The National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology’s Apollo IX Plus was amongst 34 solar-powered vehicles that raced 3,000km throughout the rugged Australian Outback
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By Tom Simko / Contributing reporter
Futuristic solar-powered vehicles have completed racing 3,000 kilometers throughout the rugged Australian Outback desert in the last word endurance competitors. Running on sufficient energy for a hair dryer, some reached speeds as excessive as 130 kilometers per hour and accomplished the trek in simply four-and-a-half days.
This was the seventeenth Bridgestone World Solar Challenge (BWSC) since 1987, which is often held each two years. It began on Aug. 24 in tropical Darwin and ended on Friday final week in the south coast metropolis of Adelaide. The 34 entries included groups from around the globe, with most of them being from universities and colleges.
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) competed with its modern automobile referred to as “Apollo IX Plus.” This was the group’s eighth race throughout Australia.
Photo courtesy of Apollo Solar Car Team
Apollo IX was the fourth in its car class to succeed in Adelaide.
GRUELING COMPETITION
Given that half of the vehicles have been compelled to retire from this grueling competitors as a result of breakdowns and being unable to succeed in management stops in time, it was an admirable accomplishment for the NKUST group to even make it to Adelaide. Doubly in order the scholars selected to compete in a design class that got here with additional challenges.
Photo courtesy of Apollo Solar Car Team
Looking like a car out of a science fiction film, the roof and entrance of the streamlined and low Apollo IX is roofed with darkish photo voltaic cells. The cells convert daylight into electrical energy, which is saved in batteries to be drawn off as wanted to run a high-efficiency motor constructed into one of many wheels.
For most groups, automobile designs evolve from the data and expertise developed from constructing and racing earlier variations. However, for college groups like NKUST, the turnover of scholars each few years presents a particular problem.
“Because it is university education, research and development talent is difficult to keep at the school long term,” stated Herchang Ay (艾和昌), group advisor and a professor at NKUST. “The biggest challenge is passing on the technology of the solar vehicle. We must maintain close cooperation with industry, especially the companies that our early team members are serving.”
Photo courtesy of Apollo Solar Car Team
Most of the automobiles in this race competed in the Challenger Class. Designed to dash to the end line, they are usually sleeker and smaller.
CRUISER CLASS
In distinction, the Cruiser Class vehicles, like Apollo IX, are extra sensible wanting and carry a driver and not less than one passenger, and there have to be house for a baggage compartment. This makes them bigger, heavier and fewer aerodynamic than the main Challenger vehicles, presenting additional challenges to reaching Adelaide in time. However, the NKUST group selected to enter this extra demanding a part of the competitors.
“Believing that solar vehicles are the future of electric mobility, we joined the Cruiser Class to speed up commercialization and open new business opportunities,” Ay stated.
The Cruiser automobiles reveal the sensible prospects of the know-how showcased by photo voltaic racers. Competition judging thought of sustainable and marketable design options.
This 12 months’s race got here with additional hurdles, making it much more troublesome for Cruiser vehicles like Apollo IX.
Usually held in October, this 12 months the race was run late final month, on the finish of the Australian winter. Although this meant fewer extraordinarily scorching days, there was about 20 % much less sunshine to energy the vehicles. Also, the utmost battery storage capability was diminished.
This meant groups needed to design vehicles that have been much more power environment friendly than earlier fashions. They needed to seize as a lot solar energy as potential and use it properly, relying much less on power saved in the batteries.
The group from NKUST believed they’d met these wants with a sensible and interesting design. On the race Web web site, the group notes they’d labored on “[r]edefining the product value of solar-powered new energy vehicles with a focus on commercialization, low aerodynamic drag, energy efficiency, mass producibility and innovative design aesthetics as the development goals for the Apollo IX vehicle model.”
It seems the group achieved these targets.
“Throughout the race, many visitors called Apollo IX the ‘best-looking car powered by the Sun.’ It’s a key motivation for us to keep advancing toward a production-ready solar EV,” Ay stated.
Four main groups, together with the successful Dutch group, Brunel, used an innovation that led to this 12 months’s competitors being referred to as “the battle of the fins.”
A sharklike fin might be prolonged up from behind the cover and turned like a sail to seize crosswinds and assist stabilize the automobile.
The NKUST group may contemplate integrating such a tool with its built-in diffuser, which assists with the air circulate on the rear of the automobile to scale back drag.
CAMARADERIE
Ay stated there was loads of camaraderie among the many groups in this pleasant competitors. For a part of the race, the NKUST group was close to the group from the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education. “Before each start [of the day] we often borrowed tools or parts from one another.”
“In addition, during scrutineering, Apollo IX was flagged because its seatbelts were past their service life, and finding professional-grade replacements in Darwin on short notice was extremely difficult. Fortunately, the University of Michigan and Tokai University [from Japan] stepped in and provided spare seatbelts so we could pass scrutineering. Michigan even donated theirs to us, which, as an alumnus, moved me deeply.”
The professor famous that Apollo IX managed to energy by way of troublesome situations on the finish, regardless of the smaller battery pack this 12 months.
“On Aug. 29 (the final day of the race), we faced strong winds all day, prompting a delayed start by the organizers. And under rainy skies, Apollo IX, with a 15 kilowatt-hour battery pack, still covered more than 400 kilometers.”
There was greater than wind to cope with in the Outback, not solely whereas racing throughout the day, but in addition whereas camped on the roadside in a single day.
“This event was held during the Australian winter, where the day-to-night temperature swing is huge: scorching in some places by day and bitterly cold at night. The weather can feel like all four seasons in a single day. It was truly a rare and memorable experience.”
Tom Simko participated in earlier World Solar Challenges and served as a driver and advisor for the Queen’s University Solar Vehicle Team. He is a tutorial at RMIT University in Melbourne Australia.