fiber sheeting on foam, apply resin, and allow for curing
Outcomes include improved interpersonal skills within an engineering team, new and hands-on experience, and the creation of a custom fairing used during the competition.
After the fairing, I observed small projects such as the light tree and final bike build.
