Challenge X team fares well at national competition

Challenge X team fares well at national competition

Credit: Roy Feldman Penn State students Ari Giovagnoli, left, Tim Cleary and Matt Shirk, and faculty adviser Gary Neal, work on charging the air conditioning system on their Challenge X Equinox at GM's Desert Proving Ground during the 2006 Challenge X competition in Mesa, Arizona. For more photos, click on the image above.

University Park, Pa. -- The Penn State hybrid vehicle team finished in fifth place overall among 17 university teams nationwide in the Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable Mobility competition in Mesa, Ariz., from May 30-June 8. Challenge X is a three-year U.S. Department of Energy and corporate-sponsored advanced vehicle technology competition. For photos, check http://live.psu.edu/still_life/2006_06_14_challengex/index.html online.

"Record high temperatures (over 100 degrees F every day, with tarmac temperatures exceeding 150 degrees F) placed a severe strain on all of the vehicles," said Dan Haworth, professor of mechanical engineering and the team's faculty adviser.

"Penn State competed in and successfully completed every event," said Haworth. "In addition to the fifth-place overall finish, Penn State took third place in the Freescale Semiconductor Award (best design and use of microprocessor hardware and software) and was one of six teams selected to participate in the Media Day Ride-and-Drive Event, based on our innovative powertrain design and robust vehicle operation."

The three years of Challenge X are designed to follow a realistic vehicle development process. The first year (2005) emphasized modeling, simulation and technical reports: there was no vehicle. The second year (this year) emphasized a "mule" vehicle with functioning hybrid powertrain, and agreement between predicted and actual vehicle performance. The final year (2007) will emphasize powertrain refinements and consumer acceptability.

"While many students contributed through the year," added Haworth, "I especially want to recognize those who attended this year's competition: Gary Neal (faculty adviser), Eric Reischer (technical adviser), Matt Shirk (team leader), Brian Herrold, Justin Ellis, Tim Cleary, Joe Becker, Jeremy Jones, Ari Giovagnoli, Joe Rochinski and Nick Trotta."

Criteria for evaluation during the eight-day competition involved energy use and emissions goals, vehicle utility and performance, engineering and K-12 education outreach.

The Penn State team replaced its vehicle's original gasoline V6 engine with a rail turbo-diesel engine mated to a continuously variable automatic transmission. The engine and transmission work together with an electric motor powered by a 300-volt lithium ion battery pack. The vehicle is a parallel diesel-electric hybrid with an all-wheel-drive system that works similarly to that found in the stock Equinox.

First-place finisher Virginia Tech's vehicle was a split parallel hybrid with two electric motors that runs on E85 ethanol/gas blend. University of Wisconsin-Madison was second, with a through-the-road parallel biodiesel electric hybrid with diesel 1.9-L turbo-charged engine. Mississippi State was third with a split-parallel, through-the-road hybrid electric vehicle that runs on B20 biodiesel. Ohio State placed fourth. It also is noteworthy that the Penn State team's significant achievement was accomplished from a very basic garage facility, located at the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute on the University Park campus, as compared to multi-million dollar facilities available to some of the teams in the competition.

The competition organizers are based at Argonne National Laboratory, with sponsorship from the lead corporate sponsor, GM, and other competition-level sponsors. Local team resources and support were provided by ESD Electronics Inc., the Lubrizol Corp., Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection through its Alternative Fuels Incentive Grant program, Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, Mid-Atlantic Universities Transportation Center, Learning Factory, College of Engineering, Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering, Energy Institute and UPAC. The team also received valuable support from Joel Anstrom, director of the Hybrid and Hydrogen Vehicle Research Center, Carson Baird, Learning Factory supervisor, and Andre Boehman, associate professor of fuel science.

For more information on the local Challenge X team, visit http://www.psuhev.org online.