Bring on the sunshine!

For many boating enthusiasts, a few clouds on a summer day can be a welcome escape from the scorching heat. But for one University of Northern Iowa organization, everything can change when the clouds roll in.

That’s because the UNI Solar Electric Team, also known as the Solar Panthers are not your typical boaters. The team spent the entire year building a solar electric boat from scratch. Their creation was part of “Project e-Boat,” a mission for students to design and build an eco-friendly boat.

At the end of the year, the team competed in “Solar Splash,” the World Championship of intercollegiate solar boating. This year, the team placed third out of the 18 teams that registered worldwide for the competition; the highest the team has ever placed in UNI’s eight-year history with “Solar Splash.”

The team also won “Outstanding Electrical System Design,” third place for “Best Visual Display,” and third place in the Solar Slalom event.
    
According to Faculty Advisor Recayi “Reg” Pecen, the students spent more than 16 hours a day in the last few months preparing for Solar Splash. Pecen said the success of the team this year highlights the talents and motivation of the students.
   
“It shows how our students are really doing good,” said Pecen. “The other teams like The University of New Orleans Naval Engineering and Carnegie Mellon are colleges of engineering. So that shows how good our design
is (because UNI is not a pure engineering school).”

The energy used to enhance and propel the solar boat for the competition was gathered exclusively by solar energy conversion devices. Lead acid batteries were used to store and conserve solar energy.
   
Aside from working toward victory in the annual competition, the project aims to help keep Iowa clean for future generations, promoting zero-emission for Iowa’s lakes and rivers.
   
“Students learn about solar power in their classes as part of their education, and this is a incredible learning experience or application to how they can apply that for something useful in life,” said Pecen.
   
The “Solar Splash” has three major boating events: sprint-on-water, endurance and slalom competitions.
   
“Its sometimes really fun, you see like 18-20 teams going through and racing. Suddenly it becomes cloudy and all the boats slow down because there’s not much sunshine,” said Pecen. “As soon as it becomes shiny again and sunny it’s as if the boats are accelerating after they see the green light or something like that.”
   
Solar Panther’s 2009 Team Leader Doug Bechthold is a five year team member. Bechthold said that despite it’s unique engineering, driving the solar boat isn’t much different than a typical boat.
   
“The biggest difference is the boat is built specifically for the competition, so it doesn’t have all of the fancy things like a radio or a comfy seat,” said Bechthold. “Its very race orientated.”
 
The Solar Panthers receive funding through the university, several sponsors and an
Iowa Energy Center grant. Although the program is part of the undergraduate senior design requirement in the Electrical and Information Engineering Technology Program, anyone interested in the project can join. Team members do not have to have prior experience with engineering, and a wide variety of opportunities such as art and graphic design are available. For more information visit http://www.cns.uni.edu/eboat/.
 

1 comments

Reg Pecen

Sat Jul 25 2009 23:56

I proud of my Solar Panthers Team! Thank you Solar Panthers for your amazing work, enthusiasm, and compassion through the year and let's get ready for the next design and competition!
There might be a good news soon that the World Championship on Solar Electric Boating for 2011 might be here in town-George Wyth Park and UNI campus!!!

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