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Solar Powered Car Attempts to Break Record

Posted by samzenpus on from the the-speed-of-light dept.

Snowdon writes "Jaycar Sunswift III today started on its 4000km journey across the Australian outback, in an attempt to beat the 8.5 day record from Perth to Sydney. The team expects to complete the journey in 6 days, depending on the weather. It is a seriously innovative machine, with the aerodynamic design iteratively optimised on 80 CS lab computers over three months, custom-built carbon-fibre wheels, chassis, suspension and steering components, and custom-built power electronics and telemetry/control systems (components of which presently use Linux, but will soon run Iguana/Wombat). It is the result of several years' work by both undergraduate and postgraduate students at UNSW. Keep track of the team's progress by visiting www.sunswift.com."

6 of 126 comments (clear)

  1. No Roo bars? by rossdee · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Do you think it would survive a collision with a kangaroo? I hear they can be a problem in the outback.

  2. The course is not symetrical by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    One problem with this course is that its one-way, not symetrical. If a team wants to cheat, what they do is calculate the averate prevailing winds, and form their vehicles shape to get a boost from this. Not to imply this team is doing that, but because its possible and difficult to detect, a more symetrical course would be desirable.

  3. good luck! by cbc1920 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    UNSW is a true veteran of the solar car racing world. I wish them all the best of luck in their treck across the outback, and hope they bring lots of spare tires!

    Let me take this opportunity to plug the premire solar car race, coming up this October, for its 20th anniversary, the World Solar Challenge. I hope to be there, and I'm sure UNSW will join the rest of the field. Everyone come watch if you can, or at least follow along online.

    http://www.wsc.org.au/2007/

    1. Re:good luck! by Ronin441 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Why bring spares, just use a tire that doesn't get flats. Because t[iy]res that go flat are more efficient. The majority of solar car teams spurn even regular tyres as too inefficient, and run special solar car racing tyres. These are thin, because less rubber means less to deform as the rubber meets the road, and deformation absorbs energy. They are often low in carbon black, which reduces their life but again decreases the amount of energy absorbed by deformation. And we pump them up really really hard.

      In 2003, Aurora and MIT Tesseract were less than a minute apart for much of the race, until Tesseract hit an amber traffic light in Port Augusta, slammed on the brakes, and popped two tyres. (Aurora had studied rolling resistance versus tyre pressure, and discovered that the last bit of extra inflation caused almost no change in rolling resistance, and thus ran their tyres at a saner pressure.) Blown tyres are quite common, which considering that these are mostly three wheeled vehicles, and that the top cars often go in excess of 100km/h, is terrifying.
  4. What about the solar cells? by Gertlex · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As a member of a college-level solar car team, I'm curious as to what the solar cells that it uses are. It's nothing special that just about everything on the car is custom built; that's a norm for SC teams. There are two divisions in the World Solar Challenge. One division, the more publicized, is restricted to "publicly available" (though not necessarily cheap) solar cells. There are various other limitations in this category as well. The other, which I know even less about, but allows any solar cells to be used.

    A common reference that my team gives the public is that our car runs on the power of a hair dryer. Does this car attain more or less power.

    I'd guess this project doesn't have any restrictions. I just wonder, that's all.

  5. Are there Open projects for adapting a street car? by des09 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Are there any Open projects going strong for adapting a street car to have some added electrical drive + regen braking, I figure my 12 mile commute could be made considerably cheaper. I have always wondered why we [geeks] can't come up with a modification to add embedded motors on the free wheels of a two wheel drive - add some firmware and we're looking at bolt on 4 wheel drive + greatly improved torque at the wheels, something the performance modders can get excited about.

    induction charging, or plug in at the garage at home, a small solar panel to top off at work before the schlep home...

    Not from scratch like these guys...
    http://www.theoscarproject.org/

    yeah, I know I could google it...

    --
    .sigless since 2003