1/23/2018 from articles by Heather Coit, College of Engineering
Written by from articles by Heather Coit, College of Engineering
Argo, the Illini Solar Car team’s vehicle, finished its approximately 1,800-mile trek across the Australian outback last semester, on October 14, at the 2017 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. It was here that the Illini Solar Car team, which boasts about 50 active members from 10 areas of study and is one of seven teams from the U.S. at Bridgestone, made a return to competition after a 20-year hiatus.
The teams began the race in Darwin on October 8, but the maiden voyage for Argo is no small task. Bridgestone is an endurance challenge where teams from 21 countries test their vehicles across the Australian Outback.
“Boats take three weeks to three months to travel from the USA to Australia depending on which route they take,” said Jye Sze Lee, a senior in mechanical engineering and the team’s co-founder. “We ended up letting three different companies be in charge of different parts of the shipping process in order to meet the criteria.”
Only 12 members are in Australia, including Lee, because remaining members are already focused on making the required design changes for next summer’s American Solar Challenge, according to Mike Philpott, emeritus associate professor of mechanical science and engineering. Lee added that the next challenge will give other team members who didn’t make it to Australia a chance to have race experience.
Lee said the need for endurance had been key to reaching each stage of Argo’s journey.
Two drivers took turns every few hours. When the race ended each day at 5 p.m., the team camped with the drivers and started all over again the next day.
“The rules actually restrict the hours that each driver can drive continuously to prevent fatigue,” Lee said. “It is also very hot in the car as Argo doesn’t have A/C to save weight.”
Leading up to the race the team kept busy. They logged 2,500 miles by driving from Melbourne to Darwin through the Outback.
The seven-day journey from Darwin to Adelaide was not without its challenges for the team’s debut.
Lee said that a separation of the car’s latch, which held the bottom and top shells of the car together, was the result of crosswinds, a race to the finish and road trains. She described the latter as massive vehicles being the equivalent to three-to-four semi-tractor trailers in size and length. She said they traveled at 75 miles per hour.
“Thankfully, we were already pretty close to the finish line, which has less road train and gentler weather,” said Lee. “We were able to use an alternate way to hold the top and bottom shells together to drive the last leg of the journey.”
Perhaps nothing challenged the team more than finally crossing the finish line, which Lee described as surreal.
“There was one aspect we couldn’t have prepared for, the feeling of finishing,” said Lee. “While we had some idea of how the competition would go, nothing prepared us for the end.”
“We recognize that had we been able to put more time in practicing aspects, like race strategy, we could have performed significantly better,” Lee said.
Team member Amalia Dungey (ECE) said looking at the top teams’ cars and their strategies from this challenge is one way to focus on improving Argo.
“We’ve learned that while our team may not have been a competitor in this race, we have the resources, manpower, and drive to put the U of I on the map for solar racing in future years,” Dungey said.
It has been a long road for Argo. Lee and Chee Sim Tan (senior in mechanical engineering) were just freshmen when they approached Philpott in his ME170 CAD class in the fall of 2014. The undergrads learned there hadn’t been a solar car team on campus since 1997.
“Undeterred, they ended up starting a new team with a goal of being ready to compete within a couple of years,” said Philpott. “Starting from scratch, the design of a new solar car racer began along with the huge task of fundraising and team formation.”
Challenges aside, Lee wouldn’t have it any other way. She said learning how to raise funds and resources, working with Illinois students and faculty to build Argo, and finally bringing the solar car to Australia made the experience worth it.
“I can’t think of anything else that is more rewarding.”
A grant from Ameren Illinois helped get Argo to Australia, and sponsorships from the Student Sustainability, the ECE Department, and 3M. Bay Area Circuits, one of the team’s first sponsors, was the exclusive PCB (printed circuit board) supplier for the Illini Solar Car and provided all of Argo's boards free of charge.
Additionally, MechSE alumnus Jason Schripsema (BSME ’95) and his company, SolarBOS, generously supported the Solar Car Team in its infancy.
The team members who made the trip to Australia included:
- Derek Chou, ECE graduate/research assistant
- Jenny Chu, MechSE
- Amalia Dungey, ECE
- Byron Hopps, ECE
- Naman Jindal, MechSE
- Joel Khristy, AE
- Mark Kraman, ECE
- Jye Sze Lee, MechSE
- Patric Liu, ISE
- Gulai Shen, MechSE
- Tim Wong, ECE
- James Wyeth, ECE