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Affinity Wows in Monaco

Posted on March 26, 2009 by Dan Wilkins

Affinity was exhibited at CleanEquity Monaco last week, in front of the Monte Carlo Casino. Five members of the CUER team accompanied the car on its trip to Monaco, where it was displayed alongside other environmentally-friendly vehicles including a Tesla Roadster and Vectrix scooter, as well as the Place du Casino’s usual Ferraris, Bentleys and Lamborghinis.

The week passed by with minimal incident, although it seems that Lucy’s midnight sprint across London gave her the plague, and she was shut up in bed with warm drinks while the rest of the team were out partying with millionaires. This is no exaggeration. Except perhaps the plague part.

Affinity’s canopy finally copped it this week after a gentle freak gust of wind blew the upper shell clean off, into a couple of pedestrians, and pinned them against a fence (we maintain that they should be glad that they were incapacitated in such an eco-friendly way. Bet they’d have been a lot madder if someone’s Ferrari had been blown into them…) Her sorry internal structure of cardboard and gaffer tape was exposed to the world, but she was still interesting enough to draw a crowd.

HSH The Prince of Monaco closed…
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The Age of Stupid

Posted on March 16, 2009 by Dan Wilkins

Affinity was driven up the green carpet by Piers Guy in Leicester Square yesterday evening, as part of the solar-powered premiere of ‘The Age of Stupid’ - a new eco-documentary starring Pete Postlethwaite. Celebs arrived on foot, bicycle, bike rickshaw, public transport and in electric and biodiesel cars. Every part of the event – from power sources, to food, to transport, to ink, to clothing – was genuinely green and the film was shown in a solar-powered tent in the middle of Leicester Square.

Numerous celebrities posed for photos with Affinity, including Gillian Anderson, Pete Postlethwaite, Vivienne Westwood, Ken Livingstone and Alastair Campbell. As an additional stunt, Ken Livingstone decided to try and play with Affinity’s canopy, causing many watching CUER members to attempt to frantically clamber over the barrier to stop him. Jonathan and Anthony were, of course, too busy rubbing shoulders with the stars to notice for a while. Not that we’re bitter.

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Wind Tunnel Testing

Posted on March 15, 2009 by Dan Wilkins

With apologies to Dr Seuss…

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Cambridgeshire Kids Thrilled by Affinity!

Posted on March 12, 2009 by Dan Wilkins

As part of Science Week the CUER outreach team visited three local schools last week, giving pupils the chance to see Affinity and build their own solar buggies. We were lucky with the weather and managed some seriously competitive solar buggy racing! Perse Prep School in Cambridge, St. Anne’s C of E Primary in Godmanchester and Thriplow C of E Primary School all gave us a very warm welcome and we had a great time answering hundreds of questions, from ‘How does it fly?’ to ‘Can you recommend any books on aerodynamics?’. Maybe we’ve inspired some of the engineers of the future!

- Emma

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Affinity at New Energy Finance Summit

Posted on March 11, 2009 by Dan Wilkins

Members of the CUER team were delighted to be invited to the prestigious New Energy Finance Summit in London’s Vinopolis last week. During the three-day summit we were treated to speeches and discussions from leaders of the renewable energy and finance worlds, including Lord Browne, Ed Milliband, Shai Agassi and Sir Mark Moody-Stewart.

The team displayed Affinity on Bankside Pier before the Awards Dinner – a great opportunity to explain how CUER can play a role in developing the technologies of the future and changing public perceptions. Special thanks to Michael Liebreich and the New Energy Finance team for the invitation!

-Anthony

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Battery Pack Manufacture Progress

Posted on March 10, 2009 by Dan Wilkins

As technical sub-teams shift focus from design to manufacture, so too has the battery pack project, and the pace of manufacture has stepped up in the last few weeks. As of writing, the three battery modules have been fitted with cells, and initial checks have been done by Chao Yu, the lead designer and manufacturer of the battery pack.

So far the project has progressed smoothly with few delays, thanks in no small part to the contributions by REAPsystems Ltd and Farnell UK Ltd. REAPsystems are supporting the project by donating their battery management systems (BMS), which will be used to monitor and control the operation of the Lithium-polymer based pack for optimal performance and reliability, as well as supplying the team with additional components and design expertise. Farnell UK have kindly donated electronic components and tools to CUER, which has been beneficial not only for the battery pack, but also for the rest of the electrical team’s projects.

- Anthony

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Cambridge Science Festival

Posted on March 9, 2009 by Dan Wilkins

Hooray! Today begins the annual Cambridge Science Festival! Two weeks of wondrous adventures into the magical world of science. It’s not really magical at all – it’s entirely based on physical principles – but, as they say, any sufficiently advanced technology…

Do come down and explore! Highlights include the ever popular Dr Pete Wothers making things explode under the guise of chemistry, while the Naked Scientists will be patrolling the lecture theatres with a heap of fun demonstrations about…um…snot. Don’t miss the Engineering Department’s contribution, Build A Hovercraft. Always a popular attraction down at the University Centre, Dr Joy Warde’s creative outreach ideas vary from year to year. Previous forays into the world of imprecision engineering include Crane Construction and Rocket Car Design. A must-see. You might even run into some CUER-ites helping out…

For the bonus point, keep your eyes peeled for Carol Vorderman, a Cambridge engineering alumnus!

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The Saga of the Upper Shell

Posted on March 6, 2009 by Dan Wilkins

Today is a joyous day for all, for the upper shell has been completed! The following tale of its birth is of such epic proportions that it has been serialised. With apologies to Hans Christian Andersen…

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Solar Buggies at Catz!

Posted on March 5, 2009 by Dan Wilkins

CUER students were delighted to be able to hold another series of Solar Buggy workshops yesterday for groups of school pupils visiting the University. Around 80 pupils participated in the events which were held at St Catharine’s College, and supported by the University’s 2009 Fund. The workshops allow pupils to design their own model solar car and encourage them to think about everything from aerodynamics to wheel size, in order to build the most efficient and ultimately the fastest car. Despite the less than ideal March sun, the teams’ impressive designs were surprisingly fast and we hope that all had fun whilst learning a little about solar power.

st_catz_outreach2

It is as yet uncertain whether the kids or the CUER lot had more fun with this! Certainly the competition between team members was fierce, and prompted the creation of the Outreach Cup, to be awarded at the end of the year to the team member with the most outreach wins.

Scandal abounded when one team member - Hannah who will remain unnamed – was discovered cheating by using TWO solar cells instead of the allotted one! Charges were later dropped (pun intended) when it was revealed that the…
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