Welcome to Team PrISUm

Team PrISUm is a multidisciplinary, student-run organization at Iowa State University (ISU) which designs, builds, and races solar powered electric vehicles across the United States every few years in the American Solar Challenge. Outreach and education are also important aspects of our project as we work to raise awareness about solar energy and efficient transportation. Don't hesitate to email us if you would like to have our solar car at an event.

This project would not be possible without our current and past sponsors. We encourage you to take a look at our sponsorship page and download a copy of the corporate sponsorship packet or an adopt-a-cell form to find out how you can help us pave the way towards a future in renewable energy!

2011 Formula Sun Grand Prix

On May 2-7, Team PrISUm's tenth solar car, Anthelion, raced to a fourth place finish in Formula Sun Grand Prix 2011 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We were competing in a field of 10 solar cars built by students at universities around the United States. Check out our race blog for more information about our latest race.

Official 2011 Race Blog

News Articles

Fall 2011 Sundial Newsletter - January 11, 2012

Our fall 2011 newsletter has been released. It can be viewed on our website now and will be mailed out to our sponsors in the coming weeks. Hope you enjoy it.

Hyperion Mock Frame - January 5, 2012

Over winter break, several team members completed the mock frame for Hyperion. This is a critical step in the testing/verification of the frame design for the new vehicle. The mock frame consists of the driver cage minus the steering and battery box mounting sections. It allows us to asses driver ergonomics, ingress, egress, and visibility. In initial testing, team members have found the frame to be easier to enter and exit than our last frame for Anthelion. We expect to be able to position the steering wheel in such a way that it doesn't have to be removed to pass the driver egress test. Visibility seems acceptable right now, but we plan to do further testing with foam padding installed that will decrease visibility somewhat. We are pushing to have the actual frame welded by Don Ness Racecraft later this month.

Waterjet Cutting Bulkheads - December 21, 2011

In the week before Christmas, three team members travelled to Winfield Iowa, to get the support bulkheads cut for our new car body at American Waterjet Cutting. In the same day, we also cut some of the aluminum stock for our new wheels and other suspension components. The owner, Galen Thomson, has been a long time supporter of our team and he always does great work for us. While we were there, he was in the process of setting up a second table, that will greatly expand his capabilities and it is expected to be the largest waterjet table in the midwest, when completed early next year.

Sponsored by Snap-On Tools - December 18, 2011

Team PrISUm is thrilled to announce the beginning of a long term sponsorship from Snap-On, which has been producing some of the finest professional tools and equipment in the world since 1920. So far we have received some gorgeous new tool chests, along with our first shipment of tools and equipment. It's been far too long that team members have had to get by with low quality tools, incomplete sets, and equipment that is not used for its intended purpose. We are all greatly looking forward to the day when we can always open our tool chest and pull out the right tool for the job. Thanks to this ground breaking sponsorship from Snap-On, we are hopeful that this day will come sooner rather than later.

Van Meter Donates Wire for Solar Car - December 3, 2011

We are pleased to welcome Van Meter Inc as a new team sponsor. They have graciously donated much of the wire that will be used for our new solar car including the heavy duty, high current 4AWG wire that runs between our battery pack and motor controller.

First Batch of Circuit Boards Ordered - November 18, 2011

The electrical team just got out a large order for the components and PCBs that will be used to make our next generation circuit boards. This includes an all new Battery Protection System (BPS), telemetry system, and driver dash display along with new revisions of our power sense board and the vehicle lights controller. Once these boards are assembled, team members will get to work testing them and writing firmware. The new BPS board takes a huge step forward with a powerful ARM processor, all digital sense lines, built in data logging, and USB programming capabilities.

Next semester, the electrical team will work on any revisions needed for this batch of board as they are tested in our actual vehicle and will release a new version of the power regulation board with some new features compared to the system we ran in FSGP 2011. We will also be coding a new version of our CANanator PC software that is used to monitor all of the systems on the car while it's racing.

Over the past year and a half, the electrical team has been focusing heavily on improving system integration and reliability. In FSGP 2011, we tested the first iterations of many of the new boards that we will be using next summer in the 2012 American Solar Challenge. If the reliability of our electronics in the last race is indication of what our team members are capable of, we expect to have a robust and thoroughly tested electrical system in the upcoming race.

2012 American Solar Challenge Details - November 17, 2011

Key details of the 2012 American Solar Challenge were recently announced. This is the cross-country race, which Team PrISUm will be competing in next summer. There are currently 18 registered solar car teams from around the world that are attempting to design and build the winning car...

Fri Jul 6 - Mon Jul 9: Scrutineering at the Monticello Motor Club in Monticello in New York
Tues Jul 10 - Thurs Jul 12: Formula Sun Grand Prix 2012 qualifier on the South course
Fri Jul 13: Travel & outreach day in Rochester, New York
Sat Jul 14 - Sat Jul 21: 2012 American Solar Challenge from Rochester, NY to St. Paul, MN

We'll be sure to share further details as they are released, but in the meantime be sure to mark your calendars. With the finish line just one state north, this is the closest the race has come to Iowa in many years. We hope to see some of our longtime supporters in St. Paul!

Alcoa Donates Aluminum - November 14, 2011

Alcoa recently donated 1756lb of 7050 T7451 aluminum to our team for manufacturing our new rims and suspension components. It's a bunch of 2.5" thick plate material that they were kind enough to slice into manageable sizes and ship to us all free of charge. The analysis is nearing completion for the rims and a number of suspension components so manufacturing should start ramping up within the next few months.

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