Photo Collection from the

2006 Chemical Reaction Powered Car Competition

At OSU

 

Each year, teams of OSU ChE juniors and sophomores build a shoe-box sized car that is powered by a chemical reaction.  The competition requires the car to carry a payload and stop closest to the finish line.  This year, the car had to carry 300 milliliters (about a cup and a half) of water and stop closest to the finish line 72 feet away.  Students learn what the weight (0 to 500 ml) and distance criteria (50 to 100 ft) are, only one-hour prior to the competition.  The top three teams from our local event (March 23) will compete at the AIChE Regional meeting (April 8, on our Stillwater campus), and hopefully one or more OSU teams will continue on to national competition (November 12-17, San Francisco, California).  Five OSU Teams qualified for Nationals in the past 5 years.

 

“This is an entertaining and friendly competition that fundamentally supports chemical engineering education. It is fun while being integral to our mission.” Says School Head Russ Rhinehart, “And we are very grateful to Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. for their support of the event.”

 

Students must apply their knowledge of chemical reactions, fluid dynamics, and thermodynamics in the car design; and through a poster session present and explain their choices relative to car performance as well as aspects safety, environmental impact, and reliability.  Student poster presentations and performance in the Q&A session is judged.

 

The Poster Judging Session.  Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. engineering and facility managers Gary Allen, Bill Beaulieu, Don Looney, Stan Zisman, and Lindel Larison review the ten student posters and ask the penetrating questions.  Earlier in the year, CP Chem personnel reviewed proposals from each team relative to safety.  The high level of C.P. Chem. Co. participation indicates the value they place on this exercise.  As Sweeney Plant Manager Gary Allen says, “The competition introduces students to what they will experience in the working world.” Students have to use technology to create something that works, within constraints, for a range of duties, and come in on budget and on time.  They have to focus on safety, loss prevention, and pollution.  They have to do it within a diverse team in competition with other enterprises.

 

 Judges Stan Zisman, Dan Looney, and Lindle Larison review a poster.  Staff member Eileen Nelson designed the 2006 Logo, printed on the back of each T-shirt, of Pistol Pete giving the checkered flag to one of the cars.

 

Bill Fisher and Cameron Wood prep the car called “Wing and a Prayer” for the run.

 

Lindsey Hall opening the valve on their car, which placed third in the poster-judging portion.

 

Students on the winning team for both the overall competition and the poster session are juniors Kelly Guss, Steve Keen, and Jordan Loudermilk, and sophomores Megan Benyshek and Ogadima Offor.  They named their car “Chrome Dome”, which will compete in the Regional Competition, using baking soda and acetic acid as fuel.  The pressure from the reaction-generated CO₂, which pushed a piston that drove wheels through a rack-and-pinion device.  Here are the first place juniors receiving their trophies from Gary Allen.

 

Here are the winning sophomores for the poster judging.

 

A mixed team of juniors and sophomores has several advantages.  Next year, when the sophomores become juniors will have a better understanding of competition.  And having worked with the class above last year, and the class below this year, students relate to individuals in other levels in sharing School pride and values.

 

“The “A” Team” placed second in the overall competition, and is comprised of juniors Manal Gasem, Barkley Pruitt and Zach Weldon, and sophomores Rachael House and Kevin Nyaga.  They will compete in the Regional Competition; their car was powered by the reaction of hydrogen peroxide and pureed beef liver, and used a rack-and-pinion transmission.

 

 In third place overall “Team 7” had juniors Aaron Jones, Steven Smith, and Jon Stogsdill, and sophomores Jesse Cotney and Grant McCool.   Their car ran on baking soda and acetic acid, but used a fluid jet to turn a paddle wheel to turn the wheels.

 Second Place poster winners - sophomores Katharine Stroukoff and Bryan Henning.

 

The staging area for the cars.  It was cold this day. Not only do the students have to calibrate the amount of reactants to compensate for the distance and weight, they have to account for the temperature of their reactors. 

 

The competition is a long-term, highly coordinated, engaging, and entertaining event fosters student performance and pride.

 

Each year students design and build the cars from scratch.  We do not recycle last year’s best cars.  The process starts with the juniors, in the fall chemical thermodynamics course with basic car design and safety reviews.  Then in the spring the juniors in the reaction-engineering course, and the sophomores in the material and energy balance course team up to build the cars and prepare for the composition.

 

We are especially grateful to the support from Chevron Phillips Chemical Co.  Their financial gift provides materials for the cars, the annual logo T-shirt, the awards banquet, and travel support to attend regional and national competition.  And, the time investment by Gary, Bill, Don, Stan, and Lindel is also important.  Their personal participation provides strong affirmation to the students that the curriculum topics, “co-petition”, safety and environment, teamwork, quality of presentation, and comprehensive student development are important enough to warrant high-level corporate interest.