Video of chemE car, what chemE car does, talk about the competition, add in awards (maybe take pictures and post them here), add in members of chemE car (Faith takes pictures of them and will add them in), how you can join chemE car and when they meet up
What is Chem-E-Car Club?
The ChemE car team is similar to a robotics team. However, instead of a mechanically/electrically based system, our small cars are both fueled and stopped by chemical reactions. We compete in Regionals once a year, where we are given a target distance one hour before competition time. In that hour, our team modifies the specific power and stopping reactions in hopes of getting as close to the target distance as possible in two minutes or less. The closest cars, along with their teams, continue on to Nationals.
Our team consists of a Chassis group and a Stopping & Power group. Chassis receives the necessary training for building the car, and Stopping & Power receives lab safety training for testing the stopping and power reactions. Also keep in mind that there is typically an electronic component to the Stopping & Power team, in which you can choose to participate if you are interested.
We are currently working on a few different fuel cells, seeing which ones may viable options for the competition!
What is the Chem-E-Car Competition?
We compete in regional competitions once a year, where we are given a target distance one hour before competition time. In that hour, our team modifies the power and stopping reactions to get as close to the target distance as possible in two minutes or less. This requires both a deep understanding of the reactions we are utilizing and many hours of data collection. The closest cars, along with their teams, continue on to Nationals.
Our Awards
Second Place in Western Regional Chem-E-Car Competition in 2013
Third Place in Western Regionals Chem-E-Car Competition in 2015
Second Place in Western Regionals Chem-E-Car Research Poster Competition in 2018
Members
Benefits of Joining
Given they spend a specified time in the lab/at meetings, members can choose to receive one unit of ECH 98/ECH198 credit per quarter provided they fill out and turn in the paperwork by the given deadline. This can go towards upper division Chemical Engineering elective credits.
How to Join
If you have any questions, or would like to join, feel free to contact us at ucdchemecar@gmail.com
Meeting Times
All members of the team can expect 2 quarterly meetings, updating the club on the progress of the car and our goals and expectations going forward.
General members on the lab team are expected to attend weekly labs hosted by there respective lab managers. Each of these 2-hour labs take place in the Bainer basement and consist primarily of power and stopping trial testing.
Meeting times this quarter are as follows:
Monday: 9-11 am
Tuesday: 4-6 pm
Wednesday: 12-2 pm
Thursday: 6-8 pm
Friday: 1-3 pm
General members of the Chassis Team Meetup once a week on Mondays from 4-6 pm in the EFL Laboratory. Their tasks range from constructing the car chassis and chemical containment to selecting the motor and the gear ratio to move the car.
For more information please visit: https://chem-e-car.ucdavis.edu/