Andrew holding the array during Mock Race 2011.

With almost a full year of both mechanical and electrical engineering experience on the team, Andrew Huang has been selected to be the Interim Engineering Director for the fall.  Andrew is originally from the cornfields of Granger, Indiana, which is (for those that need a reference) right by our rivals, Notre Dame.  He has been playing the cello for about seven years and he enjoys spending time with his friends, whistling, biking, and the color teal.

Wanting something interesting to do, Andrew joined solar car during the fall of 2010 after a friend on the team told him the Quantum project was the way to go.  By the time he joined, it was kind of late in the cycle to do most of the mechanical work.  However, this didn’t stop him from working on the construction of the car at Roush, where he was able to do some early flat layups and Roush week.  Eventually, Andrew got the chance to design the race pack leading up to his current position now: a collaboration between the mechanical and electrical divisions.  From this, he has learned a lot about both divisions within the course of his time on the team, providing the perfect fit to being the Interim Engineering Director.

As Interim Engineering Director, Andrew will work towards getting all of the new engineering recruits up to speed on how the team works and what they’ll have the opportunity to work on during a project.  He will create and decide on the various projects that the new engineers take on, which will highlight on preparing the car for ASC 2012 and sorting out the fundamentals of the next project.

Ultimately, his goals for the fall will be to guide the division into gaining a lot of experience through building a mule car version of Quantum.  This project will provide the engineers a chance to practice basic manufacturing, teach the ways and requirements of designing and building systems, as well as give more advanced members the chance to test prototype ASC and the later project’s systems.

 “It’s certainly been an interesting experience so far.  It’s nice to have a chance to actually use what we learn in class, solve some real hands-on problems, create solutions to unexpected difficulties, and much more.  And in the fall, I’m looking forward to meeting all the new recruits and watch them grow as they learn more about engineering through their experience in this hands-on, real world project.”

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Diane with Quantum from our Big House photoshoot.

Diane Thach, better known to you as DiThach, our blogger, is set to be Interim Business Director this fall. She joined the team late this spring after hearing stories of how awesome solar car was from her roommate, Katie Rulkowski. Conveniently, the team was looking for a new blogger at the time and Diane took the challenge.

“Being the blogger has really allowed me to understand the solar car experience as I was given the opportunity to talk to everyone on the team and get to know what was going within all aspects of the team. Even though it has been rough and at times a lot of work, at the end of the day I know that I’m happy that I took this role on the team.”

This allowed her to amass a large amount of solar car knowledge incredibly quickly. When the Interim Business position became available and Diane was asked to fill, like the blogger position, she gladly stepped up to the challenge and is looking forward to another great learning experience.

As Interim Business Director, Diane is responsible for maintaining and building sponsor relations as well as managing our public image, such as the blog (although a blogger is #1 on her recruit list). She looks forward to tracking the progress of the team as they race in Australia as well as the progress of the team as they recruit and train new members in Ann Arbor.

Diane is from Burton, Michigan and loves penguins. She likes spending time with friends, sewing, and nature. While she originally introduced her favorite single color as yellow, her favorite color combination is black and yellow.

Mock race is her favorite solar car memory so far as it was the first time she got to experience what solar car is all about – racing.

“Mock race really brought out what it means to be on the team and showed me the passion and dedication that everyone has for this project. I loved being able to experience the beautiful trip around Michigan with people that I have grown to care about. While I will miss the race crew while they are in Australia, I am looking forward to meeting a bunch of new members and gaining a lot more great solar car experiences!”

This post was written by Interim Project Manager, Eric Hausman who is disappointed that Diane did not share any embarrassing old photos.

Eric Solar chillin' on the beach in Ludington, MI

Known as “Brick”, “Brickhaus”, “Easy E” and “Brickyleaks” to our team, Eric Hausman has been selected to be the Interim Project Manager for the fall.  As interim project manager, he will help to organize the team and ensure that all the divisions function together.  His goals in the fall include recruiting, training, and retaining new members for the team as well as thinking about potential designs and goals for the new project after Quantum.

Eric is from Beverly Hills, Michigan and is about to start his sophomore year where he is studying Industrial and Operations Engineering.  In his free time, Eric likes spend time with his friends and to play water polo – a sport that he has played since his freshman year in high school.  His favorite colors are the traditional Maize and Blue, which is reflected in his closet that is only comprised of those two colors.

Like many young engineers, Eric was obsessed with legos and big trucks (garbage trucks in particular) as a little kid. However, he discovered Solar Car at a very young age. In second grade, he modeled his pinewood derby car after the first University of Michigan solar car, Sunrunner after seeing it in the Henry Ford Museum.

Eric with his Pinewood Derby Car modeled after Sunrunner in 2nd grade.

Since then, it would only be fitting that Eric joined the team within his first month at the University, where he began in the Operations Division.  He started by helping with the Ypsilanti workspace move, Roush week, and other various ops work.  Towards the end of the year, the Business Division stole him and from there he gained knowledge of connecting with sponsors and fundraising.  The experience in the various divisions has helped him to show potential as Interim Project Manager to the current leadership.

“I was shocked when Rachel first asked me to take the position and at that point, I wasn’t even on the team for a year.  I was just thinking to myself, what do I know about Solar Car and managing the team?

But, Rachel said, ‘Don’t worry, you’ll learn everything you need to know in the summer.’

Now, summer is almost over and I have learned an incredible amount about the team as whole.  I know that we will encounter many problems and challenges in the fall, but I’m looking forward to solving them and seeing new students with the same passion and excitement that caused me to join.”

*Please check back later this week for more introductions of our other Interim leaders!

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As you can see, our race crew has been working hard to not only be the fastest team in the world, but also the strongest. But to continue as a strong team we need to recruit new members that will continue the legacy, racing in ASC 2012 and working on building a better, faster, and stronger vehicle after that. Please continue reading for more information on our plans for the fall and how any Michigan student can join America's #1 Team.

With the school year starting in just a week, students are arriving on campus and the team is wrapping up final touch-ups on the car before it will be shipped off to Australia on September 8^th.  But the team doesn’t stop running in Ann Arbor while the race crew is in Australia.  There is a group of young leaders that will serve as the team’s interim leadership body during the fall semester. They will focus on recruiting a new group of students to race Quantum in the American Solar Challenge next summer and to work on the next vehicle (the 2013 model) after ASC.

During the month of September, the interim leaders will be holding events on campus that inform students about how and when they can get involved with the team.  This includes the two main club-recruiting events on campus, Festifall and Northfest, as well as two different mass meetings.

The events will be held as follows:

Festifall:

September 8^th, 2011
11a.m.- 4 p.m.
Central Campus Diag

Northfest:

Septermber 13^th, 2011
11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
North Campus Diag

Mass Meetings:

September 13^th, 2011
7 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) Building, Room 1670

September 15^th, 2011
7 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Ross School of Business, R0420

We hope that these events will raise awareness of the Solar Car Team on campus and will attract students with the kind of talent, creativity and dedication that the team is known for having.  Whether you’re an incoming freshman, returning undergraduate, or graduate student, an engineer, art student, English or Business major, there is a spot on the team for you! Please come back next week to learn about our interim leaders and for more information on how to join the team.  GO BLUE!

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This post was written by Continuum Mechanical Engineer, Doug Lambert.

An image of the author, Doug Lambert, in New Zealand while Continuum was just getting started.

The first meeting I remember for Continuum was a small discussion at the end of August in 2005.  I had just won a national championship with Momentum and other students were just starting to arrive on campus before we would leave for Australia.  The attitude of the team in those days was that our main race was NASC and then if we were able we would race in WSC after, and though our hopes would rise as the race got nearer we knew we didn’t really have a chance to win.  Team Mechanical, the mechanical engineers on Momentum’s race crew, had been discussing what we could do to improve our chances in the upcoming race and concluded that mechanically we couldn’t do much to win the race, that mechanical parts could only make us lose by being unreliable or by being too heavy.  The way for us on Team Mechanical to influence the race would be to take on more challenging designs so we could allow aerodynamics to be better.  It was too late for that to happen for Momentum in WSC, but we figured the next car could take advantage when we got back.

Team Mechanical: the best and best-looking engineering unit

In that first meeting, Team Mechanical and Chris Churchill decided there would be an aerodynamic benefit to having a 3-wheeled car with the single wheel in the front, and that we would be up to designing suspension and steering that could allow it to work.  Chris was a graduate student that had helped us the previous school year with design work and was a previous team leader for Principia’s solar car team, so when we asked him to help get the team going in the right direction while we were in Australia he nearly finished building a test vehicle by the time we got back.

I think the real significance of Continuum is that it was a transition point in the team’s history.  As I mentioned earlier, the attitude of the previous project was to win NASC and then maybe compete in WSC if possible.  As far as I’m aware that had always been the philosophy of the team, which made Continuum the first project to focus on winning a world championship from its beginning.  The winner of WSC 2005, Nuna, had averaged over 100 kph, and so we figured we had to design a car to do 110 kph in order to have a shot of winning WSC 2007.  In order to pursue that goal we changed every major system on the car, not just the aero and mechanical.  We replaced our old motor and motor controlled with newer ones that would be a few percent more efficient.  We replaced the power trackers for the array to try to optimize a little more.  The battery pack was a different chemistry than we had used to try to increase our capacity.

Original Continuum design circa January 2006

The other major transition was on the kind of design cycle we used, and it wasn’t a change we had planned on making.  Over the summer of 2006 we had a finished aero design and were looking for a sponsor to make the body molds for us.  Luckily, we were slow to find one, because WSC announced major regulation changes that would have put our car in a non-competitive exhibition class.  That same summer rumors started spreading that NASC would cancel the race in 2007 due to funding problems.  Our project cycle suddenly changed from having two years to design, build, and test then racing in July and October of the same year to a compressed one-year design and then race every year.

We had some growing pains, to put it lightly, adapting to the quicker design cycle.  It seems like the more recent teams have managed much better than we did that first year.  When I was the engineering director in the first half of 2007, I sometimes wondered whether we would have a fully tested car to ship to Australia or if the first time the car drove would be on the left side of the road.  The new regulations did open a door for us, though.  They allowed more surface area than array area and removed regulations that prohibited mirrors and lenses from being used to focus light.  We took advantage to create the concentrator system on Continuum, which was ambitious but created even more work and pushed us later.  Even with the lack of extensive testing and underdeveloped strategy that caused, Continuum had a real chance of winning the first world championship for an American student team.  I still think we would have won if not for our crash, but it’s impossible to know for sure.

Concentrators, installed on the car and working

Trying to start on the next project while modifying Continuum to race NASC in2008 was another new experience we struggled with.  The initial plan was to kind of divide the team and run both projects in parallel, but it seemed like the focus was all on preparing for the race and not designing a new car.  As a result, Infinium was forced into something more along the one-year design schedule Continuum had rather than the longer schedule allowed on earlier programs.  On the bright side, racing Continuum in NASC allowed new team members to get experience quickly and carry it through to the design of the next car.

Infinium didn’t win by 10 hours like Continuum, but I’d say things worked out alright for them

Is it possible to consider the past 5 years and 3 cars an era?  If so, I’d like to say that the significance of Continuum was in creating the modern era of the team.  We changed the ambitions of the team, and the process of getting there.  Frequently we suffered from those changes, but the end result was a good car and a stronger team to carry on our legacy.  Now all we need is a car to finally fulfill our goal of winning a world championship.  Hopefully we won’t have to wait past October 19.

Continuum on display in the Detroit Science Center

The IMRA name on the car

For those who have noticed in our photo with Jack Roush, the name and logo of ‘IMRA’ has appeared on our vehicle.  As you can guess, IMRA America has become the major sponsor of the University of Michigan Solar Car team for the 2011 Solar Car, Quantum.

IMRA America, Inc., founded in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1990, is dedicated to the development of ultrafast fiber laser technologies for commercial applications. IMRA’s technology portfolio includes over 150 US and international patents and patent applications. The company’s pioneering technologies, rigorous quality control and high volume manufacturing operation make IMRA’s products the sound choice for scientific, OEM and industrial use. IMRA’s femtosecond fiber lasers are ideal for a host of applications ranging from ultrafast measurement instruments to industrial material processing and refractive surgery. The company’s visionary philosophy was inspired by Mr. Minoru Toyoda, honorary advisor to IMRA’s parent corporation, Aisin Seiki: “World Harmony through the Development and Sharing of Science and Technology.“

President of IMRA America, Mr. Tak Omitsu, speaks to the team about our collaboration.

“We are excited to begin working together to become the first US student team in history to win the World Challenge” says, Business Director Chris Hilger.

We cannot thank IMRA enough for providing significant financial support to enable the team to unlock the World’s best technology. We hope that this will become the base of a collaboration with IMRA engineers to make further improvements to Quantum and future cars.

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Quantum driving past the crowd for the parade lap

As you may recall from last Friday’s post, the team appeared at the Roush Automotive Collection Open House where we had the chance to meet Jack Roush, founder and CEO of Roush Fenway Racing. Instead of the typical Roush week that the team usually endures to perform lay-ups for our car, the team was able to experience a true Roush Weekend with the man that made the Roush name.

On Saturday we were given the chance to have the car on display at the Roush exhibit for the Woodward Dream Cruise. As the world’s largest one-day automotive event, it was a great experience to have Quantum amongst the most coveted cars and classics. However, not only was the team able to work with Roush for the Dream Cruise, Jack personally invited the team to the Michigan International Speedway for the Pure Michigan 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series the very next day.

Jack Roush, Alan Mulally, and the Roush Fenway drivers take a look at our vehicle

Instead of the usual testing the team performs at MIS, the race crew was given the once in a lifetime opportunity to access and see all aspects of the race. With an all access pass, the team drove Quantum on the track for the parade lap and was able to meet the pit crews in the garage. In addition, the race crew was given the chance to show Quantum to Roush Fenway drivers Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, and David Ragan as well as the CEO of Ford, Alan Mulally. To top off such a wonderful day and weekend, Jack Roush signed our car, and the team was able to watch the race within the Roush suite where pit stops occurred up close, right before their eyes.

Jack Roush signs the cold air intake on Quantum

Overall, Roush has been an incredible company to work with, as our Roush week helped to cut the production time of our composite body from four weeks to one. Their expertise was essential to our efforts in reducing the weight of Quantum by 200 pounds, and we appreciate and thank Roush for all of their support. We look forward to racing with the Roush name on Quantum this October in the World Solar Challenge!

You can see photos from the weekend here: flickr.com/umsolar

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David after NASC in 2005

Ever since his very first look at M-Pulse before coming to Michigan at an engineering intro day in the spring of 2002, David Masselink knew that solar car was the team for him.  At that event he was able to talk to a few power electrical engineers and from there, Masselink had made up his mind to attend the first mass meeting on North campus that fall.  Masselink immediately joined the team as a micro-electrical engineer where he was able to work on Momentum from start to finish as the Micro-Electrical Team Leader.

Since his time within solar car, Masselink has had plenty of opportunities within the automotive and clean energy industry.

   “Throw in an internship I had in Semiconductor industry and my time dealing with processors as a team member and it’s safe to say that there is very little of my life that hasn’t stemmed from my time on the team.”

Just this past year Masselink moved to Mountain View, CA where he was able to start a Software and Embedded Systems consulting company, Elevated Systems, in which focuses on building the tools to make clean energy most cost effective, simpler to install, monitor, and maintain.

Momentum charging during WSC

As many alumni would agree, there are just some memories of solar car that just can’t be forgotten.  For Masselink, nothing can top the excitement of the last day of NASC in 2005.  Although most of it was a blur – with the scare of penalties, the neck to neck racing with Minnesota, and craziness of damaged fairings there was little that made the day thrilling.

    “The most memorable days, however, were as a part of the route survey team at the end of 2004. Myself, Robert Vogt, Mirai Aki, Dave Mazur, and Jeff Rogers all loaded into a minivan and drove a few thousand miles across the continent, in the freezing cold, with the goal of making it back home in about a week. As we know well from being members of the solar car team, being so close to any small group of people will bring out something special… and a little bit weird. I know we all have great memories from that trip and I’m sure we’ve all got some odd memories that are a part of being cramped in a minivan with four other guys for days on end.”

The memories and experience of solar car left a lasting impression on Masselink as he can safely say he misses what being on the team is all about.

“I miss seeing the sexy cars on a day-to-day basis, but even more than that, I miss being inspired and surprised by my team mates each and every day. Also, during the race, at checkpoints, we’d get to interact with the public pretty frequently. While it wasn’t always exciting to stand by a stationary car and answer the same questions again and again, the excitement and awe on the faces of many of the people I talked with was wholly worth it.”

Now, as a former member, Masselink believes there is no denying that the teams since 2005 have raised the bar again and again.  From the concentrators in 2007 to Quantum itself, the recent teams have done things that he has never even dreamed of doing as a member.

 “Quantum, if it’s not the best hope for us Wolverines in WSC so far, I’m not quite sure what is.  I’m so excited for this race and I’ve got a good feeling that this year, WSC will GO BLUE!”

David smiling at the end of NASC 2005.

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The Michigan Solar Car Team was invited to the Roush Automotive Collection Open House on Thursday. The event was held on Market Street in Livonia, where most of Roush Industries is based.

The team was able to show off Quantum to a wide array of Roush Fenway racing fans. Sitting alongside Ford Mustangs and other cars influenced in some way by a variety of performance kits created by Roush, Quantum surely caught the eyes of many at the event.

Quantum sits next to a row of Ford Mustangs with Roush Performance Kits

Jack Roush, founder and CEO of Roush Fenway Racing, even came out to meet the team. After giving a quick rundown of the car and the race, Jack posed with Quantum and the team for a photo.

Jack Roush learns about the solar car from the team.

Quantum and the team with Jack Roush

The team was also invited by Jack Roush to the Pure Michigan 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series on Sunday, so make sure to look for the team there!

More photos of the Open House and Michigan Solar Car working with Roush can be seen here on flickr: flickr.com/umsolar

Since 1932, a massive boulder has sat stoically on the corner of Washtenaw Ave and Hill Street in Ann Arbor. Originally painted grey and adorned with a plaque commemorating the 200th birthday of President Washington, “The Rock” has since become a fixture of campus life – and it’s grown. Repainting The Rock is popular among fraternities, sports teams, and anyone else who wants to show their Michigan spirit. Nobody knows how much paint is currently on The Rock – some say a few feet, others say that The Rock is actually just solid paint with a cobblestone in the middle. This past Tuesday night, the team decided it add its own layer of paint to this storied structure, and to do so with style.

Our painting crew assembled at 9pm at the nearby house of a team member, then hiked over to The Rock’s corner with spray cans in hand. The sun had long since set, so several flashlights were found to help with the process. Benefiting from balmy temperatures to dry the paint quickly and a breeze that swiftly dealt with the aerosol fumes, we made short work of applying a Blue basecoat over the previous paint job.

Left: Blaine Riley, Joe Menzia, and Rachel Kramer add the blue basecoat. Right: Ethan Lardner, having just painted the top of The Rock, jumps down to avoid leaving shoeprints.

With the basecoat in place, the team split up. Some started working on adding maize-colored Solar Car iconography and lettering to the rock, while others sprayed the concrete pad around the rock with a uniform layer of  black paint.

Left: Blaine adds writing to the top. Right: Everyone grabs a can and covers the ground.

Meanwhile, a smaller group was working on the special finishing touch. Because carbon fiber is such an integral part of our team, we decided to make it an integral part of our paint job as well. The plans called for cutting a giant “Block M” out of some 1″ thick Nomex core that was too heavy to be used on Quantum, then securing it to The Rock with several layers of old carbon fiber and copious amounts of resin.

Left: Cole spreads out the resin. Right: Troy Halm places the carbon with resin over the core Block M.

Left: Troy Halm and Gerald Chang mix some more resin. Right: AJ Trublowski, Rachel Kramer, and Troy Halm apply more resin and work the wrinkles out of the carbon.

Once The Rock had been painted and covered with carbon, the team turned its sights on the surrounding scenery. The trash can, sidewalks, and other fixtures have all traditionally been fair game, so the team used up the remaining paint to leave personal signatures on the cement. As an added touch, the trash can got the traditional Quantum racing stripe.

Cole works on the racing stripe

After two hours, we were all tired from the work, but were in high spirits at the sight of how The Rock had turned out. Thanks to the very permanent carbon fiber Block M, our efforts should be visible for years to come – even after our paint has been covered over! We’d like to extend special thanks to Rustoleum for making this project possible, and for their generous support of the team’s painting needs during the Quantum project.

The team posts next to its finished creation.

This post was written by Interim Operations Director Aaron Frantz, who is still scrubbing paint drips out from under his fingernails.

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