Continuum is a Contender The University of Michigan's solar car has a sleek, wind-resistant profile, meters of solar panels and the most advanced motor and computer technology the team could get its hand on. Will it take it's fifth win? Stay tuned.
Jeff Ferman Race manager Jeff Ferman has been involved with the university's solar car challenges since 2004.
On July 13, 24 teams will compete in the 2008 North American Solar Car Challenge, a competition to design, build and race solar-powered cars 2,400 miles between Plano, Tex., and Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Due to lack of funding, the race has been on a three-year hiatus. The last one took place in 2005 and the winning team came from the University of Michigan. This team has won four out of eight North American Solar Car Challenges and this year they're striving for win number five. I chatted with Jeff Ferman, race manager for team Continuum, to ask what innovations this year's car has and what he thinks his team's chances are for winning. 3:12 PM imtracynotstacy: thanks for taking the time to chat
skijrf1: no problem, it's my pleasure
imtracynotstacy: so where in the heck are you?
3:13 PM skijrf1: I'm currently at the Motorsport Ranch in Cresson Texas
3:14 PM all teams are here for the week busy with scrutineering and qualifying
imtracynotstacy: how did you get there?
3:15 PM skijrf1:
our team left on the 2nd of july and drove down over a couple days -
since then we have been in Dallas for the 4th and then getting set up
here at the track
imtracynotstacy: from what I understand, it's been 3 years since this race was running. Is that right?
3:17 PM skijrf1:
correct, the last NASC (north american solar challenge) was run in
2005. Usually the race runs every other year, but unfortunately Toyota
did not come on board as a sponsor until late and the race was moved to
2008
imtracynotstacy: And your team won the 2005 race?
3:18 PM skijrf1: yup we took first by 11 mins
imtracynotstacy: Were you a part of that team back in 2005?
3:19 PM skijrf1:
I was. I joined the team in August of 2004, a year after the 2005
Momentum team was formed. I then raced with the team in both NASC and
WSC (the World Solar Challenge)
3:20 PM imtracynotstacy: i'm super curious about what the team might be doing differently now from back in 2005 in order to secure another win!
3:21 PM skijrf1:
Our team has done quite a bit in the past three years. As every
Michigan team, we have built a new car, Continuum. Continuum is our
ninth vehicle and one of the most innovative.
Continuum
was built for the 2007 World Solar Challenge. It is a three wheeled
vehicle, with one wheel in front that steers and holds the motor
3:22 PM imtracynotstacy: the motor is in the wheel?
3:23 PM skijrf1: yes, the motor is a 3 phase brushless motor that mounts directly to the wheel
This allows the electric motor to be close to 98% efficient.
imtracynotstacy: is that different from the 2005 car, Momentum?
3:24 PM skijrf1:
yes, we have switched motors and motor controllers since 2005. We now
use a more efficient motor that was designed by an Australian company,
CSIRO.
3:25 PM imtracynotstacy: I've heard of them.
What else is different?
skijrf1:
We have a new solar array that is more efficient, we also have a
completely redesigned micro system that is very efficient and uses very
little power
Continuum
was also designed to hold a solar concentrator system that uses a
series of parabolic mirrors to focus light on a small amount of cells.
3:26 PM This
concentrator system is a first of its kind, as solar concentrators have
never been mobile. Unfortunately we had to take this system out for
NASC and replace it with a conventional solar array.
3:27 PM imtracynotstacy: why is that?
3:29 PM skijrf1:
For two reasons. The first is that the system was designed for
Australia. The mirrors need to track the sun and as the Australian race
went from North to South we simply tracked East to West. Now that the
race route goes both South to North and then East to West, the system
would require redesigning. While this could be done, the second reason,
is that the regulations would not allow it. The NASC regulations state
that you can not have an "actively reconfigured array" and they treat
the movement of the mirrors as actively reconfiguring our array
imtracynotstacy: so do you think this will hurt your chance of winning?
3:31 PM skijrf1:
No, I don't think it will hurt our chances. We do now have a larger
than necessary vehicle (as in we have more surface available than we
have room to place the 6 square meters of cells that are allowed). But
we still have a very reliable car that has a powerful array and very
little drag
3:32 PM imtracynotstacy: can you say more about the aerodynamics of the car?
3:34 PM skijrf1:
Sure, the car is designed to have very little drag. One of the reasons
we switched to a single front wheel design was to reduce the frontal
area of the vehicle. By having very little frontal area, and a sleek
and narrow profile, we have created a car with a very low coefficient
of lift as well as a very low coefficient of drag. We pay special
attention to every seem on the car and even have fairings that cover
the wheels on either side to further reduce drag
imtracynotstacy: In the photo, the car looks impressive.
3:35 PM skijrf1: Thank you
imtracynotstacy: How many of these kinds of races has U-Mich won in the past?
3:36 PM skijrf1: We have entered all eight of the North American races. Out of those eight we have placed first four times.
We have also placed third three times in the Panasonic World Solar Challenge
3:37 PM imtracynotstacy: Wow. That's great. Do you think the other teams are afraid of you guys?
3:38 PM skijrf1:
Heh, I know teams have mentioned the intimidation factor that is
unintentionally caused when we roll in with a large semi truck.
Actually, during a previous interview the interviewer mentioned that
other teams called us "the team to beat". But generally we get along
quite well with other teams.
imtracynotstacy: do you see any other teams are potentially threatening?
are > as
3:40 PM skijrf1:
Well I'm not quire sure right now. We are competing against a few teams
that we ran against this past October. The team from Germany,
SolarWorld, beat us by a few hours, and we are ready to compete against
them as well. Of the new teams, I'm still waiting to see the cars out
on the track later this week
3:41 PM imtracynotstacy: So what are doing between now and race day?
3:42 PM skijrf1:
Our team is required like all other teams to go through a series of
scrutineering events to prove the car is safe and built to regulations,
and following this we will participate in a qualifying event that will
determine the starting order for the race. In addition we are simply
preparing for the open road - getting food together, parts together,
and preparing the caravan
imtracynotstacy: who will be driving the car in the race?
3:44 PM skijrf1:
We have two drivers that will be swapping throughout each day. Brooke
Bailey and Steve Hechtman are our two drivers. Steve drove the car
throughout the Australian race and Brooke is actually our Operations
Director, but she is quite excited to be able to drive the solar car as
well.
imtracynotstacy: How many miles is the race? How many days does it take?
3:45 PM skijrf1:
The race is 2400 miles, starting in Plano, Texas running through
Winnipeg and ending in Calgary, Alberta. The journey will take 9 days
starting on July 13 and ending on the 22nd.
3:46 PM imtracynotstacy: what sorts of speeds do you hope to obtain with the car?
3:47 PM skijrf1:
The race is capped at 65 mph and given decent sunlight and good weather
our team hopes to be traveling at or near that speed limit for a good
portion of the event.
imtracynotstacy: why cap the mph?
3:48 PM I mean, isn't the point of such a competition to help develop a car that could have potential consumer use one day?
3:49 PM skijrf1:
I believe the cap is primarily for safety and has been in place for
quite a few years (although given the roads, we are only 5mph short of
the highest speed limit). Also the purpose of the competition is much
more than creating a consumer solar vehicle.
Given
the amount of power that is able to be collected by solar cells on a
vehicle, it is highly unlikely you will ever see a completely solar
powered v ehicle
3:50 PM Rather
there are many other components that will have been delivered to
consumer products. These include work with light carbon fiber
composites, work in wireless vehicle-to-vehicle communications, and
work with creating a mobile solar collector system.
3:51 PM The
challenge itself is more about the difficulties of building this type
of vehicle that requires going to the extremes in all forms of
engineering and even logistics.
3:52 PM imtracynotstacy: What variables can affect the outcome? What could go wrong?
3:53 PM skijrf1:
We treat these variables as ones that we can control and ones that are
out of our control. Many things can go wrong with the vehicle and we
have at least one spare for every part on the vehicle.
Of those variables that are out of our control, two are quite important: traffic and weather
3:55 PM We
will be on open roads that leave us susceptible to all the dangers of
others on the roads. Also we cannot unfortunately control the weather
and thus we do our best to forecast ahead of time and while racing
3:56 PM imtracynotstacy:
Do you have someone go up ahead of the race car to let you know the
traffic situation ahead? Are you using GPS to detour? Or do you have a
set course?
3:58 PM skijrf1:
The race regulates a set course and gives us a route book that is over
2 in thick! We have to follow all directions, but we do have two
vehicles out in front for safety. One is our Scout vehicle that travels
~10 miles ahead of the caravan and radios back to alert the caravan of
any changes. In addition they get the lucky job of clearing road kill.
The second vehicle vehicle is our weather vehicle and they stay about
~30 miles ahead of the caravan and they work on getting a better sense
of the current weather as well as warn us of any major route changes
(usually caused by construction).
imtracynotstacy: Sounds like a tight operation!
3:59 PM So if you place first, do you win anything?
4:00 PM skijrf1:
While there is a traveling trophy, might like the Stanley Cup, that we
get to hold on to and display if we win. In addition, in the past, by
winning we did have our entry fee to the World Solar Challenge waved
but that was back when the race immediately followed the North American
Solar Challenge so I'm not quite sure.
But no, there is no cash prize or even individual prize for the team members.
4:01 PM imtracynotstacy: Seems like you should get some kind of cash reward. But I take it that you aren't in this for the money.
4:03 PM skijrf1:
No not at all, the building of the car and the logistics are both quite
expensive, but we do it for the challenge and I know that no team
member would require any award at the end other than that of completing
our goal and taking first
4:04 PM imtracynotstacy: I wish I could be there to see you off. Is there any chance you'll have email access on the road?
I could ping you from time ot time to see how you're doing.
4:05 PM skijrf1: sure thing! We will have a blog that will updated daily online at: www.umsolar.com/blog In addition we will have internet access and people can email me or the team at solarcar@umich.edu
imtracynotstacy: Great.
Thanks so much for chatting. I'll let you get back to your duties!
Good luck.
4:06 PM skijrf1: Thank you very much. It was nice talking with you as well.
imtracynotstacy: bye for now
skijrf1: bye, have a good afternoon and I'll talk to you soon. |
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