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Solar Phantom team ready for another summer adventure
They’ve got the experience. They’ve got the technology. By the end of this month, they’ll have the training.
Yes, it’s time once again for members of Rose-Hulman’s Solar Phantom Race Team to test themselves and their engineering skills in the Sunrayce 97 cross-country road race for solar-powered vehicles from 40 North American colleges and universities. The 10-day, 1,240-mile event starts June 19 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, has its first overnight stop at Rose-Hulman on June 19-20, and finishes in Colorado Springs, Colo., on June 28.
And, this year’s team seems to be ready for the challenge.
"This is the best-prepared team that Rose-Hulman has ever entered in Sunrayce," proudly states Team Leader Eric Ward, a senior mechanical engineering student from Owensboro, Ky. "Through a lot of hard work and planning, we’ve got a car that’s capable of performing very well in the race.
Ward has evidence to back up his claims. They include:
- The team began road testing the newly designed Solar Phantom IV in early April and traveled the first half of the Sunrayce route during Spring Break, April 7-10. (Previous Solar Phantom vehicles were completed days before the start of Sunrayce.)
- An Adopt-A-Cell fund-raising campaign allowed the team to purchase sheets of encapsulated photovoltaic solar cells for easy placement on the solar array - the lifeblood of any solar-powered car. (Previous team members spent countless hours soldering the cells by hand.)
- Re-designing the interior chassis and exterior body has shaved 250 or more pounds from 1995 Solar Phantom III. (This year’s car weighs 700 pounds, without a driver; the 1995 car weighed close to 1,000 pounds, without a driver.)
- The team selected a high-efficient, hub-activated electric motor to power the car up to 55 mph. "On the way back from Sunrayce 95, we started formulating our strategies for’97," says Ward, one of five returning members from Rose-Hulman’s team that finished 14th (out of 38 teams) in the 1995 race, which had a similar route as this year. "Our No. 1 objective was road testing the vehicle prior to qualifications (May 2-4 at General Motor Corp.’s Proving Grounds in Milford, Mich.). That meant getting the car built by late March and on the road in early April. Thankfully, everything - from obtaining shocks to constructing the exterior body to gaining a vehicle registration number - fell into place and we met those goals. Now, we’ve got to be ready for qualifications so that we can get a top starting position for Sunrayce."
The Solar Phantom team isn’t alone. Students from 61 other colleges and university are also currently building cars for this summer’s race. Next month’s vehicle inspections, drivability testing and required 100-mile (at a minimum lap speed of 25 mph) qualifications will pare the field down to the 40 fastest and safest vehicles.
"As in any form of racing, the competition keeps getting better each year. We’ve had to set higher engineering standards if we hope to remain competitive," said Chief Operations Officer Rob Voll, a sophomore mechanical engineering student from Terre Haute. "We want to be running in the lead pack this year, instead of trailing in the middle (14th through 20th place)."
Financial Officer Scott Thorley, a senior mechanical engineering major from Kirklin, Ind., states simply, "We would be disappointed with anything less than a strong performance . . . We’ve got the engineering ability, the experience and the technology to do well this year."
Steady improvement has marked Rose-Hulman’s performances in all three previous Sunryace events. The team finished 20th in 1990’s GM Sunrayce USA, from Orlando, Fla., to Warren, Mich.; 15th in 1993’s Sunrayce 93, from Arlington, Texas, to Minneapolis, Minn.; and 14th in Sunrayce 95, from Indianapolis to Golden, Colo.
This year’s car is 19.5 feet long, 6.4 feet wide and is capable of running the speed limit on the same amount of energy that powers a hair dryer. Its energy is generated from sunlight captured by more than 950 photovoltaic cells that cover the car’s body.
"The Solar Phantom IV is a masterpiece of engineering, science and technology," says Chief Mechanical Engineer Anthony Heap, a senior mechanical and electrical engineering major from Terre Haute. "The winner of Sunrayce 97 will be the team that takes the best advantage of its limited natural resources, works well as a team and covers the 1,200-mile route without major mechanical or electrical problems."
Alumni can once again follow the progress of the Solar Phantom IV during Sunrayce 97 by calling the Solar Phantom Hotline at (812) 238-1212, ext. 7448. Daily reports will be filed May 1-5, during Sunrayce qualifications, and June 14-30, before, during and after the race.
by Dale Long
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