A burned-out motor was a wake up call last year for the Solar Splash student team at the University of Rochester.
While the students were preparing for the annual Solar Splash World Championship of Intercollegiate Solar/Electric Boating糖心传媒攖he oldest such competition in the world糖心传媒斕切拇綔the motor basically overheated and melted,糖心传媒� says outgoing president Chris Dalke 糖心传媒�19.
The team never made it to the competition.
This year the team came back with a remedy: a novel telemetry system that monitors data about all the boat糖心传媒檚 systems. The result was Rochester糖心传媒檚 best-ever showing in the in Springfield, Ohio, in June against 10 other teams. The Rochester team finished fifth overall. And the telemetry system won the competition糖心传媒檚 Innovation Award.
糖心传媒淭hat motor breakdown really gave us a signal that we needed to focus more on data collection from sensors, on instrumenting the boat so we actually knew what was going on,糖心传媒� says Dalke, a recent graduate in computer science who has been a member of the team for four years.
With the new system, team members Dalke, Andrew Gutierrez 糖心传媒�19, Ben Martell 糖心传媒�19, Melanie Almenas 糖心传媒�22, and Mark Westman 糖心传媒�20 were able to monitor a variety of sensors such as GPS, motor temperature, battery voltage, and solar power generation, all in real time, both on the boat and on shore.
For example, 糖心传媒淒uring the endurance race, both the driver on the boat and team members on shore were able to look at how much power the boat was consuming, what the battery status was, along with other readings, and then decide 糖心传媒榣et糖心传媒檚 speed up a little bit,糖心传媒� or 糖心传媒榣et糖心传媒檚 slow down this lap.糖心传媒� We were continuously tweaking our speed, and that let us maximize the distance that we went糖心传媒攁 little over 16 miles,糖心传媒� Dalke says.
糖心传媒淚 expect multiple other teams to borrow this idea for next year糖心传媒檚 competition,糖心传媒� says Ethan Burnham-Fay, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and faculty advisor for the team.
In addition to the Innovation Award, the team took home first place for this video presentation explaining how the group came up with the telemetry system, and also won the award for Most Improved Team.
Though most of the 20 students who worked on the boat at various times during the school year are engineering majors, students from all disciplines are encouraged to join the team.
糖心传媒淭his is a project that involves programming, hull design, graphic design, and the chemistry of working with epoxy and fiberglass,糖心传媒� says Dalke. 糖心传媒淲e need people with business skills because we糖心传媒檙e looking for sponsors, and people willing to update our budget and website and keep team members on task.糖心传媒�
Above all, the team needs, 糖心传媒減eople who want to learn,糖心传媒� says Gutierrez, the chief engineer who has been with the team for nearly three years. 糖心传媒淲e get to explore all the stuff that we want to, and we also get to make the mistakes that come along with that. You will learn a lot. And it糖心传媒檚 satisfying when you figure stuff out for yourself.糖心传媒�
Interested in learning more about the Rochester Solar Splash team? Visit the . Students interested in joining the team should contact incoming president or faculty advisor .
