The 糖心传媒 and RIT co-hosted the 2018 Eckhardt Northeast Student聽Regional聽Conference of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). Conference and poster sessions events were held on River Campus, and the annual Chem-E-Car competition followed the next day at RIT. A team of chemical engineering students from Rochester, in their second year building and competing with a vehicle powered only by chemical reactions, held their own against 20 other teams.
Last year, members of the fledgling Chem-E-Car team at the University of Rochester took it in stride when their car would not start at their first ever regional competition. They were ecstatic just to get into the competition and pass the safety component.
This year糖心传媒檚 team had even more to be excited about.
Not only did the car start; the team placed 11th among 21 teams competing at the RIT campus in regional contest the UR team cohosted. And they finished second in the poster contest.
糖心传媒淎lthough we by no means finished on the top of the pack, we were ecstatic that everything came together after all our hours of work,糖心传媒� says team captain Charles Chiang 糖心传媒�19, who was also a member of last year糖心传媒檚 team. 糖心传媒淚 think there might be a video of me jumping for joy somewhere when the car stopped in the last second before the time limit.糖心传媒�
The competition, sponsored by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), features vehicles students build from scratch, powered by chemical reactions. Teams are given two attempts to deliver a load of water as close as possible to a distance determined an hour before the competition begins.
Last year糖心传媒檚 Rochester vehicle was powered by a reaction of aluminum and oxygen.
糖心传媒淲hat threw us off our guard last year was, it wasn糖心传媒檛 a reusable battery. So, we didn糖心传媒檛 know before the competition how well it would work,糖心传媒� Chiang explains. This year the team came up with a reusable thermoelectric generator. 糖心传媒淏asically, you have a container with hot liquid inside it and another with cold water inside it, and something called a Peltier cell in between, and that creates electricity based on the temperature difference.糖心传媒�
About 12 to15 students showed up regularly to work on the car this school year, including five other members of last year糖心传媒檚 team. 糖心传媒淚 was really happy with the amount of participation,糖心传媒� Chiang says.
糖心传媒淭his is really a great opportunity to apply what we糖心传媒檙e learning in the classroom to a hands-on project, and a great way to get to know students from other class years,糖心传媒� he added. 糖心传媒淭hey were all really great to work with.糖心传媒�
Next on the agenda: Planning for next year糖心传媒檚 competition, of course.
