NTU students excel at Shell Eco-marathon Europe
The Nanyang Venture I, an eco-friendly car designed and built by a team of 25 students from NTU's School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) and School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE), wowed many at the Shell Eco-marathon Europe 2009 held in Germany, from 7 to 9 May 2009. The NTU eco-car turned in the best results of the Singapore entries on the first day of the two-day race on 8 May 2009. At the end of the final day, according to the results posted on the Shell Eco-Marathon 2009 website, NTU's was the only car flying the Singapore flag high, coming in 4th in the Prototype (Solar) Category (out of 8 in that category), and clinching second place of the 'Safety Award' in the 'Special Awards' category.
The jury said that it was a "remarkable achievement for a team which has participated in the Shell Eco-marathon Europe for the first time this year". In particular, the jury singled out special features such as an automatic emergency battery shut-down in case of an overload, an integral driver safety system to protect the driver in case of frontal impact, and a cooling system for the battery to prevent overheating, as note-worthy.
Powered by a 4.5 sq m panel of silicon photovoltaic cells which convert sunlight into energy, the 3.5 m by 1.3 m by 0.9m three-wheeled NTU car achieved 103 km per kWh of energy, producing more energy than it consumed.
This year, 199 participating teams from 29 countries vied to develop and build fuel-efficient vehicles that travel farther while using less energy. Eight out of the NTU team of 25 students, led by MAE's Associate Professor Ng Heong Wah, were at the race held at the EuroSpeedway in Lausitz, Germany.
Congratulations to students and faculty of the MAE-EEE team!
Click to read more: The Straits Times (9 May 2009, page C28)
