Exhibited Potential of Commercializing Solar Powered Vehicles
[Nov 27, 2009]
Yeungnam University students win the grand prize and runner-up prize at the Solar Car Competition.
The winners were the 'Mercury' team (leader Ha, Jung-Woo, School of Mechanical Engineering senior, back row far right) composed of six seniors from the School of Mechanical Engineering and School of Electronic Engineering, Communication Engineering and Computer Science and the 'Fellow' team (leader Kim, Tae-Gon, far left) composed of five juniors in the School of Mechanical Engineering. The 'Mercury' team, which produced a solar car as part of the creative engineering project since August of last year won the grand prize (Seoul Metropolitan City Mayor Award) and the 'Fellow' team, which began its creative engineering project since this August won the runner-up prize (Korea Engineering Education Research Center Award).
The 'Solar Car Competition' is where university students compete in track driving and design areas for model solar energy cars that they make. With alternative energy development being an urgent task due to the high oil prices and global warming, it is very meaningful in the fact that the future of environment-friendly automobile industry could be seen.
The 'Solar Car Competition' is in its third year since being the first to be held in Korea by Yeungnam University in 2007. Being co-hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan City (mayor Oh, Se-Hoon) and the Accreditation Board for Engineering Education of Korea (director Suh, Nam-Pyo), it was held on the 14th at the outdoor exhibit of the Peace Park in Sangam World Cup Stadium.
37 teams from 16 universities throughout the nation that passed the preliminary stage competed in this event and they were evaluated for driving area and design area from 10am to 3pm.
The driving section which was given 80% of weight on evaluation was determined by a speed race on a straight track that was 3 to 5 meters wide and 25 meters long. Though it is a straight track, there is an approximately 8 degree uphill and downhill at the 5-10m and 15-20m interval. Therefore, the most important part to the driving sector is how efficiently the solar energy gathered by the 400㎠ solar cell that emits 10w of sudden power is activated. In addition, the steering system that takes into account wind direction is also important.
'Mercury' team was able to receive the grand prize for their outstanding capacities in both of these key technologies. They were the only team to mount circuits that they designed and produced theirselves in order to maximize the efficiency of power conversion. They used bluetooth in the remote steering device making it possible to steer it using much less power compared to the RF method, and therefore, relatively more solar energy was converted to the engine power. It used balsa wood for the chassis, which is usually used for planes and yachts to minimize its weight, and a triangular frame was adopted for safety. In result, it was possible to have a max speed of 4m per second.
The remote steering device of Mercury team was in the spotlight for not only its performance, but also its design. An embedded steering device was developed by placing a flexible sensor sewed onto the index finger of the glove in order to adjust the acceleration by moving the index finger and gravity sensors on the wrists. In result, Mercury team received high scores in the design sector which evaluated its economic feasibility, safety, creativity and poster presentation.
Ha, Jung-Woo (25, Senior in Major of Mechanical System), the leader of the Mercury team, stated "Preparing for the Solar Car Competition was an opportunity to acquire in-depth studies on from the principles of solar cells, to its conversion to driving energy and transmission procedures." He added, "Because of the growing interest of alternative energies, I hope to contribute in the commercialization of solar power cars in the future based on the experiences I gained in this competition."
