TAFE SA engineers and students need your help to start the six year research and development program which will be the catalyst for the production of plug in electric vehicles in South Australia.
To enable the coordination of this project a new research and development team will be formed and known as the “Solar Spirit of TAFE SA”.
TAFE SA engineers and students aim to start a six year research and development program which will be the catalyst for the production of plug in electric vehicles in South Australia. We are seeking research and development partnerships with industry to provide a market ready capability to a group of manufacturers and produce practical adaptations of their products. Each participating component manufacturer will have a commercially viable product for the production of electric vehicles in South Australia.To enable the coordination of this project a new research and development team will be formed and known as the “Solar Spirit of TAFE SA”.
Maintain the existing Solar Car “Kelly” and make it available for use by a consortium of High Schools with the help of Energy Education Australia(EEA) http://www.energy.edu.au/
Kelly will be tested and adjusted for optimum performance and entered by a team of 20 high school students, trained by previous TAFESA Kelly members, to compete in the Adventure Class of the 2009 World Solar Challenge (http://www.wsc.org.au/
2008 to 2009 engage students in the design of a new solar electric vehicle, the “Solar Spirit” to be entered in World Solar Challenge, 18 to 25 October 2009, 2011 and 2013.
2009 to 2011 plan for the production and building of a new plug-in electric vehicle the “Spirit Sedan” to enter the World Solar Challenge “Technology” class as well as the “Solar Spirit” car (and Kelly if still allowed).
2011 to 2013 plan for the production and building of two roadworthy “Spirit Sedan” electric vehicles to be used as escort support vehicles in World Solar Challenge events.
The TAFE SA Solar Car ‘RAA Kelly’ successfully finished the 2007 World Solar Car Challenge in the top 10 of the Adventure Class.
The morning in Redhill began with a few minutes of sunshine before the sun dissappeared behind a bank of cloud for the rest of the race. As we packed up the camp site and ate our breakfast we debated our strategy on how best to use the remaining battey power to get to Adelaide.
We faced two hills of which the second was steeper than the first so we had to save enough to get into the city if there was to be no more sunshine. As we pushed the solar car back to the road to start for the day, we suffered another puncture and a wheel change was made by the side of the road only a short distance from our starting position.
We set off slowly in a steady climb until just before Snowtown where we increased power to the motor and began building up some downhill speed for the big hill. Just after Lochiel we began the steep climb of our final obstacle which ended with Kelly reaching the top easily and accelerating down the other side. The last 90km to the final control point was basically flat and we motored along at about 70kph conserving the last of our battery power for the run into the city.
Everyone was cheering when we emerged from the vehicles at the final timing stop, but our race was not quite over. We had saved enough to allow our driver to focus on traffic and we had no problems reaching the Torrens Parade Ground. We parked the support vehicles and boarded a minibus while the solar car waited to begin its final leg into Victoria Square. The whole team was there at the finish line cheering as Kelly crossed the line to the sound of the Post Office clock striking 12.
In the evening, some of the team members attended the Lord Mayor’s reception, where we had another opportunity to catch up with the many people we had met in the course of the race. On the Sunday evening we attended the awards ceremony and celebrated the acheivements of all of the teams.
We woke to a gorgeous blue sky and a good charge on the battery this morning.
We passed another team on our way to the Port Augusta control stop.
On the way we faced a very big hill, longer than the one we got stuck on the first day and almost as steep, but we had planned well and with a run up we were able to get over it easily and enjoy the long downhill run on the other side.
Once again the car was able to cruise on the speed limit for long stretches.
At the Port Augusta control stop we came in 14tht overall and while it is difficult at the moment to confirm our position, we are probably in the top ten of the adventure class solar cars.
Unfortunately, we suffered a puncture just as we rolled to a stop under the direction of the marshal. The rules forbid working on the car during the control stop so after the 30 minute wait we had to roll the car out of the marshalling area and change the wheel.
Because we were already safely stopped in a “good” place and had 30 minutes to think about it, it was changed in only a few minutes and we were underway again.
Later in the afternoon we still had good sun and we had been running fast when we reached a long downhill stretch and used the regeneration feature again to put current back into the batteries. There was a problem however, when suddenly the car lost all power and coasted to a stop near the bottom of the hill.
It quickly became apparent the system had shut down the motor to protect the batteries.
Like all good technicians, the first thing we tried was turning it off and turning it on again and we soon had the car going again.
At 5:08pm we arrived at a petrol station at the turn off to Redhill and were made welcome by the proprietor to camp for the evening.
Tomorrow, the final day, begins with bacon and egg sandwiches and coffee from the roadhouse. We expect to be arriving at the last control point at Virginia where official timing for the race ends. We will then proceed down Port Wakefield Road into the city and with luck and good sunshine we will arrive in Victoria Square about lunchtime.
This morning we had to change all four tyres after parking in a patch of bindis overnight. We pulled one bindi thorn out of a tyre and were rewarded with a loud hissing sound as the air came out at 100psi.
Today we travelled 581 km. This is the furthest Kelly has travelled in one day during this year’s event. Our average speed was 77 kph. In the afternoon the car cruised at 110kph for extended periods. We had a safe day as well, no more incidents.
We had a control stop today at Cadney Park and as usual we took advantage of the sun while we were stationary to add charge to the batteries.
As we had been averaging a higher speed, the team that arrived just before us were kind enough to let us go first from the control point.
As it was, they were about 30 minutes in front of us anyway so it didn’t really make much difference to them and it was safer than passing on the road.
In any case, they overtook us again a bit later on down the road, when we experienced delays due to problems with our radio communications.
Problems with batteries in our portable radios meant that the vehicles in our team miscommunicated about a driver change and lost some time while the changeover was reorganised for a second location, although we did manage to keep the car on the road and rolling during the aborted stop.
We finished up in a gigantic truck park on the side of the road 138 km North of Glendambo in the middle of nowhere with our evening brightly lit by the nearly full moon.
While we waited for our chuck wagon team to make dinner we investigated the latest symptoms in an ongoing problem with our sophisticated electronics.
We were pleased to discover that a loose wiring connection was causing a problem and when we removed the offending circuit board we discovered a number of severely cooked components.
It was a real pleasure to sit in a large circle around a big campfire in the moonlit bush.
After dinner we repaired the damage and swapped the circuit board for a spare one we had with us.
This morning we set out under clear blue skies for Alice Springs, still 194km down the road, the battery pack somewhat refreshed after collecting the afternoon and morning sun.
With good sun and energy in the batteries we sat on 60kph for the first hour until the sun was higher and then cranked Kelly up to 80kph. The last 20km into Alice was a steep down hill section, which gave us some experience using regeneration, where we use the motor to slow down the car and pump energy back into the battery pack.
As we approached Alice Springs we were informed that our cruiser towing the gear trailer had rolled over 65 km north of Alice Springs. We were told that everyone was alive but we weren’t sure who was in the car or what injuries they had received.
We arrived in Alice Springs just before 11:30am and discovered we would be held over until 2pm. We left the car to soak up the midday sun and to get a sigificant charge up on the batteries.
As we waited we received more news about the accident and established one occupant was ok and another had some kind of injury. Both were being transported to hospital in an ambulance.
Some of our gear turned up in one of the official’s cars but most of it was being picked up by the remaining support vehicles.
After arranging all of the details for the damaged vehicles and filling out the paperwork, our manager visited the hospital to check on how our comrades were going.
At 2pm we set off from Alice Springs with the battery two thirds full and decided to to make as much distance as possible.
We drove quickly through the hills south of Alice Springs and progressed quickly during the rest of the afternoon. We had the excitement of overtaking another team, a difficult manoeuvre considering we had to get all three of our vehicles past the three vehicles of the other team on a winding road with road trains going in both directions.
We caught up with another team late in the afternoon and were informed they had heard about the accident with our support vehicle. They kindly offered us hospitality and later in the evening they loaned us a barbecue.
As 5pm approached we found ourselves too far from the next campsite we had marked on our gps system and decided to park on the side of the road. We found an area where we could safely get the car off the road just in time. Even so, the area was covered with bindis and we got several tire punctures in our fragile tires. We were in the middle of no where with a solar car, two sedans and no bedding or shelter or food so some of us went to the nearest town to get some supplies while the rest of us built a camp fire. The others soon returned with bbq meat packs and some chips and drinks. Some of the team visited the “Christine” the Aurora team entry which was 2 kilomeres up the road. They were fantasic, providing us with a bbq and utensil . With the barbecue we borrowed we cooked our dinner.
At about 11pm the other vehicles arrived and we learned that our team mates who were in the accident were going to be ok. One had returned to us only a little bruised while the other had some stable injuries from which he would recover and was being held in the hospital overnight. He was scheduled to be flown back to Adelaide the next day.
TAFE SA RAA Kelly Solar Car is still progressing extremely well, averaging 72.6 km/h, and is expected to be close to Port Wakefield today (by 5pm stopping time)
the car is at present 5th in the Adventure class and in 13th position overall and is expected to be arriving at Victoria Square, Sat morning (27/10/07) around 11 am, so if you’re free come down and welcome home the team. Check out the podcast of the 891 radio interview last night
We had a good start getting away on time at 8am to set off for the Tenant Creek control stop.
Wanting to get to Alice Springs today we tried to maintain a good speed but we hit clouds. Lots of clouds.
A weather front from the west covered the whole sky and just got darker and darker. We had much less energy available from the array than we had hoped for and we had to slow down to avoid draining the batteries too much.
As it became apparent that we would not get to Alice Springs by 5pm we bagan looking for alternative stops.
Coming down one of the hills into a blind turn, we were overtaken by a road train swerving in so quickly after passing the solar car we thought it would wipe it off the road. The only person who wasnt terrified was the driver of the solar car!
After travelling further under a patchy sky with a lot of cloud, we were in a situation where we had a choice between stopping early or continuing and risk draining the batteries.
We decided to stop at Ti Tree 193km short of Alice Springs for the night and arrived well before the 5pm finishing time to set the array up at an angle to collect the afternoon sun. We then discovered we had been running on underinflated front tyres for some of the day which may have accounted for some of the extra drain on the battery pack. Hoping for better weather tomorrow.
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