2011 Edition - Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - The ...

leads to more interdisciplinary courses,but mostly, I hope it leads to KU beinga powerhouse in Formula Hybrid and/or Formula Electric competitions," addedBland, now an On-Board DiagnosticsCalibration Engineer at Chrysler.2012 CompetitionNow in her senior year with a competitionunder her belt, Dellwig is team leader forthe electric car being built by JayhawkMotorsports. The team is competing in thefirst electric-only challenge at the FormulaHybrid International Competition in May.The Department once again provided a$10,000 donation.The number of EECS students has almostdoubled. Seven are participating thisyear. Dellwig attributes this to greaterstudent awareness of the event andcourse credit for participation in JayhawkMotorsports. Students conduct researchduring the week and attend a weeklymeeting on Tuesday nights to discuss theirprogress. They spend most every Saturdayfrom 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the JayhawkMotorsport Shop where they continueresearch and collaboration with teammembers. In January, students will beginmanufacturing components and customparts for the car. The majority of work isdone on campus, which makes KU uniqueamong college teams.EECS seniors Faiz Ahmed and HilaryBarbour are working on regenerationbreaking, which allows the motorcontrollers to recover the energy lostin braking. The energy is stored in thebatteries, allowing the car to run forlonger periods. They plan to achieve thisby modifying the motor controller andoptimizing regenerative brakingto make it as efficient as possible.“Everyone has been extremelydedicated to this project,” saidAhmed. “The biggest challengethis spring will be implementingall the designs that we createdin the fall. Getting everything towork together and the way wewant to will be challenging.”While he has worked onmotorcycles and cars sincechildhood, EECS senior AricBeaver was not sure if hecould devote the volunteertime needed for JayhawkMotorsports. But when helearned he could earn coursecredit for it, he was in. Beaver’smain focus is designing theelectric differential that will supplytorque to the wheels separately basedon information from sensors on the car.Beaver has been researching how toincrease overall stability while enhancingresponse time – often conflictingattributes.EECS senior Alex Drees is working withthe battery monitoring system and thelow voltage start-up sequence. Safetyis extremely important when dealingwith high voltage, not only to the peopleinvolved but also the equipment. Bymonitoring the different parts of the car,such as batteries and motors, the team isincreasing the safety and lifetime of thecar.EECS seniors Garrett Scarlett and BrettHermann are finishing up their designEECS seniors Faiz Ahmed (left) and Hilary Barbour work onregeneration breaking, allowing the motor controllers to recover theenergy lost in braking. The team spends their Saturdays throughoutthe school year in the lab building the electric car.of the high voltage system and all thecomponents that entails. They have beenworking with interconnects between themotors, motor controllers, and batteriesas well as making sure this system isprotected from too much current.The Formula Hybrid InternationalCompetition will run April 30 throughMay 3 at the New Hampshire MotorSpeedway. •EECS News 2011 17