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20STUDENTS IN FOCUS
ENGINEERING STUDENTSFROM KU LEUVENWIN WORLD SOLAR CHALLENGE 2019On Thursday 17 October 2019, the Agoria Solar Car Team of KU Leuven won theBridgestone World Solar Challenge in Australia. The team arrived first after a hecticfive-day race in Adelaide. This victory was a triumph for KU Leuven, the Faculty ofEngineering Technology and for Belgium, because it was the first time that a Belgianteam has become world champion in this demanding competition.In the 15th edition of the World SolarChallenge, 44 teams from 22countries competed against eachother is Australia. The assignment wasto cover a distance of 3,331 km fromDarwin in the north to Adelaide in thesouth with a self-built solar car.Eight time, good timeThe students of the Faculty ofEngineering Technology did notstart the big adventureunprepared.In 2019 itwas the eight timethat a KU Leuventeam participated inthe race. “During thisperiod we haveaccumulated a lot ofexperience and know-howthat has been transferred from team toteam and that has now paid off”,Willem-Jan Claes, leader of the team,explains. “Of course, we have madenumerous improvements in terms ofreliability and endurance. In this way,we came to the start with the fastestand most efficient solar care we haveever built. But this no guarantee thatyou will win. After all, the worldchampionship in Australia is no ordinaryrace, it is a real challenge. You not onlycompete against the other teams butyou also have to fight against the wind,the desert, sandstorms and theomnipresent risk of accidents. The carof our Dutch colleagues from Twentecrashed due to a sudden gust of wind.And the car of our friends – andeternal competitors – from TU Delftcaught fire just before the finish.The pilot was really lucky to havesurvived the accident.”“Remarkable in this edition washow long the favorite teams stayedin one’s neighbourhood “, Willem-Jan continues. “That was differentin the previous years. It made thechampionship even more exciting.Precisely because the solar cars werevery similar and the teams used similarracing strategies , they had to ask thebest of their cars. A few teams wentover their limit, and had to face theconse quences. Thanks to the manytest drives, we exactly knew our limitsand how we could finish withoutaccidents”.More than racingThe engineering students have beenworking day and night on theirBluepoint for more than one year.They designed and built everythingthemselves, from the battery over thesolar panel to the body. “You start witha full battery, but once on the roadyou can only charge with the sun”,Willem-Jan says. “This applies alsoto the batteries of each of the teammembers. Everyone must remain 100%motivated and focused. Every negligenceor unnoticed detail is punished”.How glorious the achievement of theKU Leuven team might be, we shouldcertainly also keep in mind that thestudents aspire more than winning arace, even if it is the world champion -ship. The students are mainly concernedwith raising awareness among the publicand young people in particular aboutrenewable energy and sustainabletechnologies. “We are entrepreneurialengineers”, Willem-Jan confirms.”Engineers with a vision. We haveshown the world that Belgium andour university are at the forefront oftechnological innovation”.Yves Persoons www.solarteam.beCONNECTING21
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Page 3 and 4: EDITORIALCONNECTINGENGINEERS WORLDW
Page 5 and 6: FACULTY NEWSKU LEUVEN AND VELLORE I
Page 7 and 8: learnt and experienced how to be cr
Page 9 and 10: A WORLDWIDE COMMITMENTSupporting no
Page 11 and 12: For more details, consult: www.fet.
Page 13 and 14: EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN FOCUSNEW
Page 15 and 16: “By the end of 2019, when the pro
Page 17 and 18: QUYNH HOANGThese models will be dir
Page 19: “In FOOD4S we follow a two-track
Page 23 and 24: Gwendal Plumier“Students often ta
Page 25 and 26: Team ‘Smart Gun’The Belgian Bic
Page 27 and 28: Liu ChangCONNECTING27
Page 29 and 30: LI QIAN:PRE SALES ENGINEERLi Qian s
Page 31 and 32: From left to right: Prof. Deng Xing

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