Chem-e-car

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The University of
Florida's 2013 AIChE
Regional Conference
Chem-E Car
Chem-E-Car is an
annual college
competition for
students majoring in
Chemical
Engineering.
According to the
competition's official
rules, students must
design small-scale
automobiles that
operate by chemical
means, along with a
poster describing their research.[1] During the competition, they must drive their car a
fixed distance (judged on how close the car is to the finish line) down a wedge-shaped
course in order to demonstrate its capabilities. In addition to driving a specified distance,
they must also hold a payload of 0-500mL of water.[2] The exact distance (15-30m) and
payload is revealed to the participants one hour before the competition.[2] The size of
designed cars cannot exceed certain specifications and cars must operate using "green"
methods, which do not release any pollution or waste in the form of a visible liquid or
gas, such as exhaust.[dubious discuss] This competition is hosted in the United States by AIChE
(American Institute of Chemical Engineers),[3] and winners of the competitions receive
various awards, depending on how they placed.

Contents

[hide]
1 Awards
1 1.1 Past winners
2 Rules
3 Poster
4 Example Reactions
5 References
Awards[edit]
Regional competition awards (funded by AIChE)[3]
1st place $200
2nd place $100
National competition awards (funded by Chevron)[3]
1st place $2,000
2nd place $1,000
3rd place $500
Past winners[edit]
2013 - University of Tulsa
2012 Cornell University
2011 University of Puerto Rico at Mayagez
2010 Cornell University
2009 Northeastern University
2008 Cornell University
2007 Cooper Union
2006 University of Puerto Rico at Mayagez
2005 Tennessee Tech University
2004 University of Tulsa
2003 University of Dayton
2002 University of Kentucky, Paducah
2001 Colorado State University
2000 University of Akron
1999 University of Michigan
Rules[edit]
The competition has a few basic rules:[1]
No matter how your car runs, it must be friendly to the environment and have no
visible gas/liquid emissions[dubious discuss]
The dimensions of the car must be no larger than 40 cm x 30 cm x 18 cm
(shoebox-sized)

 The stopping mechanism has to be chemically controlled

No commercial batteries can directly power the car
The car can't exceed $2000 in construction
Poster[edit]
Each car is required to have a poster board explaining how the car runs (power source),
some of its specific features, and how it's environmentally friendly. Judges score these
posters on four different things:[4] the description of the chemical reaction and power
source (20%), the creativity of the design and its unique features (20%), environment and
safety features (40%), and the overall quality of the poster, along with the team's
presentation (20%). Only posters judged with a score of 70% or above may move on to
the performance competition.
Example Reactions[edit]
Some ideas for chemical reactions have been using pressurized air (creating oxygen
through a chemical reaction and allowing it to build pressure) or using electricity created
by the dissolving of metals in certain acids (basic battery). One pedantic idea by Cooper
Union was to use a fuel cell[5] (a cell that converts fuel to electricity via an
electrochemical reaction) to power their car.
Winners in this competition aren't determined by whether their car is faster or more
powerful, but how accurate their chemical reaction to stop their vehicle is. This is quite
difficult, especially when the load the car must carry and distance it has to travel are
unknown until the day of the competition. So teams must find a method that is flexible
enough to fit a range of payloads and distances, and reliable enough so it doesn't fail with
real world variables (temperature, humidity, etc.). Winners in the past have had a variety
of ways of dealing with this problem, such as an "iodine clock" reaction.[2] This reaction
works by using two clear solutions (many variations) that change color after a time delay
(the exact time can be found experimentally). When applied to the car, the team used a
simple photo sensor that could tell when the solutions changed color, at which point the
cars power would shut off by cutting the circuit.[6] While the process itself is somewhat
simple, accounting for the unknown variables like the payload and distance is quite
difficult.