For many cars, 30 miles per gallon is reasonably economical, but last week eight Penn State mechanical engineering students found a way to improve that number by about 64 times.
Just in time for Earth Day, the students geared up to compete in the third annual Shell Eco-marathon, taking first place and $2,500 in the hydrogen fuel cell division. It was the second consecutive year that their car, "Blood, Sweat, and Gears" took home the top prize.
The marathon, which took place April 15 to April 18 at the Auto-Club Speedway in Fontana, Ca., included more than 50 teams from five different countries, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and India.
This was Matt Shiskowski's first year competing at Shell's Eco-marathon, and it was "a long process, but definitely worth it," he said.
Shiskowski (senior-mechanical engineering) was a part of one of two groups that worked on the car. His group also included mechanical engineering students Jared Kloda, Toby Snider, Peter Sullivan, Nicole Peterson and graduate students Nate Troupe and Laura Slingerland.
Peterson and Slingerland drove the vehicle at the marathon in California because of their small stature, Shiskowski said.
His team, known as the fuel cell team, worked on the interior of the car, figuring out the fine tunings of the vehicle and getting it up to its maximum potential of 1,917.9 mpg. Another team worked on the exterior of the car.
The speedway used for the competition is also used for NASCAR races. The interior of the speedway had a 1.4 mile-long track with curves designed for the competition, Shiskowski said.
"One of the reasons why it's shaped differently is because anyone can go around a round track. You have to be able to negotiate the steering and breaks on the interior track," he said.
The "Blood, Sweat, and Gears" car was used at last year's competition, but was revamped by the second team, vehicle dynamics. Vehicle dynamics team members Jose Aguirre, Brent Edwards, Tom Keenan, Dan Nguyen and Justin Weber, all Penn State students, worked on the body and exterior of the vehicle.
Penn State's team also took home first place last year in the fuel cell division of the competition, racing the vehicle at 16 mph, one mph over the 15 mph minimum, at 1,668.3 mpg, Shiskowski said.
Within the competition, the teams can chose from three different types of cars to make: internal combustion, a solar-powered vehicle or a fuel cell.
Shiskowski said the team and professor chose to compete in the fuel cell division because it was the least similar to the other two categories.
"It was seen as the largest challenge since the future is looking like we might go to fuel cell cars for passenger vehicles," he said.
For the two years that Penn State has been in the competition, the mechanical engineering department has given students $1,000 a year to work on the car. The fuel cell itself costs a hefty $5,000, although the team's fuel cell was on loan from a Penn State laboratory, Shiskowski said. The total cost of the readying the car for competition averages about $4,000 a year.
Both years, Penn State has been awarded $2,500 for their first place prototype.
Professor Leland Engel, adviser and project manager to the group, said he makes sure the students are on time to have the project completed before the competition.
"It's quite an involved group of members between the two [teams]," he said.
Since the marathon is sponsored by Shell Gas & Power, the group was designated a company sponsor, who oversees the progress of the team.
Buddy Bealer, a Shell employee and Penn State's sponsor, said he was impressed by the car and that it gets better and better every year.
"The shape of the body was much better than last year, and they really improved on the hydrogen fuel cell," he said. "Both teams did a really great job; I'm really proud of them."
