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Friday, June 20, 2008

Focus on Safety

Not too long ago the Team was privileged enough to have Jerry Buffman from Dummies on the Run sponsor and administer First Aid and CPR training to 19 of our members. The training took around two hours to complete and was both extremely informative and entertaining. We learned important skills like how to bandage wounds and save someone from choking, and we even learned how to use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) like the ones we see on campus. Not only are we now more prepared for the upcoming North American Solar Challenge, but members will be able to make use of their training in the years to come as well.

Doug and Spencer preparing to practice CPR on their dummies.

We’ve also been fortunate enough to have some other new sponsors come on board recently and assist us with our safety goals. Aearo Technologies has graciously donated safety goggles, respirators, and First Aid kits, and TrucknTow.com has provided the Team with safety vests, gloves, flags, and cones. Our previous supplies were a bit outdated and understocked, so it’s great to see new equipment that’s both up to code and safe.

Team members on the side of the road with TruckNTow safety vests, flags, and cones.

In addition to new sponsors, some of our sponsors from 2007 have continued their support of the team through additional in-kind donations. Wiley X, the ultimate provider of shatterproof eye protection, has renewed their sponsorship by providing the 2008 Race Crew with some of their latest styles for this year. These sunglasses will protect our team from UV rays as well as any debris that may fly up while being on the side of the road.

Sarah wearing one of Wiley X's new styles for 2008.

Aside from focusing on protecting our team members, we’ve also been doing our part to protect the environment. Thanks to General Motors, the Team has been supplied with a fleet of four Chevy Tahoe Hybrids to serve as support vehicles for this summer’s race. Even though the most advertised benefit of a hybrid vehicle is increased fuel economy, an arguably much more important benefit is the reduction in emissions. Translated, this means fewer pollutants in the air and a cleaner, healthier Earth.

Picture of Scout - one of the Chevy Tahoe Hybrids and the car that makes sure the road is clear for the solar car. Vehicle graphics courtesy of Signs By Tomorrow.

OrganicByTheCase.com has also partnered with the Team by donating organic food and supplies to be used on both our mock race as well as during the North American Solar Challenge. We’ve stocked our semi with organic cereal, granola bars, and drinks, all of which were produced without the introduction of harmful fertilizers and pesticides into the environment.

Spencer enjoying a cup of Oaty Bites cereal thanks to OrganicByTheCase.com.

Another sponsor of the 2007 project that has returned is Targus, maker of the world's top-selling laptop computer cases and accessories. They’ve sponsored the 2008 Race Crew with selections from their new line of eco-friendly laptop cases. All of the cases from the EcoSmart™ series are made of PVC-free material, meaning that there were no poisonous chemicals created during their manufacture. (When produced, PVC releases chemicals such as dioxins which may pose irreversible life-long health threats.)

In short, we'd just like to say thank you again to all of the above companies for supporting our team and helping us realize our goals. And while we may never be fully prepared nor save the environment on our own, at least we've made some steps in the right direction.

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10 Comments:

Blogger Brian Ignaut said...

It's great to see the whole organization moving towards more eco-friendly practices. Way go go and keep up the good work.

GFGSGB!

June 20, 2008 at 3:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

An eco-friendly team of suppliers for a solar car team? Who would have thought?

Nice work, solar car team!

June 20, 2008 at 9:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

wow is cool..

June 21, 2008 at 11:56 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Go get 'em!

I'm a life-long State fan so for the first time in my life I'm pulling for the maize-and-blue.

If you get the chance, put Stanford into the wall.

Just kidding.

GO BLUE!

June 21, 2008 at 12:39 PM  
Blogger Furqan Nazeeri said...

I agree with Jim...put Stanford into the wall! ;-) JK.

June 22, 2008 at 1:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

These competitions are cool, but are these vehicles ever going to see the production line? No, the fat cats eat way to much off of the fuel industry and would never let these kinds of vehicles see the assembly lines.

June 29, 2008 at 5:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

14 days until the race. Good luck team and thanks for the pictures... GO BLUE!

June 29, 2008 at 7:46 PM  
Blogger TC Lambert said...

Gonna need some new updates for this blog. The team is on its way to Texas, the heart of Oil Country. Make those Big Oil b******s shake when they see cars that run on no gas at all.

ASC website says Ohio State and Michigan State have entries this time. Is that for real?

- TC Lambert

July 4, 2008 at 3:05 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good luck. Love to watch that line of cars go through my town.

July 5, 2008 at 9:51 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is the most interesting car I've seen. Keep up the good work.

December 20, 2008 at 6:10 PM  

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Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Battery Testing

Jeff Rogers and I have spent the past two days at BluWāv Systems conducting final tests with Continuum's battery pack. We were able to successfully characterize the entire battery pack and calibrate some of Continuum's electrical sensors using BluWāv's equipment. We also had the chance to tour their facility. Below are two pictures from the trip:


Jeff (left) and I standing next to Continuum's battery pack and the ABC-150 (the piece of equipment used for most of the tests).


Jeff and I sitting in BluWāv's Smart Roadster. The vehicle features in-wheel electric motors designed and built by BluWāv. If only it had solar cells...

-Alex Dowling

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3 Comments:

Blogger SalineVance said...

Alex,

If future solar cars are going to look like the Blu-Wav car in your photo, sign me up! It looks like a car, rather than an experiment. The solar car project sure has come a long way, and from the looks of that photo, the future looks very promising!

June 19, 2008 at 1:30 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love this car, good job guy :)

June 20, 2008 at 9:21 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great job guys, love the car!

December 15, 2008 at 7:12 AM  

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Thursday, June 05, 2008

Mock Race Images

As we drive back on I94, I have regained a solid internet connection. Here are the missing photos from day 2 of mock race.

Our Scout vehicle parked at Crowder College in Neosho, Mo

The sun begins to rise at Crowder College


Driving north towards Topeka. During the morning the weather was not terrible, but in the distance we could see a roll cloud associated with the storm.
The storms brew ahead of Continuum.


The storm is advancing and we decided to head south
to stay safe and avoid the hail and tornadoes.



We head south to Nevada, Mo to avoid the storm
cells that have the race route covered.

Back on the road after the storms in clear skies!

Continuum rolls into the Topeka control stop and is received by team members.

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7 Comments:

Blogger Brian Ignaut said...

Congrats on finishing mock race! Sounds like you guys got some good training under your belts.

June 5, 2008 at 12:46 PM  
Blogger TC Lambert said...

Thanks for the updates and the photos. One showed Doug in a clean shirt. That's different.

Glad to hear the interest spectators have in the car. With gasoline over 4 dollars per gallon, you may get curious onlookers placing orders for solar cars.

-TC Lambert (Doug's dad)

June 5, 2008 at 1:57 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is amazing, keep it up guys. That weather may have been bad to drive through but Ann Arbor's weather hasn't been much better lately anyway :)

June 7, 2008 at 11:14 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great work on completing the race!!! the car looks good!!! One of the students working for bentley designed something quite unique... take a look: http://www.pressportal.com.au/news/315/ARTICLE/1979/2008-04-28.html

June 8, 2008 at 4:02 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Congrats!

June 8, 2008 at 9:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Car looks awesome! Fantastic work and congrats on the race

June 13, 2008 at 10:38 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great post. It's like a Discovery Channel, chasing for the storm. Keep up a good work and keep posting

June 24, 2008 at 1:53 AM  

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End of Mock Race

The semi has been packed, the team is asleep (well most of them), and it is now time for one last mock race post.

Day four of mock race finished strong. Our strategy team was planning on ending the day with an empty battery pack as if it were the end of the race, and they did just that. Despite some route issues (route materials we received in the middle of mock race differed from the route materials distributed to our navigators), the Fargo checkpoint went extremely well. Our support vehicles were ready to receive Continuum as it rolled in. As opposed to Tuesday, we spent less time on the side of the road--we had one tire change and one driver swap (no driver may be in the solar car for more than six hours in a row for a single day).
Tire change on the side of the road

Rolling into Fargo, the car checks were completed, the semi was loaded and then we were off to dinner. The team relaxed for a few hours, playing some fun games of miniature golf (free at our hotel) and then we were off to bed. Thank you very much to the AmericInn of Moorhead, MN for sponsoring the night! We greatly appreciated the evening to get some sleep before the 14 hour drive home.

All in all, mock race was a great success. We were able to practice many of the situations not occurring during routine testing, and learned a great deal about the race route. Although we faced some difficult weather along the route, both Continuum and the team performed extremely well. We are prepared for the race in July, and are all looking forward to it.

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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I really love this team and hats off to their hard work and enthusiasm towards creativity.

June 30, 2008 at 7:20 PM  

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Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Mock Race Day 3

We completed day 3 of mock race and ended just outside of Sioux Falls. The day didn’t go quite as planned. The morning started out strong as we headed into Omaha, but unfortunately less than a mile after we left the Omaha checkpoint we ran into a few problems that took us to the side of the road. With overheating issues, we had to wait for a while and fix a few problems with the motor controller. Back on the road again we were expecting bad weather, but we were able to find small clearings in the clouds where the sun was shining. With the extra power we were able to pick up our speed and travel at the speed limit. Throughout the day we also faced a few challenges that gave us good practice for the race. From detours, to construction zones and poorly marked roads, we were able to face the new challenges that we didn’t have to face in Australia.

Arriving just outside Sioux Falls, our weather and scout team were given the opportunity to find a place to stop for the night; we had some very friendly locals who allowed us to setup camp on their property. However with no sun shining through we were unable to take in an evening charge. In the morning of the forth day we were also unable to charge with full cloud coverage.

We are currently back on the road for day four of mock race! Traveling toward Fargo, we are under complete cloud cover. The weather has been varied quite a bit this mock race which has given our strategists a nice opportunity to simulate around the many different conditions.

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3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sounds like an excellent opportunity you've had thus far with this round of testing.

Go Blue!

-Russ

June 4, 2008 at 6:41 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

testing component down with sound using reliability analysis. for more method please browse http://www.statistiks.net

July 31, 2008 at 2:17 AM  
Blogger Freddy Ferdian said...

Nice blog!
Please visit my site:
Centra Freeware: Online Free Information

August 5, 2008 at 1:06 AM  

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Monday, June 02, 2008

Mock Race Day 2: A Varied Day of Raycing

Folks, sorry about this post not going up earlier. I am having some difficulties with uploading pictures right now, but in the meantime here is the post from the afternoon (with images to follow).

Finally we are out under the sun! After a grueling morning filled with hail storms and 70 mph winds, we are back charging in the sunshine. We started this day in Neosho as an official stage start at 9am (although we left 25 seconds late). Following this we took off at a fast pact and headed north. About 60 miles later, Alex’s phone rang. It was Brad, our meteorologist telling us to get off the road and head south immediately. Storms were closing in on Nevada, MO and two cells in particular were about to hit. These cells were made up of golf-ball sized hail, 70 mph winds, and tornado warnings. We decided in the best interest of the car and the team to store the car and head south avoiding the two storm cells. About 2 hours later the storms had passed and we received the all clear sign from our strategy division. We put the car back on the road and we were off. At first we were traveling through the remnants of the storms and under full cloud cover, but after pushing through this final batch of clouds we hit clear skies and those have remained until now and hopefully for the final hour of racing.

Backing up a little bit to last night; I want to congratulate all of the Solar Bike Teams who competed yesterday at Neosho for the Solar Bike Rayce. Our team enjoyed speaking with the many different teams and participants. Thank you to the organizers for providing us with the best dinner we have had on mock race thus far. The catered meal will set a high standard for our Operations team to follow. Perhaps our Ops crew should be cooking multiple part meals with dessert. I would also like to thank everyone at Crowder College for welcoming us and giving us a place to stay and camp. We look forward to returning in just about six weeks.

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3 Comments:

Blogger Roxanna Vigil said...

Golf-ball sized hail...yikes, but glad things cleared up. John, pay attention to the road!

June 3, 2008 at 5:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nice story, I love it !

July 8, 2008 at 4:03 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

nice to read your blog

November 3, 2008 at 6:28 PM  

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Sunday, June 01, 2008

NASC 2008 Mock Race Day 1

I write this post from the road as we drive north from Dallas, Texas on the first day of Mock Race. The morning went very smoothly starting at precisely 9am from the race start in front of the Plano Centre.

Our semi outside the Plano Centre



Today things started very smoothly and it is a wonderful sight to see Continuum traveling at the speed limit on the road passing other cars!



The public apparently enjoys it as many cars continue to slow down and cruise next to the car as windows are rolled down and cell phone cameras extend out.

People passing slowed down to take photos,
many using their cellphones!



However with the crazy weather patterns, our strategists have been working to sort out the various storm systems we have been running in and out of. We have hit some rain and we are ready to face the rain again, if necessary. Overall, we are managing the storms well and still gaining a charge when the sun shines through! More updates later tonight!

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9 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great job guys and gals, keep up the good work!

June 1, 2008 at 6:11 PM  
Blogger Brian Ignaut said...

Here's a recent email to the Solar Car address (solarcar@umich.edu):

Hello.

I just wanted to write and tell you how utterly surprised I was to be driving North down Hwy 69, about 10 miles south of McAlester, Oklahoma on Sunday, Jun 1, when I pulled up behind an escort with their lights blinking and seeing a sign that said "caution: solar vehicle".

As I passed the rear escort and was able to see the vehicle itself, I thought I had to be seeing things. It looked like a spaceship had landed and was just cruising down the highway.

Never before have I experienced a site like that and I just wanted to say how impressed I was to be one of very few people to witness such an incredible vehicle in action.

If this is the vehicle of the future, I look forward to being able to say that I saw it in 2008 in Oklahoma...first!

Thanks for the unforgettable experience!

Robin Archer
Henryetta, Oklahoma

June 1, 2008 at 7:31 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is awesome, I love to see that the American public is becoming more and more interested in solar racing

June 1, 2008 at 10:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My kids and I were visiting family in Oklahoma when we were going to Durant . I passed the semi with the car and realized what was in front of us. My oldest son just turned 8 and has been studying anything to do with science and dinosaurs since he was 3. I pointed out the hybrid SUV and then explained what they were protecting. I then pointed out the solar panels and the car. Once we passed the cars he made me pull over so we could see it again. He was interested in where the driver was and why the shape. We were discussing that when the car drove by us. The people in the SUV's and the driver of the car waved. It made my son's day. He was so excited that he wants me to get involved in the high school version of the solar car challenge. He also wants to do more science stuff with scouts and after school in my room.

I would like to thank the drivers and riders for making his day.

Tammy McDaniel
Community High School
Science Department Chair.
Nevada Texas 75173

June 2, 2008 at 5:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You guys are heros! Its comments like those from Robin Archer and Tammy McDaniel that make me proud to have been part of this team. Keep up the great work and keep up giving the team, Michigan, and engineers in general a great name!

-Max Ross

June 3, 2008 at 9:57 AM  
Blogger sacekimi said...

This is awesome, I love to see that the American public is becoming more and more interested in solar racing

www.sohbetozel.org

June 29, 2008 at 8:32 AM  
Blogger sacekimi said...

This is awesome, I love to see that the American public is becoming more and more interested in solar racing
www.sohbetozel.org

June 29, 2008 at 8:32 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is wonderful to see. I love the idea of solar energy and I can only hope someone invents something in my industry of carpet cleaning where we use fuel run machines every day that pollute the air we breathe.

It's unfortunate that such a wonderful energy is available but is never used in my line of work.

I'm sure no one has ever thought of it but our fuel run machines sometimes run for over 8 hours a day and up to 6 or even 7 days a week. Not that is a lot of pollution.

Good on you for proving there can be another way as you are an inspiration to us all.

Mark Briody,
Sydney Australia

August 30, 2008 at 12:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Keep up the good work. It is good to see people interested in reducing greenhouse emissions as well as battling the high price of fuel these days. What's best is that interest has sparked some action! While you get the kinks worked out, there is plenty people can do to reduce emissions and save on gas...its a team effort though, everyone should look into resources like this website, which was built to aid the public in saving on fuel and reducing the deadly pollution caused by our vehicles.
http://www.fuelmileagehelp.com .

September 22, 2008 at 12:06 AM  

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