In case you didn’t see us on SAAT, see below for a quick recap and check out our new YouTube channel for our Vlogs!

Day 1 - We were fighting with the weather (heavy fog that morning!) as we headed out from our shop at the University of Calgary, but once we were out of city limits, Jack took the first turn in Schulich Axiom as we headed to Big Valley. Our first school visit at Big Valley School was great as Jordyn and Susie presented and the race team answered student questions as they came out to see Schulich Axiom. The residents of Big Valley were incredibly welcoming and we got to check out the local museum, roundhouse, and grain elevator too; it was definitely a great start to the tour!

Day 2 -We packed up from our camp site in Big Valley and headed to Sherwood Park! We had beautiful weather for our solar car drivers and had Steph, Susie, and Ian up for a drive. We actually have four team members trained to drive solar; this is so we can switch out drivers before they feel fatigued. This really comes into play during our races where (for example the World Solar Challenge) where we can drive from 8am – 5pm and then must stop for each night of the week long race. In the intense conditions of the Australian Outback, we want to make sure our drivers are able to focus even if we can’t stop for breaks. We follow the same protocol for our tour to help train our members.

Day 3 - We started out the day with a school visit in Barrhead (requested by a Solar Team alum!) and then headed to Fox Creek for a special event. The students at Fox Creek School received a BP A+ for Energy grant to convert a VW Beetle to an electric powered car. We didn’t really know what to expect when we arrived, but it was an amazing project! Of course it seemed only fitting that we test up the school’s “Juiced Up Beetle” against Schulich Axiom, so after our school visit presentation and viewing we headed down the street for a race. It was a close race too; Axiom tripped on the starting line, so it took a second to take off while the Juiced Up Beetle was leaving us in the dust! But our solar driver, Jack, didn’t hold back and overtook the Beetle. It all made for a very exciting race, click here for our Vlog including the race!

Day 4 -  The race team was still excited from our race the day before as we headed to Sylvan Lake and Sundre for school visits (and the fact that we got to stay in cabins for the night instead of camping in the cold didn’t hurt either). One thing that can be surprising is that Schulich Axiom is street legal, we drive Axiom on public roads and highways to get from school to school during our tour. The stipulation on this though is that we drive in a convoy: a lead car in front and a chase car staying close behind our solar car. This is really for safety so that other motorists don’t get too close to Axiom, keeping in mind seeing our solar car zipping down the highway can be quite a sight.

Day 5 – We finished up our tour with an impromptu visit to Cochrane as we got to have an informal viewing with students from the Elementary, Junior High, and High School there. Cochrane is actually, our very own solar driver and engineer, Ian’s home town, so it was awesome to be able to stop in. From there we were off to Turner Valley were we actually got to give a community presentation at the library as the local school had a day off. Was great to be able to see students of various grades, their parents, and grandparents come by to see Schulich Axiom and ask us questions. From there we headed off for our team retreat (in perfect timing too as the next morning we battled the snow and slush close to Bragg Creek). On Saturday we even gave another impromptu viewing to a couple groups of boy scouts as they spotted our trailer!

All in all the Schulich Axiom Alberta Tour went off amazingly! It was great to be able to visit  numerous schools and be greeted with curious and engaged students at each stop! The team sincerely thanks all the schools and towns visited for their warm welcome. Of course this tour would not have been possible without our Generation 4 sponsors and we’d like to thank our Generation 3: Schulich Axiom project sponsors again for their previous support as we move forward onto our new generation.

Jodi Bengtson

The trip is a chance to test the vehicle on the open road and to educate Albertans about the possibilities of alternative energy sources such as solar power.

“We regularly visit elementary, junior high and high schools in Calgary and this tour allows us to reach many other schools in the province,” explains Jodi Bengtson, communications manager and race team member of the University of Calgary Solar Team. “It’s very rewarding to answer questions from students and to watch their faces when they see our solar car for the first time. We hope this gives them a spark of inspiration to think about what they can do to be more environmentally friendly.”

The team will visit the following schools:

Apr 30   1:00 p.m. – Big Valley School, Big Valley

May 1    1:30 p.m. – Lakeland Ridge School, Sherwood Park

May 2    9:00 a.m. – Barrhead Elementary School, Barrhead

1:30 p.m. – Fox Creek School, Fox Creek

May 3    9:30 a.m. – CP Blakely Elementary, Sylvan Lake

2:00 p.m. – Sundre High School, Sundre

May 4    2:00 p.m. – 3:30pm Turner Valley Elementary, Turner Valley

The team hopes to inspire young people to take on projects like the one at Fox Creek School, where students have converted a 1974 Volkswagen Beetle into an electric car using solar power. During the visit to the school, members of the University of Calgary Solar Team will meet the Fox Creek School students and even put the Beetle to the test alongside the Axiom.

“We’re charged up and ready to show Schulich Axiom to Albertans and to inspire school kids to think big about sustainability.” says solar car driver Susanna Kubik. “I’m looking forward to getting the solar car out on the open road!”

Get daily updates and a map of the 2012 Schulich Axiom Alberta Tour route at www.calgarysolarteam.ca.  Visit our Facebook and Twitter to follow us on the tour!

For safety reasons, when photographing or filming the car en route, no vehicle may come between the Schulich Axiom and the vehicle directly in front or behind it in the convoy.

April 30th Route : http://bit.ly/yTByQZ

For additional details please contact:

Jodi Bengtson
Communications Manager
University of Calgary Solar Team
communications@calgarysolarteam.ca
403-978-2456

As Jordyn mentioned in the last post, the entire team has been busy preparing for the annual Schulich Axiom Alberta Tour and specifically the Race Logistics team. The Race Logistics team is responsible for coordinating all activities that take place during any race or tour that the team participates in. This year, we chose to tour Alberta with the primary goal to educate communities throughout Alberta on solar energy and the potential that exists within the green energy industry. In previous years, we did this tour as a way to test our solar cars prior to competing in a race.

Lots of work goes on behind the scenes of any race or tour we do. We take the safety of our team members very seriously. Ensuring that our drivers are properly trained and understand all safety procedures is always a priority. We go to great lengths to ensure that the entire team understands what responsibilities each member has during any type of emergency situations. We run several practice scenarios and do test convoy training to ensure everyone knows their role in emergency situations.

If you’re in the area, keep an eye out for us and even stop by and say hi! We will be visiting the following locations on the tour:

April 30 – Big Valley

May 1 – Sherwood Park

May 2 – Barrhead & Fox Creek

May 3 – Sylvan Lake & Sundre

May 4 – Turner Valley

Once we return from SAAT, the team will begin planning for the 2013 World Solar Challenge. Part of the reason why this event is such a big milestone for our team is due in part to the fact that we must begin planning for the race more than one year in advance.

Make sure you keep an eye out for our team as we tour Alberta next week!

Brigitte & Susie

Race Logistics Team

For any Media inquiries please contact Jodi Bengtson at communications@calgarysolarteam.ca

Further details about our tour will be released on Monday!

I only have a few updates for you this week. It’s been a very busy week school-wise for the team as we are all handing in our final projects and preparing for finals.

Last week we attended the Calgary French International School and showed off Schulich Axiom. It was a really fun day and, as usual, we had some awesome conversations with the students. We also attended the U of C Philanthropy event on campus.

We have a few exciting events coming up that I will update you all on:

April 27th – Our team will be attending the Canadian Undergraduate Technology Conference. This one is in the EEEL building on U of C Campus during the morning. Our car will be on display.

April 30th – We leave for our Schulich Axiom Alberta Tour! The Gen4 Team will be taking Schulich Axiom (the car that just returned from Australia) out for a week of school visits around Alberta. Stay tuned for more details on this big event!

Schulich Axiom topshell charging during SAAT 2011

At our business meeting last week we did a lot of planning for the summer. For accounting, our goal is to have all team reimbursements settled before the end of the semester so we can enter summer with a clean slate and a new process for reimbursements. Our race logistics team is busy planning SAAT and will have to start thinking about WSC 2013 during the summer (early, but it takes a lot of planning to be successful in such a challenging race). Our sponsorship team is currently working on a number of sponsorship prospects. Recently the Shell SEEL fund  has approved us for $10 000. Thank you Shell! Our communications team has lots planned. I’m sure you’ll be hearing from the Communications team in the future about the events that we’ll be involved in.

The car at Hole 11 at the 2011 Chancellor's Challenge Golf Tournament

Today marks the last day of classes for students at the University of Calgary. At this time, our team will be taking a two-week break from working on the car so that we can focus on studying for final exams. Talk to you all soon!

Along with the design of our Gen 4 car, the mech team is busy with lots of other things. As you all know, we will be going on tour at the beginning of May which means that Axiom will need to be in tip top shape. After an intense race across the Australian Outback, we have some housekeeping to do. This includes cleaning the interior and exterior, bleeding the brakes, replacing the brake pads, fixing the fairing door push rods, rebuilding our CSIRO motor and making some minor repairs to our aeroshell.

(Mech team members Brandon and Austin getting the brakes ready for parking lot testing)

After our first day of parking lot training, we were having some minor malfunctions with our motor. But, with some hard work and long hours from the electrical team, Axiom is up and running again. This means our new drivers will be back out in the parking lot to continue with their training.

(Our new fairing door push rod)

Matt Johnson

Mechanical Engineering Manager

For some, the last few weeks have been dedicated to planning the plug production and mold production procedure; an undoubtedly tedious process. The team in charge of aeroshell design is also working with the university to create a rapid prototyped model of the Generation 4 shell. With this, we are hoping to test it in a wind tunnel recently made available to us; rest assured that there will be more things coming from this in the near future.

Also, the electrical team is very close to making the initial purchase for our first batch of solar cells! Once received, they will be tested against our current encapsulating and layup methods to ensure we have a streamlined process that makes the most of each cell. After that, integration of solar cell modules into a composite body can begin.

Schulich Axiom 2 (front) with solar cells embedded onto its composite body from Spring 2011 – Schulich Axiom 1 (rear) with recessed/glued cells.

Lastly, the Schulich Axiom Alberta Tour (SAAT) is creeping up to our doorstep. Matt and Dan (our Mechanical and Electrical Managers respectively) are beginning to pull things together to prepare for our week long adventure around central and southern Alberta.  Race specification inventory items are being gathered, checklists are being made, and orders are being placed through to ensure that Axiom is prepared to hit the road again.

For this Saturday, Axiom will be placed into road-ready mode as she jumps into parking lot training with our newest drivers for SAAT. Congratulations to our members Ian Haigh, Jack Sreekumar, Stephanie Hladik, and Susie Kubik! They will carry on as drivers for Axiom and continue to educate the community during SAAT this May.

May 2011 SAAT Photo – Schulich Axiom cruising through Alberta

Mico Madamesila

Project Co-Chair, Engineering

Over the last couple months the sponsorship team has been hard at work executing our new sponsorship strategy as we move into Generation 4.

The many new members of the sponsorship team are finally having an opportunity to experience their first meetings with potential sponsors. These opportunities are great for the team because it allows them to obtain first-hand experience in presenting themselves in a professional setting as well as creating persuasive presentations to promote the Solar Team. They have been working with the more experienced members of our team to quantify our team’s accomplishments to better showcase the impressive feats our team has achieved in our first 3 generations of solar cars.

Another key accomplishment for our team over the last month was completely reinventing the Solar Team’s sponsorship package. The sponsorship matrix went from a very rigid, simple and pre-packaged benefit structure used in years past, to our new customized credit system; allowing our team to cater to our sponsors’ ideal benefits much easier. In addition, we updated the content of the package to reflect the new accomplishments and milestones our team achieved during the Generation 3 project.  Overall, there has been a positive response from everyone who has seen it.

Hopefully, the hard work our team has been putting towards our great cause will lead us to the Generation 4 lead sponsor in the near future! Sponsorship of the Calgary Solar Team offers organizations the opportunity to be a part of a world-class project; a project that strives to develop cutting edge sustainable technologies, while also engaging and educating the communities of Alberta.

To view our sponsorship opportunities click the following link: 2012 Solar Team Sponsorship Package

Dan Christie

Sponsorship Manager

For the first week of May the race team will be touring Alberta with Schulich Axiom to visit schools and towns across the province. During the school year it can be difficult for the team to get out of Calgary for school visits and events, so this is an exciting opportunity to be able to reach beyond our home ground.

Mico and Ed giving a school visit presentation during SAAT 2011

Our Race Logistics Team (along with other sub-teams and our School Visit Coordinator) are working hard to finalize arrangements for the tour route and the schools we will be visiting. The Race Team is gearing up for the tour too with our first (official) race team meeting this Saturday! We’ve been planning for the tour for some time now, but it will be exciting to get the ball rolling on our race team briefings and preparation with the tour approaching quickly. I even hear the drivers may be doing some parking lot testing Saturday, I will definitely have to share that with you! Final details will be announced before our tour in April, so check back with us to see if we will be driving through your area!

Schulich Axiom driving in SAAT 2011

In years past, we have used a provincial tour as a means of testing our solar cars for upcoming races, but this tour has a whole new focus: spread education about sustainable energy!  Since we are currently designing our new Generation 4 solar car, we won’t be participating in the American Solar Challenge (ASC). Although we could enter Schulich Axiom in the race again (we competed in ASC in 2010, coming in at 6th place and taking home the Mechanical Engineering and Sportsmanship awards) participating in a race during this period would take away a great deal of resources from designing our new car. Preparing and participating in a race takes a great deal of man hours from the race team and its support members, which are many of our senior members and managers, so it would make for a substantial amount of lost time (not to mention the financial requirements for a race which would have came right as our sponsorship team was approaching sponsors for our new generation). So with this in mind, we aren’t testing Schulich Axiom, but rather focusing on school visits and our educational program. Personally, I’m very excited for this opportunity, as the Communications Manager, I pretty much live and breathe our school visits and events so it’s going to be incredibly fun to have a week packed full of school visits!

Let us know what you think of the tour, what you think should be included in our school visit presentations (we’re currently updating them!), and if you’re a Solar Team supporter from outside of Calgary, we’d like to know where! Be sure to check back here (or on our facebook and twitter pages) for more information about SAAT 2012 as we release it.

Jodi Bengtson

Communications Manager

After a 5 hour review, we decided to unwind with some soccer.

On the electrical side of things:

After a stellar recruitment, the electrical team now has nine new faces, making the electrical team 13 members strong.

We have divided ourselves into 4 subteams: Battery Pack / Battery Protection System (BPS), Dashboard, Central Communications System (CCS) and Array.

Battery Pack / Battery Protection System:

The Battery team is currently looking into battery pack cooling to increase the efficiency of our battery pack. They are testing passive vs. active cooling systems. That is to say heat sinks vs. fans. At the same time they are doing an overhaul on the BPS to incorporate battery pack balancing while at the same time, decreasing the size of the BPS boards.

Dashboard:

We have decided to add a dashboard/tablet display to our car to give the driver important information on an easy to read display. This will incorporate a tablet that connects wirelessly to our central communications systems. So far, preliminary functionality and a rough GUI have been designed.

Central Communications System:
CCS is an overhaul of what used to be our SuperBoard. The CCS team has reworked the board to be 37% of the original size of the SuperBoard while maintaining the same functionality. Size is not the only difference in this new design; the new wireless communications will allow multiple devices to gather information from the CCS. This will allow us to connect our dashboard and telemetry computer to the CCS simultaneously.

Array:

The array guys have been hard at work figuring out new encapsulating methods for solar cells as well as formulating an array shootout for these new methods. The biggest question we want to answer is should our encapsulation texturize our array.

Dan Benavides
Electrical Manager

It isn’t often that we get the chance to have the whole team interact with our sponsors and supporters. We have over 40 members on the team, 11 previous (Generation 3: Schulich Axiom) educational and corporate sponsors, and numerous supporters from the U of C, in particular from the Schulich School of Engineering and Haskayne School of Business, so it takes a great effort to bring everyone together at once! Despite the challenges, it’s a great opportunity for every member to meet the people who sponsor, support, and advocate for the team and let these supporters know what we are up to. From personal experience, being on the team allows for an incredible level of experiential learning and it’s great to let our supporters know this as the project wouldn’t be possible without them.

Now, our previous sponsors and supporters got the inside scoop about our plans for Generation 4, but we don’t want to spoil the surprise for you! Keep in touch with the team through this blog, Facebook, or Twitter to hear about what we are up to as we execute our plans.

Jodi Bengtson

Communications Manager