The Nanyang Venture II, an eco-friendly solar car designed and built by a 23-member NTU team comprising undergraduates, alumni, faculty and staff from School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) and School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) successfully completed the Word Solar Challenge on 31 October 09. The NTU team led by MAE’s Professor Ng Heong Wah was Singapore’s sole representative at the race, held from 24 to 31 October 09 in Australia.
The race, which was flagged off in Darwin last Sunday, saw teams travelling through the tropical rainforests of the north, across the savannah country, and through the desert to the fertile coastal plains of the south, finishing in Adelaide.
Covering some gruelling 3,000 kilometres, the solar cars raced for nine hours each day, with team members camping by the road at night to rest and recover. Like its predecessor, much thought was put into the design of the Nanyang Venture II.
Safety features such as roll bars minimise the driver's injury in the event of a crash; a dual-circuit braking system ensures that if one brake fails, the other will still work. Besides using lightweight and long-lasting lithium-ion cells courtesy of Panasonic Singapore, titanium bolts and nuts replaced steel ones, ensuring that the car frame was light and fatigue resistive.
Coming in at 11th place after Stanford (USA), the NTU team has performed creditably in its maiden appearance in the race. Well done, team!
To read more about NTU’s participation in the race, click on the following links:
About the Solar Car Initiative
The NTU solar car initiative started in 2006 as a student-initiated project. The first prototype was built in 2007 by over 20 undergraduates as part of their final-year project. Then, the students were supervised by a group of faculty advisers led by MAE’s Professor David Butler. MAE alumnus Mr Ng Yong Seng was among those who drove the project with passion during its early years.
