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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gCS1WvUwhE]AVL Powertrain Engineering supports the EcoCAR Challenge because the initiative is helping prepare the engineers of the future. AVL is demonstrating its commitment to the industry by delivering ongoing, hands-on education to tomorrow’s engineers and leaders. Recently, Inside the Green Garage caught up with Ray Corbin, president of AVL Powertrain Engineering, to get his insights on the importance of the EcoCAR Challenge.
Tags: AVL, Engineering, powertrain, SAE, sustainable vehicle technology
Pictured is 90-year old Ed Cloutier, a former WWII cargo plane pilot from Bootjack, MI
As part of their senior design project, six fellow students at MTU designed and built an all-terrain vehicle that makes the outdoors accessible to wheelchair-bound people. The working prototype is about 75% of the way toward being a production chair.
The advisor to the six-person senior design team is also the advisor to the EcoCAR Challenge team, and he suggested that they lend their expertise to help finish the project.
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Tags: EcoCAR, Michigan Technological University, off-road wheelchair, PSAT
Simulation plays a very important role in a vehicle development process as it allows for development engineers to prove out the concepts they invent before building an actual vehicle. It allows one to test ideas in a safe environment by simulating situations that would be risky if done with a real vehicle.
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Calvin Leung, UWAFT team member, talks with 2009 Canadian International Auto Show attendees
UWAFT also recognizes the importance of educating the public on green technology with the hope that they make informed and educated decision. One particular highlight of our outreach efforts is our participation in 2009 Canadian International Auto Show, which attracted over 250,000 attendees.
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Tags: alternative fuels, Challenge X, Chevrolet Equinox, emissions, fuel cell, green technology, greenhouse gas, hybrid vehicle, Hydrogen, Universithy of Waterloo, Zero emission
In this installment of the Green Garage blog, we speak with Paul Mandeltort from National Instruments. As a former competition student, Paul provides unique insight to the core problems that EcoCAR teams are working to solve. Today’s teams are challenged with bringing incredibly advanced designs to competition in record time. Paul discusses how students are meeting the challenge by using NI tools to build “virtual cars” using an advanced industry technique known as hardware-in-the-loop simulation.
Tags: EcoCAR, Engineering, GM, HIL, SAE Congress, virtual cars
EcoEagles members Vincent Sabatini and Kamau Kelly talk to event attendees
The event featured many local vendors of “green” technology for home and businesses, including solar panels, low-electricity LED lighting and non-toxic chemicals for industrial cleaning. Local car dealerships displayed hybrid vehicles and answered questions about vehicle performance and environmental impact.
The EcoEagles team was a headline presenter at the event, which focused heavily on environmental education for the greater Daytona Beach community. Team members were on hand to talk about environmental issues, hybrid vehicle technology, ways for everybody to be more “green” and, of course, about what the team is doing, both for the competition and in the community in general.
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Tags: clean vehicle technology, Earth Day, EcoEagles, Embry-Riddle, green, green technology, hybrid vehicle
Click on Brochure to Register for EcoCAR Camp
At Missouri University of Science and Technology, we’ve developed a new “equation”, i.e. E³= C, which stands for Energy, the Environment and Education equals Civilization. That formula is more than a clever play on Einstein’s theory of relativity. It also forms the foundation of our energy and sustainability initiatives at Missouri S&T. And, just as Einstein’s equation E=MC2 radically changed the way we view the universe, so too is E³= C is altering the way Missouri S&T approaches matters of energy production and conservation and environmental sustainability, i.e. “Green.”
Currently, Missouri S&T is building a renewable energy facility “E³Commons” which includes a hydrogen fueling station, a renewable energy power park (solar PV / wind / hydrogen fuel cell) and a student EcoCAR Team garage for the Missouri S&T EcoCAR team’s vehicle. The EcoCAR Challenge is a three-year collegiate competition that challenges universities across North America to build a sustainable vehicle utilizing different advanced technology solutions—each team will eventually integrate their plans into an actual vehicle, a 2009 Saturn Vue. The team was selected to design a cutting-edge hydrogen fuel cell plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (FC PHEV).
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Tags: conservation, plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, Sustainability
See Recovery.gov For More Info
So, we saw a little bit of ourselves in the DOE announcement that it’s devoting $786.5M to “help improve biofuels reliability and overcome key technical challenges, with the goal of creating third-generation biofuels such as renewable gasoline, diesel and jet fuels.” Granted, the EcoCAR Challenge isn’t part of that $786M, but we’d like to think we’re contributing to the bigger picture.
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Tags: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, biofuels, DOE, E85, energy, ethanol, renewable fuels
EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge today announced that three of the competition’s Platinum Sponsors, dSPACE, National Instruments and The MathWorks, are providing more than $2,300,000 of cutting edge hardware and software tools to help student teams design the green cars of the future. EcoCAR teams learn real-world automotive engineering practices through the use of Model-Based Design and graphical system design technologies that include hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and software-in-the-loop (SIL), which help to bring the students’ vehicle visions from concept to the road. Students will unveil their final designs at the competition finals in Toronto on Friday, June 12, 2009.
Read the full social media release here.
Watch Related Videos About HIL Below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAc9nEhrd7c
Tags: automotive engineering, dSPACE, HIL, Model-based Design, SIL, The Mathworks
Team member Emily Simmons hands Dara Stillman (tree) flower packets on Earth Day
The team was also on hand during the signing of the EPA’s Sustainability Partnership Program. Penn State was the first university to join this partnership, which signifies the University’s commitment to a reduction in energy use and recycling efforts. After the signing, EPA officials talked with team members about the EcoCAR and Penn State’s efforts in the competition. Many officials seemed pleased with what we have accomplished and hope to work with us in the future.
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Tags: Earth Day, EPA, Penn State, Sustainability