Current Project - PrISUm 11 (Hyperion)
As promised, regulations for the 2012 race were released on September 1, 2010. Some major changes include banning Gallium Arsenide solar cells, limiting Silicon solar arrays to 6 square meters, and further reducing battery weight to a max of 20kg for lithium ion. We are hopeful that the new regulations will help level the playing field for lower budget teams and have some good ideas on how to work within the new constraints on vehicle power. Stay tuned for more information as we get further along in the design process for our 11th generation car. In the mean time, you can check out our most recent solar car below.
Previous Project - PrISUm 10 (Anthelion)
Our last project cycle began in Fall 2008 and come to an end in Summer 2010 following our competition in the American Solar Challenge.
Key Design Concepts
At the beginning of this project, we carefully evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of our past vehicles and decided to make some key changes in this car that we hope will lay a solid foundation for future innovation. We opted to throw out many past conventions and take a fresh approach to designing a more competitive solar car.
In a dramatic departure from our recent vehicles, we chose to go with a three wheel design for our tenth car. It is powered by a single wheel in back and the two front wheels steer. This allows us to save weight, reduce complexity, decrease rolling resistance, and eliminate the off-center thrust vector that had been caused by having the motor on the back, right wheel. As a result of choosing to pursue a three wheel design, we have placed a special emphasis on safety and ensuring that the center of mass is positioned for maximum stability.
We have also spent substantial time optimizing the aerodynamics of the car's body using computational fluid dynamics software. In doing so, we have effectively cut the car's coefficient of drag in half compared to our previous vehicle. By focusing on reducing weight and increasing efficiency, we successfully created one of the best performing cars the team has built. Unfortunately, reliability issues with the electronics prevented the car from reaching it's full potential.
