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Missouri Wins American Solar Challenge
dagoalieman writes "The University of Missouri - Rolla won this year's 2300 mile American Solar Challenge. The roughly 339lb car (517lb with driver) with 1500 watts of power won by nearly 5 hours - here's the final results. UMR has now won two out of the past three races, finishing second in the last race, to Michigan. Congrats, and good luck to them in the World Solar Challenge!"
I'd like to see real applications. For example, if someone had a few cells on top of their Prius, and were driving cross country, or in Phoenix, how much would it help? This is the news i'd like to hear, the stuff that matters to me.
Does anyone know if the times the race takes are getting shorter each year? In other words, is the technology actually getting better each year?
Is dat them Roads Scholars they got'n thar?
So how will this technology be used in forthcoming products? Is there a value here?
If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
"The roughly 339lb car (517lb with driver)"
http://solar42.umr.edu/faq/techfaq.htm
"Q: What does the car weigh?
A: Solar Miner II weighs 822 pounds with the driver. The batteries alone weigh 320 pounds and our driver weighs 176 pounds. If the driver weighs in less than 176 pounds, he/she must carry lead shot with them to bring their weight to 176 pounds. "
Is that 339lb figure from the article only the batteries?
Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way...
CEO's of the Big Three yawned in unison when told about Missouri's victory.
One of them asked "Was the winner an SUV that runs on gasoline?" When told the answer, he replied "whatever."
How about the American Solar Challenge/Houston 700? We know she can do 660 at a sitting but can she do 700? How about have her do this in each solar car while moving and rotating to each vehicle while moving in a continuous fashion?
I smell paper view...actually I bet it'd smell a bit fishy...It's all about the ratings damnit!!
You aren't free to do anything, until you've lost everything.
My college is actually good for something other than taking my money and giving me a diploma! :)
Congratulations Miners! Glad to hear you found something productive to do in Rolla. :) (Note to everyone else: this is my dad's alma mater...It's a great engineering school, but there's not much to do in Rolla, MO...I've heard the, er, stories.)
Looks like their server lost its juice.
How about using the energy made by a slashdotting to power a server?
for great justice
Hardly fair.
I don't think these Universities should be promoting solar power. The sun is a finite resource. In about 4 billion years it'll be done for. Wasting its energy like this is not helpful.
is it just me or do all the photos fuzzy?
with a lighter driver :P
"The University of Missouri - Rolla won this year's 3700 km American Solar Challenge. The roughly 154 kg car (235 kg with driver) with 1500 watts of power won by nearly 5 hours - here's the final results. UMR has now won two out of the past three races, finishing second in the last race, to Michigan. Congrats, and good luck to them in the World Solar Challenge!"
Funny how the schools that won came from states with little or no sun, and the sunny states didn't place that well.
Guess people who go to schools with no sun have nothing to do but work all day.
here is the info on another solar race from Dell headquarters in Round Rock Texas to the Florida Solar Energy Center in Cocoa FL which just ended (after 9 days of racing) today.
Good job teams!
Is it allowed to use the actual *heat* of the sun to produce energy, such as in a Stirling engine, or is that now considered 'Reverse Engineering of Sunlight' and outlawed under the DMCA?
Thermodynamics is the study of energy, its conversions between various forms such as heat, and the ability of energy to do work. It is closely related to statistical mechanics from which many themodynamic relationships can be derived. The field delves into a wide range of topics including, but not limited to: efficiency of heat engines and turbines, phase equilibria, PVT relationships. gas laws (both ideal and non ideal), energy balances, heats of reactions, and combustion reactions. It is governed by 4 basic laws (in brief): The Laws of Thermodynamics Alternative statements are given for each law. These statements are, for the most part, mathematically equivalent. * Zeroth law: A fundamental concept within thermodynamics, however, it was not termed a law until after the first three laws were already widely in use, hence the zero numbering. There is some discussion about its status. Stated as: o If A and B are in thermal equilibrium, and B and C are in thermal equilibrium, then A and C are also in thermal equilibrium. o Two systems in thermal equilibrium with a third system, all must be in equilibrium with each other. * 1st Law: Is stated as follows: o The work exchanged in an adiabatic process depends only on the initial and the final state and not on the details of the process. o The sum of heat flowing into a system, and work done by the system is zero. * 2nd Law: A far reaching and powerful law, it can be stated many ways, the most popular of which is: o It is impossible to obtain a process such that the unique effect is the subtraction of a positive heat from a reservoir and the production of a positive work. o The entropy of a closed system never decreases (see Maxwell's demon) o A system operating in contact with a thermal reservoir cannot produce positive work in its surroundings (Kelvin) o A system operating in a cycle cannot produce a positive heat flow from a colder body to a hotter body (Clausius) * 3rd Law: This law explains why it is so hard to cool something to absolute zero: o All processes cease as temperature approaches zero. o As temperature goes to 0, the entropy of a system approaches a constant The three original laws have been humorously summarised as: (1) you can't win; (2) you can't break even; (3) you can't get out of the game. Thermodynamic Systems A thermodynamic system is that part of the universe that is under consideration. A real or imaginary boundary separates the system from the rest of the universe, which is referred to as the surroundings. Often thermodynamic systems are characterized by the nature of this boundary as follows: * Isolated systems are completely isolated from their surroundings. Neither heat nor matter can be exchanged between the system and the surroundings. An example of an isolated system would be an insulated container, such as an insulated gas cylinder. (In reality, a system can never be absolutely isolated from its environment, because there is always at least some slight coupling, even if only via minimal gravitational attraction). * Closed systems are separated from the surroundings by an impermeable barrier. Heat can be exchanged between the system and the surroundings, but matter cannot. A greenhouse is an example of a closed system. * Open systems can exchange both heat and matter with their surroundings. Portions of the boundary between the open system and its surroundings may be impermeable and/or adiabatic, however at least part of this boundary is subject to heat and mass exchange with the surroundings. The ocean would be an example of an open system. Thermodynamic State A key concept in thermodynamics is the state of a system. When a system is at equilibrium under a given set of conditions, it is said to be in a definite state. For a given thermodynamic state, many of the system's properties have a specific value corresponding to that state. The values of these properties are a function of the state of the system a
Go solar!
So I guess that means no 'VTEC' sticker. Too bad.
We had no women, but we sure had a sweet-assed solar car. =)
Most pictures show the vehicles on a sunny day. It would be interesting to know how (or if at all) these solar cars perform under somewhat cloudy conditions, which may be a typical environment in many areas.
Marge, get me your address book, 4 beers, and my conversation hat.
What is the current progress on this?
4 21.html
This is what I found:
http://sharp-world.com/corporate/news/030
"17.4% Module Conversion Efficiency Industry's Most Efficient --- April 21, 2003"
"17.3 m2 of area yielding 3.01 kW (4hp)"
The surface area (hood, roof) of a 2004 Prius is ~10m^2. So that would generate around 2kW with these panels.
What are the projection for panel efficiency over the next 5-20 years?
At 50% efficiency you could get 5kW output for a 10m^2 panel. If you drove 1 hour/day and parked in the sun 6 hours/day you could generate an extra 40hp for that hour on the road. As someone mentioned earlier, slap this on a Prius and you should reach 100mpg+ easily.
Feel free to fix any calculation errors.
Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way...
178 lbs. of driver? somebody get a horse jockey in that cockpit!
Just raise the taxes on crack.
20 percent of the teams were Canadian, how is that the American solar challenge? Oh I see... 20% of "America" is Canada.
there are like 20 guys for every female. There isn't much else in Rolla, to boot.
First, congrads to Minnesota and Waterloo who respectively placed second and third.
For solar "raycing" fans, Missouri-Rolla is reportedly on the "Today Show" tomorrow morning.
Here's how I express my feelings for Rolla.
http://web.umr.edu/~phc/pics/rolla_sucks.jpg
finishing second in the last race, to Michigan
:)
I always gotta love the chessy UofM plug.
-B
GO BLUE!
If you notice, the top 3 are the same, and they all appear to have improved.
I hope you're not pretending to be evil while secretly being good. That would be dishonest.
Actually, the rules for solar races almost always place a limit on the $/watt for the cells, so that competitors can't "buy" the win. (there are some much more efficient solar cells out there, but their cost is insanely high) This forces entrants to work on "the big picture", including vehicle weight, aerodynamics, electronics efficiency, and even their strategy. Many solar competitions allow one battery swap-out during the course of the run, and teams have to decide when the best time for this is, in addition to how hard to push the pedal when power's running low.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
Hey.. maybe they woulda won by more if they got a smaller (read: lighter) driver.
-Valiss
As a Missourian and an incoming freshman at a University of Missouri campus (not Rolla), I am glad to see that not only did the University of Missouri - Rolla win but that my University of Missouri Columbia placed six. This goes to show that people should look beyond the Ivy Leagues and consider that a closer school might be almost as good and a lot cheaper.
On vit, on code et puis on meurt.
Let me give you an idea of what the campus is like. We have the
and one Arts and Sciences building with all those pansy ass "liberal arts" classes in them. (I probably left one out...it's been a while since I was back)
So needless to say it's a geekfest. I think our football team has won once....like in it's history. The Solar Car challenge is something we dominate in because, well, we can.
One more time....GO MINERS!
I tried downloading the rules to check, but the PDF was a blank document. Does anyone know if 176 pounds is just that team's average or are teams with lighter drivers required to use weights to bring them up to 176 pounds (like some horse races)?
Daniel
Goooooo Waterloo!
:-)
Queens sucks!
Congrats to UMR!
I was on that team before it was a supported by the school. (Those Jerks!) They have the best race number - 42! I wanted to call our car the "Heart of Gold" after the ship in hhgttg but not all engineers coming out of Rolla are as cool as myself.
But, After working my ass off testing batteries and other power-related issues with the bitrode machine, I came to the conclusion it was really about the race-team, and how ready they were. Nearly all the components that are important to the solar car are so simular due to the race rules that it is hard to get a real technical advantage.
By the way, our car in '94-95 was held together by velcro!
I've heard that a commercial car have a solar pannel on top to help electrical consumption on board, reducing gasoline consumption. Is there any hacker in the place that have successfully installed solar pannel on their car and successfully save cash?
from a UMKC alumnus! Bravo Zulu!
We've got a good little school here... You can tell it's an engineering school when the solar car team is more popular and well-known than the football team :)
Anyways, check the domain on my email address. Good job guys!
Northwestern didn't even qualify. Way to go guys!
This is still very, very true.
3 - University of Waterloo 7 - Queen's University (and damn proud to be there, those guys worked their asses off to do this) 9 - McGill University 11 - University of Toronto(impressive, I heard their solar car was t-boned while in transit to a practice run) We Canadian folk can compete with the kids down south.
It's nice to see that UMC came in only 10h after the UMR team, also (as a UMC student).
(now watch as all the UM students start adding friends to their lists...heh)
-- I'd say your post was about 3 monkeys, 18 minutes.
Does anyone know the distinction between class O and class S vehicles?
For those of you who don't know, UMR has about 5000 students, abour 3800 of those are full-time undergrads (at least those are the numbers last I looked; might be less now). For a school of this size, this is some choice recognition, especially it was chosen as having the most unhappy student population in the latest Princeton Review.
Some of the other lovely competitions that UMR competes in every year include the concrete canoe races (people actually build canoes out of concrete and race them) and mucking (old time mining).
BTW, for those of you who don't know the difference between UMR and Mizzou (UM-Columbia), here are two things to remember:
(and if you don't like my speling, just remember: UMR is an engineering school, not a spelling school)
Sig? What sig? Do I have to have a sig!?!?
Some of the other lovely competitions that UMR competes in every year include the concrete canoe races (people actually build canoes out of concrete and race them) and mucking (old time mining).
;)
I think you left out competitive drinking. In a place where kegs can be bought for $25, it's almost a given, really.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Apparantly, it was an interesting race. The California team, originally a favorite to win, suffered an energy crisis midway through the race. They then appealed to the Federal Government to compel other nearby cars to sell them enough power to cross the finish line. The Washington and Colorado teams have submitted formal protests against this tactic.
Your courageous and selfless spelling corrections have made me a better person.
The impressive part is only the top 12 cars even *finished* the race:d ings.html
http://americansolarchallenge.org/daily_race_stan
We (UMR) usually gets burned by MIT, but the running joke is our car is less than a quarter million while their's is closer to 1.5 mil, least it was a few years ago.
Even though the rules are strict there's still plenty of things you can sink money into, like tires, frame material, etc.
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
So, the driver's weight is 178 lbs.. :)
Sorry, a geek like me couldn't help...
I had to do the math
Actually, the rules for solar races almost always place a limit on the $/watt for the cells, so that competitors can't "buy" the win.
The biggest solar car race of them all, the World Solar Challenge (WSC), doesn't. The rules for 2001 are available online for you to check. I am told this years rules won't change in that respect. One of the best parts of the WSC in previous years has been that the rules are so open. Unfortunately, now that the technology is maturing top teams `buying a win' is becoming a problem. It would be a pity to see solar racing go the way I am told American motor sport has gone.
Tom Rowlands(Sorry, I can't sign this).
If you don't insist on photovoltaic cells you can get more energy out of the sun.
It's a bit more complex, requiring more innovation but I thought that's what it was all about.
Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
The regulations for the American race haven't put restrictions on solar cells or batteries since 1999. The stock class still has these limitations, but the open class is just that: wide open. That still doesn't mean that weight, efficiency, strategy, and especially aerodynamics don't play a big part in how fast these cars can go. No solar competition that I know of allows a battery swap-out without a huge penalty involved.
As the driver of both the '99 and '01 Michigan cars, I still have to point out of the 7 American races, the Universtiy of Michigan has still won 3 of them. ;) Still, congrats to Rolla....this win was well earned.
The problem I'm seeing with this race though is that as the cars have gotten faster and faster, there is much less strategy involved. Part of the reason this years race was faster was because of the addition of another staged stop in Albuquerque. This essentially changed the race from a cross country endurance run where strategy and energy management were important, to a string of all out sprints where the cars can run right at the speed limit the entire time. If something goes wrong or breaks on a team's car, they are suddenly out of the running for a win. There's no way to catch up if everyone is running at the speed limit. Don't get me wrong, reliability has always been part of the race, but it shouldn't replace strategy as the only way of winning. That's part of the appeal of this kind of race. Its not just about the car and the level of technology on it, but how the weather can change things rapidly, and how you best manage the amount of energy you have.
Now these are purpose built race cars and most of the technology that goes into them will not and can not be used in real-world applications, just like NASCAR and F1 cars are nothing like whats on the road. The extremely fragile solar cells are for the most part (before sponsorhsip and discounts) worth way more than most homes, let alone another car. But the purpose is not just to develop technology, its to allow students to work in a practical engineering and small company environment and really develop a vehicle using the princples they've learned in class. It was _the_ most useful part of my education at Michigan.
Having also been a student at UMR, and having the pleasure to serve as RA with one of the members of the Solar Car team, I must say congratulations! A job well done. =)
Zech Harvey, MCSE, MCDBA, CCNA
I don't know about the MIT team's budget, but they haven't even been close to competative the last 3 rayces. Oh, and Rolla's car was only around $100,000 this year :-)
All the colleges on this list are pretty well known, excpet Principia College. Looking it up on the web, this school only has 500 kids, is in the farm country of illinois, and is a libral arts school with almost no engineering dept. Anyone actually gone to this school and know why it did so well, or is this just a fluke
Way to go guys! Must have been a beer shortage in Rolla for this much work to be done. :)
--2000 MgtSys Grad
"The roughly 339lb car (*with 517lb driver*) with 1500 watts of power won by nearly 5 hours"
:)
Was I the only one who read it like this?
Anyways maybe some of the technologies used in this car could be applied to `standard' electric cars.
While St. Louis (Missouri) may have good schools, it lacks large businesses. If you are an IT worker, you may call St. Louis "The Arm Pit" of technology.
I know, I work here, and the jobs in IT are hard to come by.
...Mizzou's been in decline. The place needs another bar with plywood tables, plywood benches, and walls, and doors...and a plywood roof...
Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
Well, as a Rolla grad and the spouse of a beautiful Rolla student (from 26 years ago, no less), they aren't ugly.
My wife drank me under the table on our first date. It was love at first shot...
Whoohooo! You want a party, go to Rolla on St. Pats day. They, literally, paint the streets green.
Go MINERS!
"You can't have everything. Where would you keep it?" -- Steven Wright
Forget the strategy--reliabilty is about 50 times as important in real life
Actually, even with more batteries, I can't think of a way to utilize this energy at all. Due to regenerative braking, a parallel hybrid will generally reach it's parking spot with a near-full set of batteres. If you add more batteries, it will still be near full.
In essence, a parallel hybrid is topping off it's batteries all the time.
So, in order to use this solar power you would have to know ahead of time you were going to park and turn off the motor early and then park with the batteries near flat. And then if you return too quickly and the batteries are still flat you need to run the internal motor a little more than normal and you are actually a little less efficient.
Another possibility would be to make the batteries larger and not make the generator later, thus in essence making the generator marginal and hoping the cells can take up the slack. But that isn't good for people in non-sunny areas (Seattle) or people who drive at night.
And in either case, the weight of the batteries is non-zero and could cause the overall gain to be negative.
Hmm.
Corporate IT is dead *everywhere*. Seattle has among the *worst* tech unemployment rate in North America.
As for large businesses not being St. Louis: rubbish. A.G. Edwards, Ralston-Purina, Anheuser Busch, Monsanto, SBC, United Healthcare, Boeing are just a few examples.
It's called a recession.
Someone call Gephardt and Daschle... there's TAXES to be made on sunlight!!!
We're going to need plenty of government regulations.
The liberals should be beside themselves with joy!!!
Someone will have to make solar meters to measure useage. Standards will have to be developed. Legislators will have to get involved.
We'll need to hire government solar meter inspectors, meter readers, technicians... the weights and measures department will have to grow!
The DMV can sell solar licenses!!!
Keep the government employed!
When the solar tax money starts to run thin, we can start taxing batteries!
Cottage industries will sprout. Meters will need to be calibrated. The Mob will make money rolling back solar meters.
Which wing of the government would be in charge of solar power?
We'd better spread it across many departments so we can minimize return while maximizing taxpayer expense.
Liberals will have to create more legislation to enforce taxation.
Can you imagine law enforcement?
Will there be police driving around with panels to clamp on top of your vehicle to induce payment of "solar taxes?"
Police... hmmm... we might need a new department... solar tax revenue. The liberals will give them carte-blanche to arrect tax-dodgers and collect taxes.
Imagine the black market for solar panels!
Until the cost comes down, anyone with a SawzAll or a can of spray paint will be a threat!
Imagine driving into the city, and competing for the top floor of the parking ramp?
After work, find your hood, trunk lid, and roof Sawzall'd off!
Imagine the drive home!
-- No sig for you!
A Prius has about the same surface area as one of these solar racers
Huh? I was on the (now defunct due to budget problems) University of Illinois Solar Racing Team. Almost all of the entries in the competition are about the length and width of a full size 9 passanger van, a far cry from a Prius...
"I'll have a Guinness, no wait, make that a Coors Light" -Grad student I work with, who shall remain anonymous...
Just how much naturual resources did the support vehicles use up in this 'solar powered race'...???
Stop the chase car, then put the pedal to the metal to catch up...
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Don't forget Emerson, Graybar, May Department Stores, Charter Communications, Express Scripts, Arch Coal, Brown Shoe, Energizer, Sigma-Aldrich, Enterprise, Maritz, and Solutia....
St. Louis has 15 Fortune 1000 companies, and ranks 7th as a headquarters location for Fortune 500 companies.
Plus huge operations for companies like MasterCard, CitiMortgage, etc.
Adaptive software which measures the levels of power vs the levels of sunlight and correlates this with average driving habits to reach an optimal solution. this depends on a slightly different model of hybrid, essentially an electric car with a small gas turbine generator used to supply electric power to the the drivetrain, along with a fairly hefty capacitor bank to allow for extra power, recharged by regenerative braking and solar input, if available (based on cloud conditions). A fairly small battery pack would suffice for any other needs, such as starting the vehicle after long periods of quiescence. Such a vehicle could readily do better than the 100 mpg cited for the prius with laminate panels. In a sunny state such as Arizona, such a vehicle could concievably reach 250+ mpg on flat ground. Todays hybrids are all built wrong.