Jeff Rogers finished his education in Ann Arbor only two years ago, but he hasn’t been disconnected from the Solar Car team yet. Jeff was an alumni mentor in this past fall’s World Solar Challenge (WSC) as well as the 2010 American Solar Challenge (ASC). What he misses most is “working with such a tightly knit group of people hell-bent on winning. It isn’t nearly as fun working for a real company.”

Jeff grew up in Rochester Hills, Michigan and studied computer science engineering receiving a Bachelor’s degree in 2008 and a Master’s in 2010. He joined the Solar Car team immediately during his freshmen year because he had so much fun with FIRST robotics in high school and because he marveled at the sound of a solar car competition (who doesn’t?). While he was new to the team, he worked on the micro-electrical system and figured out a rear-view camera. By 2007, he was in charge of the micro-electrical system and had started to redesign everything besides the rear-view camera. In 2009, he maintained his technical role as the lead micro-electrical engineer and was also a senior leader.

Jeff raced in WSC 2007, NASC 2008, and WSC 2009 as well as the two in which he mentored. One of his favorite moments was pulling Continuum out of its trailer for the first time in Darwin, and since the solar concentrators were kept confidential, he remembers that the reaction from the competitors was priceless. Moreover, he recalls, “I think the best part of any competition was being with all of the other teams in the pits before the race. In 2008 we all rallied together to help out Oregon State get their very first solar car running. It was great to work with people from other teams with a common goal.”

Today, Jeff is developing software for SpaceX. He believes that the technical challenges from Solar Car actually overlapp a lot with his work, and he felt that the teamwork experience was invaluable. He was very impressed with the latest race crew even though many of the members were rookies. To the next generation, he shares this advice: “Don’t take the competition so seriously that you don’t enjoy it.”

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Chris discussing the importance of aerodynamics.

Every so often the Solar Car team gets the pleasure of visiting various public schools around Michigan, giving them a enjoyable change to a typical Solar Car day.  Yesterday morning a few members of the team were able to visit Discovery Middle School, a local public school located in Canton, Michigan. Representing the team was Chris Hilger, Rachel Kramer, Santosh Kumar, Evan Dougherty, Eric Hausman, and myself (Diane Thach).

Chris, Rachel, and Santosh put together a short informative presentation that gave the children an insight into the teamwork between the different divisions of the team and to help them learn about the car and solar energy. Bringing Infinium onto the stage, the children were able to see what a solar car looked like up close after the presentation.  The majority of them couldn’t believe someone could actually fit into the car or that it runs on about thirteen horsepower.

Evan explaining how someone is able to get into the car through the canopy

The children had expressed the most interest when it came to the question and answer session.  One adorable girl had asked, “Does it come in pink?” putting smiles on all of our faces as some others would ask if there were features such as air conditioning, heated seats, or review mirrors.  We were able to explain to them that it wasn’t like the typical mass produced car, but instead there is a small duct that provides a slight cooling system and rear-view camera, both of which reduces the weight of the almost 500 pound vehicle.

Overall, the visit was fun and definitely a success.  We would like to thank Chris’s mother, Mrs. Cindy Hilger for arranging the visit as well as everyone involved at Discovery Middle School for making it happen.  Thank You!

Rachel showing the kids the cells, explaining how they are attached to the car

An eager 7th grader dicusses solar car with Santosh before the presentation.

Eric and Evan carefully move the car out of the building. The dimensions of the car are just short of a set of double doors!

The car required quite a bit of help due to it's weight. Thank you again to all that helped!

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Technical Wednesdays Are Here!

Today’s Feature: The Nitty Gritty Details of the Motor

Are you ready for the nitty gritty details of the motor?  Engineer and UMsolar Crew Chief of 2009 John Federspiel explains his favorite piece of the car.

John and the Solar Car

If you’ve ever stopped by at a UMsolar event and asked the question “how does it go?” or “where is the motor?” you’ve probably gotten a response that went something like, “the solar car uses a 98% efficient CSIRO, DC, 3 phase, in-hub, brushless motor.”  For those of you who didn’t immediately nod and think to yourselves, ‘of course’, John’s here to break it down for you.

CSIRO
CSIRO motors are small, lightweight motors.  The lightness allows the team to further minimize drag and increase the aerodynamic features of the car.  CSIRO stands for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization and is Australia’s national science agency.  This postage stamp-sized, 2 minute video explains what CSIRO is all about.  But what does the rest of, “CSIRO, DC, 3 Phase, in-hub, brushless motor” mean, you ask?  Read on.

DC
DC stands for Direct Current.  Direct current is the type of energy provided by the battery or by a solar cell.  Direct Current is in contrast to AC, or Alternating Current, which is the type of energy that comes out of your outlet at home.  One major difference is that DC current always flows in one direction, whereas AC current alternates between going forwards and backwards dozens of times per second.   Still awake?

3 Phase
3 Phase describes the way in which the power is applied to the motor in order to achieve rotation. This spiffy page gives you a moving model of 3 Phase.

In-hub
In-hub means the motor is incorporated directly into the wheel as opposed to having a transmission that transfers the motor’s power to the wheels.  In-hub motors allow for greater efficiency.  And now on to the very last term…

Brushless
Brushless refers to the type of motor.  In brushless motors the electrical windings are stationary and the housing has permanent magnets that rotate with the wheel.  You can read on about the more technical aspects of brushless versus brushed motors here.

Do you still have questions about the motor?  Post them up!  John’s happy to answer them.
Also, if you have a topic you’d like to see explained next Wednesday, post that, too

Today was Charity Preview Night at the NAIAS.  This was the third and last preview that UMsolar participated in (Press Preview and Industry Preview were the first two).  Tomorrow the show will finally open to the public at 9 am.

Rachel and Chris with fellow engineer and Ford CEO Alan Mulally

Chris Hilger (Business and Operations Director) and Rachel Kramer (Project Manager) had fun dressing to the nines and spreading their enthusiasm for solar car.  They sat behind the wheel of a lot of cars and had the chance to talk to Bill Ford Jr. (Chairman of Ford), Gerhard Schmidt (CTO Ford), Rick Snyder (Michigan Governor), and David Cole (Chairman Center for Automotive Research).

Chris looking snazzy with the solar car

Governor Rick Snyder with team member Julia Hawley at NAIAS 2011

Today Governor Rick Snyder made a stop at the 2011 North American International Auto Show, where he addressed leaders at the “MEDC Town Square”.  During the speech, he discussed “Reinventing” the State of Michigan by building on the entrepreneurial ventures of companies and universities. In addition, he expressed his confidence in the future successes of the Solar Car Team, going on to state that the members are “role models” who demonstrate the innovative spirit the state needs.

See below for an excerpt of the speech:

Last week UMsolar arrived at the North American International Auto Show to start preparations for the opening day. Today was it! The Auto Show is officially open to credentialed media as of Monday January 10th, and the solar car is displayed in style. We’d like to give you a sneak preview of what the public will be able to see when the doors open to everyone this Saturday, January 15th. Check out our Gallery for new photos from inside the Auto Show!

The 2011 North American International Auto Show is just around the corner, and the team is excited to return to the Cobo Center as an exhibitor. In collaboration with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, we will be displaying Infinium in the ‘MEDC Town Square’ alongside an exciting collection of green energy and transportation technology from companies such as A123 systems, Dow Kokam, and Swedish Biogas.

Several members of the Mechanical and Operations divisions arrived at Cobo Center at 7:00am yesterday to start setting up the exhibit. In the midst of 20-degree temperatures and gusts of wind, they managed to get everything safely inside and assembled. They will continue to apply finishing touches until doors open to the Media on January 10th. The show looks like it will be really exciting this year, and we hope you’ll come down to Detroit to see Infinium! The show will be open to the public from January 15 to January 23rd. The Team would like to thank everyone who has helped with this event, especially Vanessa Bishop-Diggs from MEDC, Lauren Arnold and Emily Hay from the Fulkerson Group, Gary Novak from Omnitec Solutions, and Marilyn Doebler from DADA.

Taking Infinium out on the road for testing this fall helps both engineers and strategists to gain a better understanding of the challenges they may face when creating and racing Michigan’s next vehicle, Quantum. We have a small new crew of students who will be working throughout the design and construction phases of the project to create video updates. Here is the first of these updates, which was filmed at a recent testing event.

The Solar Car Team took advantage of the warm, sunny day last week by going to the workspace to drive the car. The weekend’s workspace session was mostly geared towards making sure that all of the team members are familiar with the car. The engineering division reviewed and conducted the procedures to make sure the car is in ship-shape condition for team members to operate it safely.

Several new members of the strategy division were given an introduction in following the solar car in a “chase vehicle”. While in the chase vehicle (which is a regular car that follows the solar car), strategists focused on making sense of the telemetry information coming from the solar car. This information is communicated wirelessly and is displayed on a laptop that is carried within the chase vehicle. These numbers that are communicated to the laptop through specially designed computer software give the strategy division information regarding the solar car’s speed, energy intake, and energy output. The program also suggests the optimal speed at which to drive the solar car to maximize efficiency, given the weather conditions. However, a program’s analytical abilities can only do so much and is no substitute for the judgment of a good strategist. That’s why it is especially important that the strategy team members analyze the car in motion many times. In the end, the software is just a supplement to the most important thing a strategist can posses: intuition.

Infinium at Earthfest 2010: Mechanical engineer AJ Trublowski talks to a curious UM student.

Earthfest: Party for the Planet is an event held on both the central and north campus diags this week to engage, entertain and educate students and the public on all things related to sustainability at the University of Michigan. Infinium is being displayed at the heart of central campus today and the Team will be on north campus this Thursday to show what UMSolar is doing to educate students and further sustainable, green technologies.