City students bag 1st prize for designing solar vehicle
Team of 33 from Sinhgad Institute took part in National Solar Vehicle Challenge 2019
With fuel prices soaring through the roof, vehicle owners and commuters have a hard time managing costs. Now, students from Sinhgad College of Engineering, Wadgaon, have got together to design a sustainable car that claims to run on solar energy. Designing this vehicle has bagged the enterprising students a first prize in the National Solar Vehicle Challenge 2019 held in Bengaluru.
It took at least eight months for the students to design this vehicle that runs at a stretch once charged through solar energy. At least 80 teams from various colleges had participated in the contest held on March 1 where these students from Pune bagged the first prize for designing this lightweight vehicle and were declared secondposition holder in the overall championship. Thirtythree students, who were part of team Hyperion, worked on the solar vehicle named Infinite 3.0.
Gaurav Raut, a third-year mechanical engineering student from Wadgaon campus who worked on suspension, said, “It was a complete team effort, wherein we distributed the work among various students as per their area of interest.”
He added, “Once our proposal got approved, we went ahead with the execution. Once the automobile is charged for a good 12 hours, it can run for 85-90km at a speed of 25km/hr.”
Akshay Chavan, another student of mechanical engineering from Sinhgad College, headed the team. He said, “While the core team comprised a total of 33 students, we would also like to extend our gratitude to our faculty members who guided us in our venture all along.”
Talking about the design of the car, Chavan said, “We used aero-dynamic technique, which makes the vehicle air-resistant. This helps in improving the speed of the vehicle. We also did quite a bit of brainstorming on the shape of the vehicle to make it less bulky.”
Students also used flexible solar panels instead of solid panels, which reduced the weight of the vehicle from 17kg to 3kg. The total weight of the car was 153kg, which the students worked on. Raut said, “By designing such vehicles that work on solar energy, we aim to make India a hub of renewable energy.”
Amit Malhotra, event head, National Solar Vehicle Challenge, said, “What bagged the Sinhgad students the prizes are especially the light weight of vehicle and their high spirits. During their commute, the vehicle was minutely damaged, but what we liked was that the students managed to repair the vehicle well in time before competition.”
Source: punemirror.indiatimes
