As the title suggests, the battery box (and all the electronics within it) has been assembled and is currently being tested up at CAPE. We have also shock tested the overall battery, which involved frantically running up and down King’s Parade on the cobbles to see if anything broke (at present, nothing has!). This of course produced a lot of interest, and we had a talk with a group of curious french schoolchildren about CUER, the battery pack, and Global Green Challenge. You never know, we may yet have some more international Friends of CUER!
 As a result of the credit crunch, CUER's original solar car design had to be downgraded slightly. Many thanks to everyone that helped out, especially James and Andrew for doing the actual trolley-ing! You didn’t look like muppets at all… |
Archive for May, 2009
Battery Box Completion and Testing
Saturday, May 30th, 2009M.Eng Project Hand-in
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009All the M.Eng project reports have been handed in, after a gargantuan effort by all concerned. Celebrations were had en masse as 25% of Cambridge University Department of Engineering ended up at Wetherspoons for several hours…and then clubbing at Cindies.
You’d think after all those all-nighters and lack of food we might be slightly in need of rest, but no.
We ask all blog readers to please pray for Hannah’s project, which, due to a terrible oversight, was not written with 1.5-line spacing, and did not include a risk assessment review. All further donations to Friends of CUER will include 10% towards upgrading the cardboard box she will be living in for the next five years as a result of this.
Monaco Grand Prix
Monday, May 25th, 2009Some cars went very fast. It was most unsustainable. Of note, however, was a super deal made, whereby Goodwood Festival of Speed 2009 agreed to host the official launch of Bethany. We have also engaged the services of a top-secret Formula 1 racing driver, whose identity will remain hidden, to launch the car.
No, it’s not the Stig.
Driving by Computer
Sunday, May 17th, 2009Interesting to see a few weeks ago that Ricardo have been working on software not dissimilar to what we’re developing for the new car.
To quote their press release, “the Sentience vehicle will calculate and follow an optimal driving strategy. Its control system adjusts vehicle speed, acceleration and deceleration via its adaptive cruise control.” – precisely what Bethany will do as she travels through the outback.
It’s great to see some of these ideas going on to road vehicles and it shows that some of the technology we’re working on is not just applicable to cars in the future, but is feasible right now! This simple principle of saving energy through driving style will apply regardless of the form of energy available, be it petrol, electric charge or solar radiation. What’s also very pleasing to see is that the Transport Research Laboratory has shown that this technology really works. Apparently, “in evening tests on public roads in ‘real-world’ conditions in the vicinity of TRL, achieved mean savings at all times in excess of 5 per cent.”
Of course the major hurdle that this technology will face is our human desire for freedom. If the speed of your vehicle is being controlled by computer, that takes some of the fun out of driving. However it’s quite possible to get around this: the on-board computer can suggest the most efficient driving style and thereby provide some extra ‘fun’ for the driver in trying to drive as efficiently as possible. Something very similar has just appeared in the UK in the form of the Honda Insight’s Eco Assist dashboard.
- Anthony
CUER working with the RCA and Lovegrove Studio
Thursday, May 14th, 2009CUER has been working with Innovation Design Engineering (IDE) MA students at the Royal College of Art (RCA) and renowned designer Ross Lovegrove. The work produced through the collaboration includes design of the seat for the new car, a scale model of Bethany (pictured) and our Bethany minisite.
The excitement at completing the car way ahead of schedule quickly waned as team members realised that they'd forgotten to change the scales on all the drawings.
The CUER team had initially called upon the RCA students’ expertise in CAD modeling and concept design during the development phase of the new car, and now, part-way through manufacture, CUER is benefiting from the RCA students’ knowledge of composite materials and practical skills, whilst Lovegrove Studio has given a professional touch to CUER’s designs and produced the beautiful renders of Bethany.
In recognition of the work undertaken by the RCA students and Lovegrove Studio as specialist advisors to the CUER team, IDE and Lovegrove logos will appear on Bethany. Huge thanks to Sarat Babu, Ross Atkins, Chris Holden and Andy Brand at the RCA, as well as Ross Lovegrove and Pierre Jusselme at Lovegrove Studio.
- Anthony
CUER Annual Dinner
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009The first CUER Annual Dinner was held in Clare College Great Hall. 85 guests, including sponsors, supporters and students, attended the dinner. The food was fabulous, and many thanks to Quinby who undertook a very strategic seating plan such that the most inebriated merry team members were seated well away from sponsors/potential sponsors…except for Cambridge Precision and Rob Martin, who joined in with the drinking merriment wholeheartedly.
Highlight of the evening was definitely Charlie’s speech. Most of us were rather wasted otherwise engaged by this point in the evening, and so cannot remember the actual content, but its deliverance in a wonderful Irish accent was good enough. Mike reckons it was probably along the lines of “Well, hello dere Ted…”
Afterwards the party continued at various locales around Cambridge. Team members demonstrated some excellent initiative and climbing ability (or, in the case of Lucy and Kento, sliding-in-between-bars ability) when faced with numerous locked gates, and the enjoyment lasted well into the night. The promise of some black-tie clubbing at Fez was unhappily quashed when we arrived too late, and instead went back to Quinby’s room where Barnwell demonstrated some very questionable salsa.
Sunshine for Stoke College
Sunday, May 10th, 2009
Hey kids! Buy your very own remote controlled solar car, and wow your friends as it cruises along at walking pace, occasionally bursting into flames! Don't miss out!
Pupils at Stoke College were delighted to find Affinity on their playground when they arrived at school on Wednesday 22nd April. After a presentation in morning assembly years 6, 7 & 8 students were given a chance to build their own solar buggies. In the midday sunshine there followed a thrilling solar race, whilst the CUER team took advantage of the good weather to demonstrate Affinity in action.
Cambridge Precision joined us for the visit and the Haverhill Echo covered the story, which you can read here. For more photos take a look at our gallery (photos by Dan Rodgers).
- Emma
Fourth Year Projects 2009-10
Saturday, May 9th, 2009While work ramps up on the manufacture of Bethany, behind-the-scenes preparations have begun for the next academic year. During 2009-10 team captains Pip Walters and Prem Sohal will lead the development of CUER’s next solar car for the 2011 Global Green Challenge. 4th-year Masters projects have been arranged in the last week and twenty projects are now being advertised. This is a big step up from the eleven projects used to design Bethany and the five Affinity projects.
Team Manager Pip - already rehearsing her "Don't mess with me" face, which Anthony has so far failed to master.
Technical Director Prem - getting slightly carried away with ideas for next year's chassis materials.
Extra projects in areas including Computational Fluid Dynamics, control systems, vehicle dynamics and design optimisation will allow next year’s team to develop a much more innovative solar car and do further research into some preliminary concepts proposed this year. We’re delighted to welcome some new academic supervisors to the project, namely Dr. Will Graham, Dr. Stewart Cant, Dr. Tim Flack, Dr. Tim Coombs, Prof. Tony Purnell, Prof. Gehan Amaratunga, Dr. Tim Wilkinson and Mr. Aylmer Johnson.
Students are now being recruited for the 2009-10 projects and an info session with project managers and supervisors will be held at 16:00 on Monday 11th May in Lecture Room 5.
- Anthony
EXAMS ARE FINISHED! WOO!
Friday, May 8th, 2009Enough said. We’re off to…go and write some fourth year project reports…ugh…
Affinity on TV
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009Affinity last night featured on The Gadget Show on Channel 5. Jason Bradbury drove our prototype solar car and appeared to thoroughly enjoy it! You can watch the feature on the FiveFWD site here.
Come on, you'll have to get out and push...
For more information and photos of Affinity’s Land’s End to John O’Groats journey (mentioned in by Ortis Deley in the feature), visit our End to End minisite. Thanks to Jason and Ortis for being so enthusiastic about the car!
- Anthony
