Auburn University hosts Southern Regional American Institute of Chemical Engineering Conference

By Donathan Prater

Published: April 5, 2008

They have complex body designs, unique fuel systems and various weight carrying capabilities, but perhaps the greatest selling point about these vehicles are their brakes.

They don’t have any.

But that’s by design.

Hundreds of students from engineering universities across the Southeastern U.S. and Puerto Rico converged Saturday on Auburn University’s campus for the Southern Regional American Institute of Chemical Engineering Conference.

The students from 11 universities competed in a poster, paper and chemical car competition in which they constructed model vehicles with some specific criteria.

Their car’s system of propulsion had to be chemically-powered, fall within 40-by-30-by-18 centimeters in size (or fit inside a shoebox when disassembled) and not possess any sort of mechanical braking systems.

“The stopping mechanism is to be able to control the chemical reaction that drives the vehicle,” said Bob Ashurst, faculty advisor for the AU student chemical engineering team.

Steve Duke is the faculty adviser for the Auburn chapter of the AlChE.

The AU designed vehicle was appropriately nicknamed the ‘Eye of the Tiger,’ a vehicle AU chemical engineering students have been working on the past few months, according to Ashurst.

Participants in the competition were tasked to create a chemically-powered vehicle that, placed at a starting point, is capable of traveling no more than 60 feet carrying a maximum load of about 500 grams.

Each team was allowed two attempts using their vehicle to come as close to the 60-foot distance as possible.

Some of the cars were powered with hydrogen while other vehicles used the reaction between gases like oxygen as a means of locomotion.

“The biggest challenge we had to overcome in this competition was getting our car to travel the necessary distance,” said Cary Warsetsky a student at the University of Florida.

The UF chemical engineering team’s vehicle, was called the “Swamp Buggy.”

Teams that place in the top five of the Chem E Car competition will go on to compete in the nationals that will be held in Philadelphia later this year.

While the teams from schools such as Tennessee Tech, LSU and AU placed well, it was most likely the team from Rocky Top that will claim the top spot in the competition.

The chemical engineering team from the University of Tennessee came within inches of the 60-foot goal distance on both attempts of the competition using a hydrogen-charged, capacitor powered vehicle they simply refer to as “Spellbound.”

“You just collect the data and run the tests as many times as you can,” said Florida student Kristen Dobrodziej.