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June 28 AERO Demo Letter
www.uvmaero.org

Recent News

2010

May 17th

Aero recently came back from the 2010 Formula Hybrid competition in Loudin, NH placing 8th in the overal competition. The 2nd generation car had the fastest time in the electric only drag race and the 2nd fastest time in the hybrid run. There were some technical difficulties, but overal we were able to compete in every event and learn more about how the car handles and improvements that can be made.

Improvements will be taking place this summer before AERO travels to Italy to compete in the FEHI competition. We have the speed to do well in this competition and will be repaining the car to get a lot of drive time in before flying out in October. To learn how to help us participate in this unique opportunity please contact us.

Follow UVM's AERO Gen-2 Hybrid Car
at the
Formula Hybrid International Competition
The 2010 competition will be held on May 3-6, 2010 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, NH.

UVM's AERO Hybrid Racing Car

“GreenSpeed” is the 1^st UVM hybrid racing car created by a team of energetic UVM students from the University of Vermont College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences new student organization called Alternative Energy Racing Organization (AERO).
VSGC was one of the first supporters of this club; providing funds which enabled the team to eventually garner several awards at last year's Formula Hybrid International Competition (FHIC: http://www.formula-hybrid.org/history/2008-competition.php).

March 19

AERO is very proud to announce that we were able to run our new drivetrain for the first time and have captured it on video. The carb definitely needs tuning and the exhaust pipe was covered in oil from the assembly which caused some smoke, but it ran smoothly and stayed cool. We'll be working to get the bugs ironed out and to transition the power source from a bench supply to the battery. Stay tuned.

January 11

The second semester starts on the 19th and AERO will be quite busy for the coming months. We recently received word that the welding and subassembly of our new battery pack has been finished and it is currently on its way to us. See the picture below.

2010

See WCAX Coverage of the UVM CEMS_
UVM Students Develop a Hybrid Car

AERO Hybrid Race Car to Compete in 2009 International Competition!

The UVM Alternative Energy Racing Organization (AERO) hybrid car is in final performance testing in preparation for the 2009 Formula Hybrid SAE Competition to be held May 4-6, 2009 in Loudon, New Hampshire. UVM AERO students from the UVM College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences will compete against approximately 30 teams from as far away as India and Russia.

The UVM hybrid car, GreenSpeed, is an all-wheel-drive vehicle powered by a small (250 cc) four cycle gas engine working in tandem with a powerful electric motor powered by lithium-ion batteries. In 2008, AERO’s first entry won several awards for innovative design. This competition contains multiple facets including: General Presentation, Technical Design, Acceleration, Autocross and Endurance. UVM AERO will make general and technical design presentations, with industrial professionals grilling team members on every aspect of the car.

“Substantial improvements have been made to the car’s energy storage and control systems,’ says Christopher Farmer, AERO Electrical Lead.

Work has also started on a new vehicle with a mechanical system that will unify the drive train into a single “transaxle,” making the vehicle lighter, nimbler and more efficient. The Generation 2 vehicle will also feature a new heads-up display system that will provide valuable information to the driver.

AERO promotes Green Technologies and advocates for research and development of alternative energy systems for mobility engineering. The AERO team has garnered financial and technical support from many organizations including the IEEE Green Mountain Section, VELCO, the Vermont National Guard, Vermont Space Grant Consortium, Hazelett Strip Casting, Anderson Power Products, iTherm, MicroStrain, CTS Corp., UVM’s Instrument Modeling Facility, evdrive.com Elithion, and PowerStream.

UVM students who have worked on AERO include:
Brian Leach, junior in mechanical engineering and AERO President and leader for mechanics on the car, attended Burr & Burton Academy, Manchester, VT.
Charley Robinson, graduate student in computer science, lead the control systems work, and is from Groton, VT.
Christopher Farmer, graduate student in electrical engineering, lead the battery system development, and attended Colchester High School in Colchester, VT.

For more information visit:
Formula Hybrid Race: http://www.formula-hybrid.org

For more updates and to follow UVM AERO go to their website: http://www.uvmaero.org/
Be sure to check out our new AERO Flickr Page

Several videos of GreenSpeed in action can be found on YouTube (search UVM AERO).

We have been working very hard on our next generation vehicle for the past few months. Development has been moving forward rapidly on all fronts including chassis, powertrain, and electrical component design. The mechanical team has been using facilities at Triangle MetalFab for numerous fabrication tasks, and we'd like to thank everyone there for their support. In other news, we have been driving the gen-1 car under hybrid power and are thrilled with the results. Be sure to check out the videos below (and please excuse the poor lighting).

Advisors:
Paul Hines, Assistant Professor, School of Engineering
Phone: 802-656-9660 paul.hines@uvm.edu

Jeff Frolik , Associate Professor, School of Engineering
Phone: 802.656.0732 jfrolik@uvm.edu