Recently, the 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Student Conference was concluded in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Annual Student Conference consists of four days of career information, social events, and competitions.
The Chem-E-Car team from Tianjin University with the work “Pegasus”, won the “Golden Tyre Award” and the “SAChE Safety Award” in the AIChE’s annual Chem-E-Car Competition. In this competition, the Tianjin University team was placed 12 among 40 competing teams worldwide, ranking top in China and second in Asia.
AIChE’s annual Chem-E-Car Competition engages college students in designing and constructing a car powered by a chemical energy source, that will safely carry a specified load over a given distance and stop. The competition, which involves multiple regional competitions and a final competition at the Annual Student conference, increases awareness of the chemical engineering discipline among the public, industry leaders, educators, and other students.
Tianjin University’s entry “Pegasus” took the Chinese traditional carriage as the prototype. It used 3D printing technology and was painted in watercolors. The work not only showcases the beauty of Chinese classical art but also combines Greek mythological images, which endows Pegasus with the symbolic meaning of purity and beauty. The whole car’s power and controlling system provided by chemical reactions was intricately and rigorously designed, ensuring absolute security and user-environment friendliness.
This year is the second year Tianjin University has participated in the Chem-E-Car competition. Their works have featured innovation and simplification in appearance and principle. The car adopted a zinc-air battery and an iodine clock as the power and controlling system. As well, they modified the traditional zinc-air battery through filter paper liquid absorbance and adopted a sandwich structure. Furthermore, methyl orange was added to create a new color changing process for the once-color-changing iodine clock, which realized the autostart of the Chem-E-Car.
By: Jin Chunyan, Xu Hui
Editors: Sun Xiaofang and Ross Colquhoun
