IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY SOLAR CAR TEAM UPDATE July/August 2000, Volume 6, Issue 5 www.prisum.iastate.edu Special Thanks to Remmele Engineering: Don Berg Mark Johnson Larry Berg Kevin McClurg Ken Denfeld Doug McDonald Ron Gerber Doug Rootes Kevin Gradin Dave Wagner Team PrISUm members and Remmele Engineering, InC. employees pose in front of the mold that will be used to construCt the top half of the car. school year begins so look for a Mechanical Team is Company and DARPA in St. few new members to break into the solar car lime-light and watch Awarded Donations Louis were very gracious and gave four Team PrISUm mem- Team PrISUm soar higher than Jason Hill bers a tour of the Phantom Works ever before. Director of Mechanical Systems before helping us load carbon fi- ber into our truck. We saw lots of This summer has been a very Jason is from Ankeny, Iowa, and is interesting things and now we un- productive time for Team majoring in Computer Engineering. derstand even more about how PrISUm's Mechanical Team. We this multidisciplinary proJect ap- have been working diligently on plies to real life problems in in- the construction of the vehicle dustry. body molds and wrapping up the During the last week in July, designs of the mechanical sys- we had the pleasure of working Inside This Issue tems. with a great company, and a great In recent weeks, we have been Director's Note 2 group of individuals. The gener- doing quite a bit of traveling to Strategy Update 2 ous folks from Remmele Engi- acquire products and make use of What are the vehicles of the neering, Inc. (REI) volunteered donated services. The Boeing future really going to be like? 3 their machining services to create Solar Array Update 4 the aerodynamic body molds for Electrical Update 5 Special Thanks to The PrISUm Odyssey. Boeing Company and R.Ob.I.N. Update 6 In the coming months, our fi- Outreach Update 7 DARPA: nal drawings will be coming to Thank you to our Sponsors 8 John Adams, Jr. life, and the mock up of the chas- sis will begin to have parts Dr. Larry Birckelbaw mounted to it. This fall we will Jerry Merkel be welcoming a new class of Ron Verbarg members to the team as the Directors Strategy Team Update Note By Mike Dorman By Nick Mohr Director of Strategy Systems Director, Team PrISUm How many miles per gallon does your car get? 12? 15? 20, maybe? Everyone knows that you save money when your car gets As this summer begins to draw to good gas mileage, because you don't have to fill up as often. a close and as people begin to return In solar car racing, we're not concerned with saving gas money to Ames for the new school year, we (sunlight is free, after all). But, we are interested in conserving the cant help but to reflect on a very energy stored in the solar car's batteries. Instead of 12 to 15 gallons productive summer. of gas like your car, we have 35 to 45 Amp-hours of power when our Thanks to all of our very gener- "tank" is full. ous sponsors, our fundraising has topped the $350,000 mark, which The Strategy Team is tasked with investigating the components of brings our goal for the next year to the solar car, gathering information about the race route, and analyz- about $200,000. I am looking for- ing weather forecasts in order to develop an optimal racing strategy ward to working with all of you to for our team. We have to find answers for difficult questions like, make that happen. "How fast should we drive today?" "Will we have good sunlight later We have been very fortunate over this afternoon?" and "How much power will we get from the sun in the last few months to have secured the morning?" a lot of help from some very gener- Fortunately, we are able to take advantage of computer resources ous donors. You have read earlier in to help us answer those questions. We're beginning the development this issue about the teams recent of a new simulator program that will accurately predict how PrISUm trips to Boeing in St. Louis and REI Odyssey will perform throughout the race route. Those simulations in Minnesota. I would like to extend combined with real-time telemetry data from the Electrical Team and a special thanks to these corpora- tions, and others, who have been so weather information from the R.Ob.I.N. network will enable us to hospitable and generous to Team drive as effectively as possible (and hopefully win the race!) PrISUm. We still need some help, however. The computer resources we This summer, the team has made have are becoming outdated, and we are turning to corporate sponsors great strides in finalizing the design for equipment donations and support. Recently, Street Wizard do- for PrISUm Odyssey. Right now, nated their mapping development software that will be put to use in we are planning to hold a design re- our navigation system. view on September 16 at Iowa State to announce the technical design considerations for Odyssey. If you Mike is from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and would like to attend this event, is majoring in Computer Engineering. please feel free to contact us at the Team PrISUm administrative office. Also, much like the revision to the style of The Sundial, Team PrISUms website has undergone some substantial changes as well. I would encourage each of you to visit the new site and read about our on- going progress. You will also see on the new web site the opportunity to sign up for an e-mail newsletter, where you can get more timely up- dates and other interesting informa- tion. The current American Solar Challenge Route will follow old Route 66. NiCk is from Bettendorf, Iowa, and is This will take solar cars through mountains and deserts. majoring in MeChaniCal Engineering. July/August 2000 What are the vehicles of the future really going to be like? Dwight Brown in battery technology and fuel cell drives electric motors to attain up Director of Systems Integration research will allow future vehi- to 108 miles per gallon in normal cles to store great amounts of highway driving. This summer I have taken on electrical energy. This electrical Solar energy for the vehicles the challenge of directing the de- energy will be used to power of the future will be used in two sign and construction of Odyssey small electric main ways. The while working as a full-time in- motors at two or first and greatest tern at General Motors in Detroit. all four wheels. use of solar en- Here in Detroit, I have had a The energy ergy will be to wonderful opportunity to see stored in the charge the vehi- what automotive manufacturers batteries or fuel cle's batteries around the globe have up their cells will come while it is in the sleeves for the 21st Century. from a wall out- parking lot or Over the years, Team PrISUm let, the sun, driveway. Small has often been asked if solar cars small genera- groups of solar will show up in garages sometime tors, or the fuel cells can be down the road. Here is your an- cell's conver- placed on the swer: sion of hydro- Electric motors can be manufactured roof or under a gen into water. small enough to aCtually fit in the glass surface at Yes and No. The emis- wheel. Seen here, is the in-hub motor the base of the sions from these from PrISUm Phoenix. windshield or If you are happy, you can stop vehicles will be rear window. here. If you would like to know absent for electric power, water The second use of solar energy is more, keep reading. for fuel cell power, and very low that of home and corporate charg- The vehicles of the future will CO2 emissions from high effi- ing stations. The energy that the be packed with efficient and re- ciency engines. These small en- roof of your home or that of a generative power-trains, some of gines may not propel the car di- charging station collects during which may attain their energy rectly, but instead act as little the day can be stored in battery from the sun through photovol- generators, turning themselves on packs. You can then plug your taics. Many of the vehicles now and off when power is needed to car into these packs in the eve- being designed by maJor manu- charge the batteries or power the ning and transfer the sun's day- facturers incorporate many differ- climate control system. These time energy into the vehicle. ent types of systems to propel ve- vehicles have been termed hy- Every year researchers are im- hicles down the road. Amazing brids for their use of multiple sys- proving existing technology and jumps tems of propulsion creating new ones. The future and energy stor- holds exciting changes for the age. A recent automotive industry and Team concept car, the PrISUm is excited to be part of Precept, uses that development. batteries as well as a small en- Dwight is from Ankeny, Iowa, and is gine, which majoring in MeChaniCal Engineering. NiCkel Metal-Hydride batteries are Currently being used in hybrid vehicles today. Those batteries are much like these which are being studied by Team PrISUm. July/August 2000 Solar Array Research and Development Update By Brennan Downes Director of Solar Array R/D This summer has been a pro- tion for reasons other than the formance of the array, we are ductive one.