Green Cars? The formula is in our hands

As the Institution of Mechanical Engineers gears up to host Europe’s biggest motorsport event in July, the pressure is on for teams to produce energy efficient cars for Formula Student’s low carbon vehicle category. IMechE has taken a backseat preview of what these teams from Oxford Brookes, Imperial College, London, Hertfordshire University, University of Central Lancashire and educational establishments in Zurich, Switzerland, Moscow, Madrid and Barcelona, are doing and how they are pitting their wits in the hope of victory in FS Class 1A 2009.

Launched last year, Class 1A, which represents Alternative Fuels, encourages students to use alternative fuels, such as hydrogen or biofuels, to power racing cars. For the last five months a team from Oxford Brookes University has been working on a design using an electric motor and a battery. Project Leader Carlos Nunes is determined that the car will finish the course.

Carlos said: “We have been working on the car for five months and as long as we have enough time to test it thoroughly, I am confident our creation will be a strong contender on the competition.”

The concept of Oxford Brookes’ vehicle involves the engine working at top speed while an electric motor operates at a lower speed, which ultimately pushes the car from standstill. The engine then takes over from the motor to drive the car.

Ahead of the event at the famous Silverstone circuit on 16-19 July, Carlos said: “One advantage of the design is that it will retain some of the energy used for braking to actually power the car. This is achieved by putting a current through the motor to generate a negative torque. We have to start testing in mid May if we are to ensure the vehicle can perform to its best ability.”

Despite a clear focus, the team has not been without its challenges. Because of their lack of resources, a new chassis could not be made from scratch and an old one had to be adapted to meet new regulations. Devoting enough time to the competition was an issue because – unlike some other universities – the project does not count as a contribution towards a degree course. However, the students were lucky enough to have an electronics lecturer who was able to outsource an electric motor.

“I would say about 95% of the work we have done on the car has been our own time and this can be difficult if members are busy throughout the week. Entering Class 1 would have been a simpler task but as motorsport moves towards an environmentally friendly direction, it is important that we learn about new technology that can help combat climate change,” Carlos Nunes concluded.

Racing Green, a team from Imperial College, London, has taken the route of using a hydrogen fuel cell to power its entry into Class 1A, as well as lithium polymer battery packs and a 4kW fuel cell as a range extender. Each racing car wheel is linked to a 25kW motor, giving the vehicle an advantage of 4-wheel drive. A lot of control is needed to put the electricity in the correct place, so the teams used a Compact Rio, a mechanism used in motorsport to be vibration resistant which controls the batteries. The car also has regenerative braking capability built in, which can generate electricity.

“The motor controllers then control how fast the electric motors run,” explained Ian Lawrence, Team Leader for Racing Green. “We actually had to design the battery pack ourselves because nothing like it exists in the world. To incorporate technology that has not been used yet was a challenge in itself and perhaps we underestimated the difficulties that the design process would involve. It is an excellent learning curve which only increases year upon year of entering Formula Student.”

Unlike the students at Oxford Brookes, the 1A creation counts towards a group project during their third and fourth years. Although appearing to be an advantage, this can have its cons.

Ian says: “For teams undertaking the work in their spare time, every single one of them wants to be there because they are passionate about the project. It is compulsory here to do a group project, so some people may only be working on the vehicle because they have no choice. But we are fortunate enough to have 50 people helping and everything we learn this year can be put to good use for the team in 2010.”

The motivation for Ian and the Imperial team to enter 1A is similar to that of their Oxford Brookes rivals: “We entered into that category because we wanted to learn about green technology as that is the path Formula One seems to be taking. I am keen to enter the industry myself and to take credit for managing the venture is quite an achievement.”

Last year’s winning entry for 1A was Hertfordshire University, a team that hopes to learn from its experience and return to reclaim its title. Team Leader James Major was keen to adopt a different approach to 2008. He said: “We chose to design a pure electric car which runs on a lithium iron battery because we had demonstrated success using a hydrogen car and wanted to build something new. Work placements are valuable but few companies allow students to have such a hands-on experience and Formula Student provides exactly that. At the moment it is difficult to predict what we will get out of the car in terms of power and the potentials that could go wrong. An electric car needs to be fine-tuned and the current tweaked.”

The last team to compete on home turf is the University of Central Lancashire. Despite their controversial design – they are the only team to build the engine on the side of the racing car – Team Leader Scott Lawley is looking ahead with enthusiasm.

Scott explained: “We are modifying a chassis entered in 2007 to meet 2009 regulations, by using a KPM cylinder engine running on E85 bioethanol, a source of hydrogen. We started looking into possible sources of fuel in September and concluded that bioethanol was the simplest and most cost-effective to use. The fuel is produced using wasting products and is even sold in local garages so it is very accessible. The engine is designed on the side of the car because we feel it helps the performance of the car.”

Andrew Deakin, Head Technical Judge at FS, has high hopes for Class 1A this year: “The rules of 1A allow as many alternative fuels as possible to enter and we make it as fair as possible between the competing fuels. For the first time in FS, sustainability will be taken into account, which opens up a whole new challenge to the competitors. Teams entering 1A will have to overcome more struggles than those building for Class 1, simply because they have wider scope to get it wrong with the amount of technologies available.”