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Gas-electric hybrid automotive technology could get a boost from a new
annual competition organized by a team from Thayer School of Engineering.
Formula Hybrid™ invites teams
of college and university students to design, build, and race formula race cars
with gas-electric hybrid drive trains. The first annual Formula
Hybrid competition will be held May 1 through 3 at New Hampshire
International Speedway in Loudon. In addition to Dartmouth, the schools
registered are Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Illinois Institute of
Technology, Colorado State University, Florida Institute of Technology, Yale
University, McGill University, and Drexel University.
Dartmouth's hybrid race car was designed by Thayer School engineering students.
(Photo courtesy Dartmouth Formula Racing)
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The competition could lead to innovations in the field, says Formula Hybrid
Director and Thayer School Research Engineer Douglas Fraser. "Students
don't go in with preconceived notions. They sometimes launch off in directions
that you wouldn't think would work, but they do."
Formula Hybrid is an offshoot of the Formula SAE® program, established in
1981 and sponsored by the Society
of Automotive Engineers, which challenges collegiate teams to design,
build, and compete with formula race cars. Teams from Thayer School have
competed in the event since 1995 and have regularly placed in the top 20, out
of a field of about 150 teams primarily representing much larger institutions,
Fraser says. This year, for the second year in a row, Dartmouth will enter an
ethanol-fueled car in the competition, which will be held May 16 through 20 at
the Ford Michigan Proving Grounds in Romeo, Mich.
Formula Hybrid had its beginnings in 2003 when Dartmouth engineering
students began researching their first hybrid race car in hopes of entering it
in that year's Formula SAE competition, but the rules changed that year to
disallow hybrid entries, thus inspiring the students to develop their own
hybrid competition. Both the SAE and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers are sponsors of the program.
One guideline is fuel efficiency: A Formula Hybrid vehicle must use at least
15 percent less gasoline than a comparable "regular" formula race car
operated under the same conditions, a goal many of the entries are expected to
surpass, Fraser says. Another guideline involves recycling: Unlike the Formula
SAE competition, Formula Hybrid teams are encouraged to incorporate used parts
of other race cars rather than build from scratch.
The competition itself is a sort of educational hybrid, bringing together
applications of mechanical and electrical engineering. "I never would have
learned as much about electrical engineering had I not been involved in this
project," says Formula Hybrid co-captain Dana Haffner '06 who is pursuing
a master of engineering management at Thayer School. "I've taken classes
in electrical engineering, but this is hands-on. There's just no
comparison."
The experience is good preparation for the working world, in which different
types of engineers regularly work together, Haffner says. Abigail Davidson '05,
Thayer '06, the other co-captain, is also a master of engineering management
candidate.
Unlike the "parallel hybrid" systems now used in most commercial
vehicles, in which the gas engine and the electrical motor both are connected
directly to the drive train, the vehicles being built by Dartmouth and many of
the other teams competing in the event use a "series hybrid" system.
In a series system, the gas engine generates electricity that goes into a
storage device—in Dartmouth's case, an array of 88 bright blue
"ultracapacitors," each one the size of a can of tennis balls—which
powers the electric motor that operates the drive train. Haffner says the
greatest challenge has been converting the electricity generated by the gas
engine into a form that can be stored well by the capacitors and can serve the
hugely variable electricity requirements of a high-performance vehicle,
including the bursts of power needed for acceleration.
The May event will include a design competition as well as three driving
events testing the vehicles' acceleration, handling, and endurance (how far and
fast the vehicle goes on a certain amount of gasoline).
More information:
By REBECCA BAILEY
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