Racing with the Sun : Newest solar car design from UWaterloo team
Waterloo, August 13, 2007
Nicole O’Reilley, Record Staff
Source: TheRecord.com
http://news.therecord.com/News/CanadaWorld/article/227560
Nineteen years after a solar-powered car was unveiled for the first time at University of Waterloo, the newest incarnation of the car has taken a practical twist. “It’s not as fast, or as sleek as in past years, but it’s much more practical,” project manager Cameron Bruce said of Midnight Sun IX.
Bruce, a 2007 graduate in mechanical engineering, was part of the 15-member team that unveiled the solar car yesterday at a UW parking lot. The team will drive Midnight Sun IX in the World Solar Challenge from Oct. 21 to Oct. 28 in Australia.
The challenge is a 3,000-kilometre race that spans the Australian outback, starting in Darwin and ending in Adelaide. The race added stricter guidelines this year, forcing many new vehicles to slow down. More than 200 students and professors worked on the UW car over a two-year period, often into the wee hours of the morning.
The new Midnight Sun model — painted black and gold to commemorate UW’s 50th anniversary — is the first to feature an upright seat. Past models had the driver lying down, almost as though in a luge. “We’ve really improved in the safety of drivers,” Bruce said. The upright position provides better visibility and allows a much better fit for the driver’s five-point harness. Bruce sees solar cars becoming a supplement to regular cars in the future.
“They only fit one person, so people who drive to work by themselves could use it,” he said, adding that the clean energy technology can be applied many ways. The top of the car is lined with solar cells that generate electricity when exposed to sunlight.
The team agrees the public’s increasing concern about environmental issues — especially those related to oil — makes solar technology important. “The higher gas prices seem to get the more people seem to be interested in our project,” Bruce said.
Jessica Whitney, the team’s business manager and a 2007 civil engineering graduate, agreed. “I think green is back,” said Whitney, the only woman on the team going to Australia.
Businesses are more likely to sponsor projects like this one because of the environmental implications, she said. The UW team does have many sponsors, but as solar technology becomes more accessible, the cost of materials decreases, Bruce said.
An earlier UW incarnation, Midnight Sun VII, holds the Guinness World Record for longest continuous journey — 15,070 kilometres over 40 days — by a solar-powered vehicle. But at yesterday’s unveiling in front of about 50 onlookers, the UW team was only looking forward.
Team member Philipp Nieding, a mechanical engineering exchange student from Germany, showed off his driving skills with a couple of laps around the parking lot. He will be one of the team’s two or three drivers racing in Australia.
Driving a solar car takes getting used to, Nieding said. “It has almost 100 per cent torque,” he said, meaning it can go from zero to 100 fast. During the drive, Nieding and his teammates will feel the heat. “We expect it to be 10 degrees warmer in the car than outside,” he said, adding he will be driving the car six to eight hours straight.
After the unveiling, team members, in matching black golf shirts, signed the car’s battery before crating it up. The team will soon be saying so long to Midnight Sun IX. It has a ticket for a long boat ride to Australia.