For students, electric 'sled'
is good, clean fun in the snow
 hanks to donations from Madison-based foundations
and industry, a team of UW-Madison mechanical engineers will have the
chance to develop an earth-friendly snowmobile that could facilitate
scientific research in Antarctica and Greenland.
Christened the Silent BuckEV, the electric sled will compete in the
2008 Society of Automotive Engineering Zero-Emissions Electric Snowmobile
Event, to be held on the Michigan Technological University campus in
March.
Faulty Associate Glenn
Bower, the team’s advisor, says the team appreciates the support
from donors. The Brittingham Foundation donated $13,000 and Polaris
Industries supplied a snowmobile chassis, valued at $4,000. The Evjue
Foundation, the charitable arm of Madison newspaper The Capital
Times, donated $13,000.
“This support has made it possible to do the project,” Bower
says. “We couldn’t have undertaken the task without outside
funds.”
Though this is the UW-Madison team’s first year in the zero-emissions
event, the team is familiar with snowmobiles. With its hybrid-electric
snowmobile, UW-Madison has participated in the SAE
Clean Snowmobile Challenge since 2002 and claimed first place in
2004 and 2006.
The zero-emissions event is different because the snowmobiles are completely
electric. SAE partnered with the National Science Foundation for the
event on behalf of a request by VECO Polar Resources, NSF support contractor
in Greenland.
The goal for zero-emissions teams is to aid scientific research in Greenland
and Antarctica. Air and snow samples can be contaminated by gas-powered
vehicles used to get scientists to the coring spots. “Dog sleds
are their only other option at this point,” Bower says.
The zero-emissions competitions began in 2004, but so far the entries
haven’t been electrically safe or reliable overall, according
to Bower. UW-Madison has worked on hybrid vehicles since 1993 through
U.S. Department of Energy student challenges; as a result, says Bower,
the students are familiar with the high-voltage motors and batteries
used in the snowmobile events.
“We’re just applying knowledge we already have to a snowmobile
chassis, and then we make it very reliable,” Bower says. He and
team co-adviser, Ethan Brodsky, an assistant scientist in the Departments
of Radiology and Medical Physics, contribute more than 20 years of leadership
and experience in hybrid vehicles to the UW-Madison team.
Students also bring experience to the team and have their own goals
for the zero-emissions project. Adam Schumacher, a senior mechanical
engineering student, has been involved with the clean snowmobile team
for four years and currently is modeling where the electric motor will
be positioned in the chassis. “I’ve been a snowmobile enthusiast
since I was a kid,” Schumacher says. “Snowmobiling is currently
facing restrictions because of noise pollution and greenhouse gases,
and by being on this team, I can work to keep that from happening.”
Michael Maney, also a senior mechanical engineering student, says the
snowmobile team is great hands-on experience for a lot of students.
A former snowmobile racer, Maney says the best part is learning the
entire design process. “Modeling, fabricating, putting it together
and seeing how it does in the real world—you do it all,”
he says.
The competition has several categories, including weight, acceleration
and sound tests. Additional categories include a distance race, maneuverability
course, technical paper and cost analysis. Also, industry experts drive
and evaluate the snowmobiles. “Hopefully NSF will look at our
snowmobile and say, ‘That’s a great job,’” Bower
says.
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