Calgary Solar Team

Event planning and much more

2009-10-30T06:25:00.001+09:30

Amidst the midterms and the assignments, the team’s current mission is to complete the preparation for the largest unveiling ceremony we’ve ever organized. With the days starting at 8 am with anything from event logistics meetings, media training, banner preparation, invitations and much more, the excitement within the team is rising!

On another note, we want to welcome the new Solar Team members joining us this fall. This year’s recruitment round was a huge success and we look forward to working with more students coming from faculties of communication, business, education, engineering, and sciences.

Watch out for more updates about the unveiling ceremony and the preparations for it!

Update!

2009-06-28T13:43:00.001+09:30

Hello UC Solar Team Followers

First things first. Sorry for not updating our blog in such a long time, rest assured however the team has been working extremely hard on developing our newest car. The mechanical team has been running on all cylinders, and here is just a quick snapshot of what they have been up to. The plug (male mold of the car) has been produced! This is a huge step forward as it allows to start producing the mold for the aeroshell. The chassis team has been doing design work and producing mock chassis, as well as doing material testing in preparation for developing the prototype frame. Suspension is being designed and built.

Our Electrical team has been motoring along quiet well also, and here is a bit of the work they have been doing. The solar cells have arrived! We are preparing to do testing on all of the cells to determine which ones to use on the car, and are working on developing methods to put them together into panels. We are implementing and testing improvements to our battery management systems. We have been testing different motor controllers, and will soon be testing different motors. The goal is to determine which motor and controller is most efficient for us under different conditions. Our instrumentation team has also been hard at working improving car communications.

Everything is slowly coming together and we are looking to have a prototype completed in September for testing.

We would also like to give thanks to all those people who came out to see our team and car at the following events.

May 31 - Lilac Festival - we showcased our car, and the lilac festival had an attendance of over 100,000
June 3 - Showcased car at Mayor's Environment Expo
June 5 - Sneak a Peek to Campus Fair (showcased car to school groups)
June 6 - Campus Fair

Stay tuned for more updates, as the team is hitting our summer build phase.

Keeping Up To Date

2009-02-13T06:22:00.002+09:30

To keep everyone up to date with the solar team's progress, here is some information as to what we have been doing over the past while. At the end of last year, we researched materials, designs, and cells that could be used on the car to make it more aerodynamic and efficient.

Recently the mechanical team has tested various small models of some early designs in a wind tunnel for drag resistance and lift. They are now taking some of the better designs and programming them into software to perform further tests and analysis. They are continually researching how to make the car better. They are also close to deciding what material we will be using for the chassis (chromoly, steel, or carbon fibre).

The electrical team has spent a lot of time trying to find solar cells to purchase, and weighing the pros and cons of the different types of cells. We are very close to making a decision on this. The electrical team is currently organizing various projects to help familiarize the team with the components of the electrical system.

The engineering team recently had a design review in which the team presented their ideas to other team members, members of the University, and members of industry who agreed to attend. The purpose of the review is to get different viewpoints on the ideas, and make sure that everything is moving on the right track.

The business team has been organizing different events, such as the Louis Riel visit last month. Looking forward, we will be visiting Colonel Macleod Junior High School next week and will be attending the Auto Show in March. We are currently beginning to actively look for sponsors for the gen 3 vehicle. A successful recruitment drive has added six new members to the business team to help with events, community relations, accounting, and logistics.

In all, we have been fairly busy and will keep on working hard keep the project rolling.

Calgary Solar Team On YouTube

2009-02-05T08:16:00.004+09:30

Come see our YouTube videos regarding our prior events...

Louis Riel School Visit

2009-01-26T14:40:00.012+09:30

Kicking off the 2009 year, the solar team welcomed the grade 3 and 4 classes of Louis Riel School. What better way to learn about solar cars than a Friday morning here at the University of Calgary. Mariam and Matthew lead the event with a presentation about the technologies and construction of Soleon and Schulich 1, our first two cars. Schulich 1 was supposed to make an appearance around the Science Theaters, but because of heavy snow, it couldn't be moved out of the shop. I guess we didn't budget enough for snow tires this year. Maybe next year.

After the presentation, the kids hiked way into the north-west campus to visit the shop where the solar team was keeping Schulich 1. This was where Ravi explained the design and components of Schulich 1 and took questions for the kids. In all, we believe the kids had a fun time, learnt a little, and we may have some future solar car drivers on our hands!

The Final Results

2008-07-24T06:23:00.001+09:30

Crossing the finish lines was amazing and a huge relief for me! We were home safe and sound without so much as a scrape (although with a few bug bites) or an emotional meltdown by any of our team members.

Grady was on the phone constantly as we drove from Medicine Hat to Calgary. When we called Angela Knight (the CBC traffic reporter) she starting updating the city every half hour of our route. As we drove the TCH people were camped out at every farm crossing and road. We were well out in front of all of the teams (novel experience for us in the Chuckwagon as we passed Michigan in Brooks - they were only doing 110!!)

And everyone honked at us as well. Our route to the school was the most direct so we missed the crowds but, from the city limits on, the streets were lined with families and well-wishers. Calgary gave these students a hero's welcome. Grady and I dumped our S10 and carried the flags and media kits to the finish to hugs and greetings from so many people. President Harvey Weingartner and Dean Elizabeth Cannon were so excited to see us and were full of questions. As the checkered flag holders they were ready to bring everyone home in style. The University really put on a show with a huge enviro fair and pit area for the teams. Kids, families and onlookers were amazed to see the cars up close and many autographs were given. Now all of us feel like rockstars!

True to my promise I was there to wave in Durham who trailered to the finish at 4:30 and then drove across the ceremonial line to my waving flags. They came home with me for newcastle Brown Ale (first beer in a loonng time) and barbecue. Without funds nor hotel room, they camped out all over our house and the car on the driveway was a big hit with Ben and Henry across the road!

Pancakes for breakfast and then the awards ceremony at the Zoo and it's all over! I finally got some sleep last night - 16 hours into the sleep bank - today I'll clean out the S10. You gotta feel for Grady - he went from the finish line to the airport for a 27 hour flight to papua new guinea where he will follow a Light up the World project. He must be quite discombobulated!

Thanks again for your cheers and support. We will all take the week off to reconnect with kith and kin and then do a big debrief of the car and race before we even begin to think of our generation 3 car. Of course, that's assuming there is a generation 3!!

Into The Home Stretch

2008-07-22T06:29:00.002+09:30

Medicine Hat, Alberta — The final leg of the 2008 North American Solar Challenge (NASC) begins this morning at 9 am at Medicine Hat’s Family Leisure Centre as 15 cars will charge their batteries in
Raycing across Alberta: Schulich 1 heads for home today.
the early morning light before heading to the finish line for the 4,000-kilometre race in front of the Olympic Oval on the U of C campus. The U of C’s Schulich 1 vehicle will be the sixth vehicle off the starting line as driver Tiffany Veltman brings the vehicle home from the epic cross-continent rally.
“This race has been a great experience but I am also really looking forward to getting back home,” Veltman said. “The finish line is something we’re all excited about because we know there are so many people following us and supporting us.”

The U of C is 10 hours behind the top-5 NASC leaders in the overall standings for the race but has managed widen the gap between its rivals from the Missouri Univeristy of Science and Technology to two hours. Schulich 1 was given four hours of time penalties for trailering the car into Winnipeg and from Winnipeg to Brandon over the weekend. Many teams also received penalties for trailering after cloudy skies made it impossible to charge batteries sufficiently. The top five teams include the University of Michigan, Principia College, FH Bokum, Waterloo University and the University of Minnesota.

Monday saw brilliant sunshine fuel up vehicles as they continued Stage 3 of the race across Saskatchewan. The U of C team pulled out of the checkstop in Regina at 8:45 am and drove its fastest day yet as Schulich 1 hits speeds of up to 100 km/h. The car crossed the border into Alberta shortly before 5 pm and the team was able to charge the car’s batteries in the evening and will continue charging this morning before heading west for Calgary.

“Our goal was to break even and hold our batteries to 70 per cent of their capacity by charging while we were driving, and we pretty much managed to do that,” the team’s electrical engineering manager Leo Marrero said. “We’ll charge up as much as we can this morning and as long as the clouds don’t move in too fast, we’ll be in good shape to get into Calgary this afternoon.”

The solar cars will head west on the Trans-Canada Highway and the leading teams are scheduled to arrive in Calgary at approximately 12:30 pm. The race route through the city will see the cars and their escort vehicles travel west along 16 Avenue to 52 Street NE where they will head north to McKnight Blvd. The cars will then follow McKnight Blvd. west to John Laurie Blvd before turning south onto Charleswood Drive and then follow 32 Avenue NW to the U of C at Collegiate Blvd.

Wild Rose Country: FH Bokum's car enters Alberta on Monday.
The U of C’s finish line celebration will take place from 10 am to 4 pm and includes a barbecue and environmental expo and a chance for the public to see the solar cars on display and meet solar car team members. It is the second consecutive time the U of C has hosted the NASC finish line after the race left the United States for the first time in 2005.

“The folks in Calgary have really impressed us with their hospitality and creating a real party-like atmosphere for the finish,” race director Dan Eberle said. “We are really glad to be coming back to Calgary for this year’s event.”

Schulich 1 Finishes Sixth In NASC

2008-07-22T06:28:00.001+09:30

Calgary, Alberta — Fifteen solar powered vehicles cruised to the conclusion of the 2008 North American Solar Challenge fuelled by sunshine and Calgary spirit as thousands of spectators lined the streets and gathered at the finish line at the University of Calgary today to greet cars including the U of C’s own Schulich 1.

“We are just overwhelmed by the number of people who came out to cheer for us and welcome us back home,” U of C Solar Team operations manager Darshni Pillay said. “This entire race has been a truly amazing experience for the entire team and we’d like to thank everyone who has supported us and followed us along this adventure.”

The 15 solar cars that left Plano, Texas on July 13 pulled out of the Family Leisure Centre in Medicine Hat at 9 am Tuesday morning on the final stage of the 4,000 kilometre race. All of the teams pushed their vehicles as close to highway speed as possible since there was no need to conserve power for another day of racing tomorrow. The first-place vehicle, University of Michigan’s Continuum, crossed the finish line at 1:19 pm followed by Waterloo University at 1:47, Germany’s FH Bochum car at 2:06, the University of Minnesota at 2:15, Principia College at 2:20, Queen’s University at 2:28. The U of C’s Schulich 1 was the seventh car to cross the finish line with all team members jogging alongside the car at 2:33 pm to a roar of applause from an estimated 10,000 people who gathered at the finish line celebration. Official standings from the race will be available on the North American Solar Challenge website at: www.americansolarchallenge.org

“It was so exciting to be able to drive the car back home today,” said driver Tiffany Veltman. “There were crowds of people cheering and waving the whole way and I just kept wanting to drive the car faster and faster!”

After celebrations for all teams tonight and a NASC wrap-up dinner at the Calgary Zoo on Wednesday evening, the U of C Solar Team plans to take a well-deserved rest before gearing to start designing and building its third car in September.

“We are bringing home so many lessons from this year’s race that will help us immensely as we move forward into the third generation of our car,” Pillay said. “The next North American Solar Challenge is only two years away so we have a lot of work ahead of us as our team continues to improve and become more competitive.”

Hometown Hero

2008-07-21T12:00:00.000+09:30

We're in Medicine Hat after a hometown hero's welcome for Jeff. His entire family was there with a fabulous barbecue for all. It was so nice to have a cheering crowd instead of me and my flags all alone by the roadside.

As the team crossed the 4th meridian and into Alberta, we all camped out with cameras and flags to
Back in the Hat: Driver Jeff Wickenheiser gets a big hug from his mom Rita at the finish line in Medicine Hat
welcome them home. It is an interesting thing to stand by the side of the Trans-Canada Highway with two large flags (Canada and Alberta) a lot of people honk their horns which makes you proud! One fellow slowed down and yelled 'mighty patriotic of you' and then sped away. Eventually, Schulich 1 appeared and everyone was waving at the flags....I think they secretly like my over the top cheerleading.

Grady and I arrived about 30 minutes before the car and it was quite a celebration. While the barbecue was being prepared, I ran to Co-op to pick up a gift for our hosts (Icewine seemed so appropriate as it's boiling here) and while I waited at a stoplight a young lady in the car next to me yelled ' Are you with the cars?' To which I replied, yes. She then said 'is that Jeff Wickenheiser?' 'Yes', I said. 'Like wow, I used to dirt bike with him'. It's official, Jeff is a rockstar!

You may or may not know, but the team signed a contract that this is a dry trip. After the many long hot days, I've often rethought that strategy as a cold beer (or gin & tonic) would have been great, so tonight I had a lot of fun delivering to the barbecue O'douls' non-alcoholic beer. The reaction was priceless and everyone agreed it was the best beer ever! On to Calgary tomorrow and we are all trying to hold it together with excitement. Thanks for all your support over the last three weeks, it has been quite a trip and an amazing journey. Finish line tomorrow and an expected 10,000 people there to greet us.

Clock Ticking For Calgary

2008-07-21T06:38:00.000+09:30

Regina, Saskatchewan — The race to reach Calgary in the 2008 North American Solar Challenge (NASC) is heating up after rain hampered the start of Stage 4 from Winnipeg on Sunday and forced many teams to carefully plot their plans of attack for making it to the finish line on Tuesday.

“I am really pleased with our progress. Our strategy worked like clockwork and we are really well placed for the drive into Medicine Hat,” said Darshni Pillay, the U of C Solar Team’s operations manager. “We’ve had to take some penalties but I think they will pay off because it has put us in a good position going into the last two days and we haven’t had to trailer our car as much as much as some of our competitors.”
Half the cars were missing from the starting line in Winnipeg as teams including the U of C chose to
Across the prairies: Schulich 1 passes the colourful canola fields lining the Trans-Canada Highway
trailer their cars out of the city since the early morning skies were filled with rain clouds and charging up depleted batteries wasn’t an option. The U of C team trailered Schulich 1 to the first checkpoint 200 kilometres west in Brandon, where the car was unloaded and spent one hour charging thanks to clearer skies. From there, driver Tiffany Veltman maintained a pace of about 80 km/h that enabled the car to make it to the next checkpoint in Regina just 15 minutes before the end of the racing day. Schulich 1 was the only vehicle other than the first-place car from University of Michigan to reach the Regina checkpoint on Sunday.

“This puts us in a good position to start Monday because the skies are clear and we will roll out from the checkpoint and won’t have to stop again until Medicine Hat, except to change drivers,” Pillay said.

This evening’s arrival in Medicine Hat will be a homecoming for Schulich 1 driver Jeff Wickenheiser, who was raised in the Gas City and plans to take the car across the finish line for Stage 4, followed by a team dinner hosted by his grandparents.

“It has been great to see how many people are behind us and excited about the race since we returned to Canada, and it is exciting to think that some of my family will be at the finish line today,” Wickenheiser said.

The rest of the photos

2007-11-09T16:51:00.000+09:30

Ok! I know it's been a couple of weeks but I've finally had the time and the internet access to get the rest of the photos up. That means all the race day photos and the finish line. Look for them at www.calgarysolarteam.ca/plogger. Enjoy!

Pre-race photos up

2007-10-29T08:59:00.001+09:30

All the pre-race photos are now up. The race photos and finish line photos will be up later. Media center is closing down right now. Thanks everyone for your interest.

Photo Gallery

2007-10-27T12:03:00.001+09:30

Photo Gallery is here. I am updating as we speak so please be patient. Click here to view.

Photos upto and including the Rebuild are up. The rest should be up between 8am and 10am local on Monday. That is about 2pm Sunday afternoon Calgary time.

Officially Finished

2007-10-27T11:20:00.000+09:30

We officially crossed the finish line here in Adelaide this morning at around 10:40AM. After a relaxing meal at a Vietnamese restaurant, and a comforting sleep in a hotel bed, we went back to the official timing line and drove our car in. Offically we came in 8th in our class and 12th overall. Total racing time was 49 hours and 46 minutes.

Considering what we went through - we did pretty good. We found several issues with our aeroshell during the race that was chewing up a lot of our energy. I know at one point we had a giant airscoop on the tail, sucking back around 200 watts. When your car only uses 1500 watts to do 70km hour, that's very significant. I'd like to think had we raced the car as she was built, we would have saved a few hours.

A few of you had asked how this compares to last year. I just pulled up the results, and last year we finished in 47 hours and 15 minutes with an average speed of 63.46 km/hour (11th place overall). So we may have not done quite as well as last year, but in fact, the entire race was a little bit slower.

Last years top three finishers: Nuna III (29:11), Aurora (32:35), Momentum (33:18)

This year's top three finishers: Nuna 4 (33:17), Umicar Infinity (34:36), Aurora101 (35:17)

So you can see things are a bit slower this year. One reason I believe is the weather. Anecdotal notes form last year suggest there were no cloudy days like we saw this year. Had we not putted along at 30km/hour for part of tuesday (along with many other teams) we might have been substantially faster. But this was part of the organizers plans. In addition to changing the rules of design, they moved the race ahead a month to get more inclement weather. I guess it worked.

I could go on and on as to how we could have been better, but why just talk about it when we can put it into next year's strategy. Schulich I will be back to race in the North American Solar Challenge with a few modifications, and I know there are already ideas floating around about Schulich II. One of the amazing parts of being here is seeing all the other cars. There are around 50 cars here and more than 500 young and intelligent people. Talking with them has already presented ideas and opportunities for our next generation car.

Finished at last

2007-10-26T22:11:00.000+09:30

Wow, it all comes down to this. Almost two years of working on a project that turns out to be quite massive and it seems over instantly. But we did it. We pulled into Adelaide across the timing finish line around 4:15 today. We were the top Canadian team, with U of T pulling in maybe 30 minutes later. That puts us in I believe 12th place. We had an Australian team nipping at our heals on the last day and they passed us earlier in the day. There are no official results yet.

Now because we pulled in across the timing finish line so late in the day - we don't actually get to cross the real finish line until tomorrow morning. So we trailered our car and went to the hotel with it. Tomorrow morning we bring the car back to the outskirts of the city and drive it in. We get to drive down the tram tracks into the City centre and cross the ceremonial finish line - hopefully to a lot of fanfare.

I apologize that this is so short but there will be more tomorrow. I have been incredibly sick all day and unable to do much or make updates at our stops. I hope to post pictures in the next 8-10 hours.

NEWS FLASH

2007-10-25T22:41:00.000+09:30

What a great day today. We traveled over 600km, which puts our average speed around 75km/hour. We’re still in 11th place with Aviva just in front. Tomorrow is looking good. We have 560 km to go. If we can keep up 75 km/h we will be there by 4pm. Forecast is favourable, but we’ll see more cloud cover as we approach the coast.

We have the U of T team not far behind us – I think only 40km. We really want to be the top placed Canadian team out of the six of us, so we’ll have to be quick and efficient tomorrow. Not much word on the rest of the Canadians but we did hear the first place team – Nuna – finished tonight. And our good friends at Stanford rolled their car today. All are ok, but they are trailering for a bit. Team is pretty shaken up after watching it.

It’s late and I need sleep. Tomorrow is a critical day. We need to make it – Saturday’s forecast has a low pressre and cold front moving in – bound to make a terrible finish day for a lot of teams.

MAP UPDATED

Cadney Control Stop

2007-10-25T11:35:00.000+09:30

Car just left Cadney Homestead at 11:11am. We were ahead of Aviva Aurora, but a battery issue pullover had them pass us only a few kilometers before Cadney. Been sustaining good speeds and theres a chance we might hit Adelaide Friday evening. We are currently in 11th place overall and I believe 8th in our class. Bright sunny skies are ahead.

NOTE Map Updated.

Day 5 begins

2007-10-25T07:29:00.000+09:30

It's hard to believe we're at day 5 already. We passed into South Australia from the Northern Territory late yesterday.and are now offically at kilometer 1825.5 km on the course. That leaves about 1175km to go. At 34 hours of driving time, our current average speed is 54km/h. Not the greatest, but we're up near the lead. I'm still impressed, especially considering we ripped off our tail and boot-strapped another. Some teams may have walked away.

But fear not everyone - things are looking good this morning. The batteries are charging really nicely. We should be able to head towards our next checkpoint - Cadney Homestead at close to 80km/hour. The Array should give us a good 6 amp hours at our half hour stop in Cadney. Just looked over and we're taking down half the array. It's only 7:20 and the car is actually charging too fast. We'll be leaving our spot this morning with a full battery! Look for another update in 3-4 hours.

Full moon night

2007-10-24T23:45:00.001+09:30

It’s been another long day. But I didn’t expect much else. We rose to sunrise coming than expected and did all our work this morning. This made for a busy morning. Car had to be shuttled to a tree free area for charging, while the camp had to be taken down and breakfast served.

We were still having issues with the battery and BPS – Ryan and Shawn found a potential problem area - kill switch. That’s part of the new rules this year – you need an external kill switch for the car that isolates the batteries, This switch had a lose wire which may have been a problem. It has been secured and we’ll see performance tomorrow.

We had another flat tire in the rear today – with some slightly similar steering effects to when we had the crash on the track. This time though the tire went flat slowly – not instantly. In this instance, the motor was in constant torque mode where as with the crash it was in constant speed. Constant speed is more efficient but can lock up the motor like when we had the rear blowout. Constant torge is safer, so we opted to go that way.

The weather was much more pleasant today. Sunny all day with no clouds – but also a little cooler. We peaked at about 1600 watts. I’ve posted this power graph to show you what we generate. The middle curve is during our driving time with the outside lines being our charge time. That’s when the array is off the car and perpendicular to the sun.

I’ve also uploaded something from our Geo team. They plotted our speed and location as we were on the test track at hidden valley. Small green dots are slower, large red oes are faster.

Into Alice and beyond

2007-10-24T12:25:00.000+09:30

Sorry for the lack of updates everyone. We pulled into a place called Aileron last night right at 5pm. Charged up for a bit (but not a lot because of clouds) and camped out for the night. Met a bunch of friendly locals who ran the campground/gas station and got to bed early because we didn't have to make dinner or clean up.

We did our tire changes this morning which was a little more hectic. Not to mention there was a motor change that happened too. Unfortunatly, that motor didn't behave properly and we put the old one back in only a couple hundred meters down the road. Guess we learned from that one.

Pulled into Alice here today at 11:09. We departed 30 minutes later in 7th place. Now you may ask how we moved back up? Because our class (challenge) has only 6 square meters of solar panels versus the adventure class, they were handicapped and delayed until at least 12:00 today. Some teams wont be leaving here until after 2:30pm. So for us to keep our position we will have to do very well.

No updates on the battery front - but perhaps we can shed some light on those later tonight with a blog post. You can check the map for our new location. The convoy is too far ahead right now but I believe we are doing 65km/hour. Skies are clear, bright blue and it should hold until tomorrow. Friday morning we see a low pressure system moving in with cloud towards Adelaide, so we're planning a straegy that will get us into Adelaide early afternoon Friday with enough power to get through the clouds.

Once again, thanks for reading, please keep up the comments and pass our blog onto others who are interested.

How about another Update?

2007-10-23T15:19:00.000+09:30

BJ here - We made it through the main band of cloud and popped out into the sun around the settlement of Ti-Tree. Schulich I has been charging the pack and is making towards Alice Springs at 35 kph. There was a bit of rain not unlike some Vancouver drizzle for a little bit, but we were rewarded with the sun on the other side! The support vehicles are going to stock up on a few supplies here in Ti-Tree in case we need to spend the night camping again.

More updates to follow, Thanks to everyone showing their intrest!

Update

2007-10-23T13:36:00.000+09:30

Current position on map is updated and speed is 30 km/h while array is producing 100 watts. We have just passed the car Salsio on the side of the road.

As for questions about the uplink - it is a BGAN terminal with decent speeds. We just need to be stationary before pointing and updating. Not hard to stop when your car is doing 30km/h :)

Cloud cover appears to be thinning in some places.

Back on the Road

2007-10-23T12:01:00.000+09:30

And we're off - battery has enough power to proceed, heading to Alice now.

Battery Issues

2007-10-23T11:17:00.000+09:30

We are currently stopped at Barrow Creek Gas Station. We are about 280 km out of Alice Springs. Cloud cover is heavy and we were drawing only 100 watts of power from our array. Full sun is usually around 1600 watts.

There also appears to be battery issues. Ryan and Shawn are investigating. We pulled in here with an exmpty pack, althogh we weren't expecting it to be empty.

We have seen several teams pass us at this time. Stanford and Christine have both passed

NOTE: MAP UPDATED

Cloud Cover

2007-10-23T08:04:00.001+09:30

Well - we might be a little slow heading into Alice today. If you look at satellite weather, there is a large band of clouds across the etire continent. We'll let you know when we hit Alice which is our next checkpoint. CAtherine is close on our tails, only a few minutes behind.

This photo is from our Safety meeting this morning and you can see the heavy cloud cover.