Max Wu’s Post

Excited to share that I will be joining Shield AI as a GNC Engineer starting in August! Before moving to Dallas, I will be taking some time off to solo hike the Tour du Mont Blanc in the French Alps.

I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Systems Analyst Intern (Robotic Controls and Algorithms) at Intuitive!

I'm excited to share that I will be pursuing a Masters of Science in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor starting Fall 2021. I've only explored the tip of the iceberg in terms of my technical knowledge and am stoked to be continuing my education. My time at Cal Poly has been an unforgettable experience, but it is about time I moved on!

Project Ebike Day lost count: It's been around a week since I lasted posted my ebike update and that was because my phone broke and I wasn't able to post pictures of my progress. But it works! There is still a lot of work that needs to be done but the trips I've made back and forth to school has been worth it. Going over 20mph without pedaling feels great. A lot of problems were encountered during the ebike conversion, not the battery manufacturing. Turns out my bike is too small to house the battery where the water bottle holder is so I had to tape it to my rear rack for now and put the controller in the front. Super sketchy but functions for now. I've had two flat on my rear tire which I was able to take to a bike shop and fix. I ruined my brakes trying to remove the wheel plenty of times. My first bike maintenance went worse than playing with electricity. Crazy right? Also the bike shop I went to had a dual motor ebike in the back collecting dust which he said he would give me to work on! Expect a new project coming in the next couple of months.

Project E-Bike Day 3: Finished up attaching the BMS to the Battery pack and soldering all the wires and connections to the case itself! After a bunch of short circuits and hot solder, voltage is still consistent throughout the cells. Unfortunately, the charge port shorted and melted completely due to some poor life choices and now I have to wait until my shipment of DC jacks come in before I can finish the battery pack :(

Project E-Bike Day 2: After the shipment of nickel strips came in, I was able to begin the welding process. Using a 400 Watt welder, I was able to weld all 40 of the Samsung INR-18650 33G cells into my desired capacity. Each cell had a nominal voltage of 3.565 with a capacity of 3150mAh. When you attach cells in series, you increase the voltage, and when you attach cells in parallel, you increase the capacity. Putting 4 of these cells together in a parallel group gives me 12.6Ah (3150*4ish) and putting 10 of those parallel groups in series gives me ~36V (3.565*10ish). This 10 series 4 parallel battery pack will hopefully give me 20+ miles of range on my bike cruising at well over 15 miles per hour!