UC Solar Team

The UC Solar Team is a multi-disciplinary student based team at the University of Calgary which has been established to periodically design and build a solar car to compete in the North American Solar Challenge (NASC) and the World Solar Challenge (WSC). The team is primarily composed of undergraduate students studying Engineering, Computer Science, Management, Geology, Kinesiology, Biology, etc.

History

The University of Calgary Solar Car Team was initially established in the fall of 2004. The team was created to build a solar powered vehicle to complete in the 2005 NASC.

Miracle workers

The team performed a "miracle" by managing to establish a strong student base with which to construct the car, procure significant sponsorship and successfully build a highly successful vehicle with limited experience all in approximately 9 months. Established teams have two years to refine existing designs between rayces.

The X1 (Prototype)

In preparation for its first rayce, the UC Solar team decided to construct and test a prototype of their designs before building the final car. The X1 was a mock-up of and predecessor to Soleon. The X1 was used for driver training and allowed the team to test various design decisions to help ensure a successful final product. The X1 was constructed from a steel chassis with a fibreglass shell which was coated with gelcoat which made the vehicle approximately twice the final weight of its sister car.

First Rayce Results

In its first year of existence the UC Solar team successfully competed in the NASC and the WSC. In the 2005 NASC, Soleon, their first generation rayce car placed 13th out of 17 cars that made it to the finish line. In the 2005 WSC Soleon placed 10th overall (out of 18) and first in their class. After hearing about this success, Seymour Schulich was inspired to donate $25 million (another $25 million was matched by the Alberta government) to the University of Calgary Engineering department, which was renamed the Schulich School of Engineering.

2007 WSC Race

Since the success of Soleon in the 2005 races, the team had to redesign for the new regulations for WSC, and prepare for the harder competition it faced from changing class to the higher, more competitive Challenge class. This class included higher efficiency solar cells, upright seating, and teams that had been raycing for the last 20 years. After shipping their new car to Australia, and testing it before scruitineering, the car had a rear tire blow out on the race track in Darwin, and resulted in the car spinning around having the tail section impacting into the guard rail and ripped from the car. The team then had to rebuild and redesign the tail section in one night before racing. Despite the higher competition and race track crash, the team managed to be the first (of six) Canadian team to cross the timing finish line, finish 8th (out of 19) in the Challenge class, and 15th (out of 37) overall.

2008 NASC Race

The team is actively rebuilding Schulich I to be lighter and stronger for the 2008 race which will run from Texas to Calgary later in the year.

Achievements

----

The Cars

X1 (Prototype)

Maximum Achieved Speed: ~70km/h
Solar Array Type: none (stickers merely for show)
Chassis: Steel Space frame
Shell Composition: Fibreglass & Gelcoat
Commissioned: May 2005
Decommissioned: June 2006
Current Uses: X1 has been decommissioned. The chassis is all that remains and is presently suspended against a wall in the UC Solar Workshop.

oleon

Maximum Achieved Speed: 140km/h
Solar Array Type: Silicon
Chassis: Aluminum Space frame
Shell Composition: Carbon Fiber & Kevlar
Commissioned: June 2005
Decommissioned: July 2007
Current Uses: Soleon is slated to remain in service for future driver training, mechanical testing and PR events. Soleon is not intended to compete in future rayces in part due to structural damage sustained under normal use.

chulich I

Maximum Achieved Speed: 105km/h
Solar Array Type: Gallium arsenide (GaAs) Triple-junction
Chassis: Steel Space frame
Shell Composition: Carbon Fiber & Kevlar
Commissioned: September 2007
Current Uses: Participated in the 2007 Panasonic World Solar Challenge and is currently being rebuilt and overhauled for the North American Solar Challenge in 2008.

External links

* [http://www.calgarysolarteam.ca UC Solar Website]
* [http://www.wsc.org.au WSC Website]
* [http://www.americansolarchallenge.org NASC Website]