Other News.......

Several students from our department were part of the University of Minnesota's Solar Vehicle Project team for 1996- 97. The Aerodynamics Team was headed by senior Aaron MacMillin, and included AEM students Ryan Grosse, Michael Olson, Brian Ulman, and Bill Washabaugh. MacMillin oversaw the design and computational fluid dynamic analysis of the body, and was the composite manufacturing coordinator. The Solar Vehicle Project provides our students with "real world" design, engineering, and time management experience in a team setting. This "hands on" education gives them a leg up on the competition when job hunting.

Photo of the Aurora³ crossing the finish line, from Sunrayce 97.

Recently, the Aurora³ competed in Sunrayce 97, a biennial intercollegiate solar-powered car race which follows a 1,250-mile course from Indianapolis, Ind. to Ft. Collins, Colorado. The course is covered in 9 races over 10 days and the cumulative time determines the winner. The University of Minnesota placed 2nd in Sunrayce '95; making them one of three teams who automatically qualified for this year's race. MacMillin reported that the Aurora³ received "much attention from other top teams regarding our aerodynamic treatment of the wheels. Bill Washabaugh designed the wheel fairings which almost cut our power consumption in half."

Although technical problems in the fifth race marred their overall time, they came back with the fastest time in race six, and continued on to finish 11th out of 36 teams. The overall winner was California State University - Los Angeles, who averaged 43:29 mph over the entire distance, followed closely by MIT.

Aurora³ computational fluid dynamics (CFD) images were created by EDS using VSAero. EDS provided this service as part of their Sunrayce97 sponsorship.

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