Engineering Competency Claim
Quoc Dat Do
1.5. Knowledge
When I was in 11th grade, at that time I joined the school's club to assemble a model of a solarpowered car. And in my group, I'm the one who makes the judgment, use the right equipment to give
the car many energies to help the car run faster and farther, and of course will have the help of my
teacher to be able to help me get the basic knowledge that should be required to complete a solar
powered car. During the 2 months of implementation, I was the one who came up with many ideas
and discussed with the team members how to modify the car and design it properly, removing
unnecessary parts so that we could help give us good results. And in October of that 11th grade, I got
an internship at a famous university in Sydney, the University of New South Wales, during that time I
got to know students and teachers in the field of engineering. Mechanical. When I notified them that I
had a school competition on solar cars, they delivered me experimental knowledge about cars and
how to construct them efficiently. When that graceful internship ended, I already had a certain amount
of knowledge that could support me assemble the car completely. Initially, the frame of the car is used
with a lightweight profiled bar, which is processed by our own team. The shape of the car is like an
average car and the frame material is not excellent, but if it is better invested, it can make the car more
beautiful. The key point of the car is the ability to take the sun. It will turn into electricity and charge
the car's battery so it can work. On the hood there are four photovoltaic panels, and each panel has a
capacity of 110 watts, they can fully charge the car in four hours under sunny conditions. With each
charge, the car will travel 12 km, if running under the sun with energy, the distance can be increased
because the charging system is still working continuously to recharge the battery. The average speed
of the car is about 10km/h and when the road is flat and full of battery, it can reach a maximum speed
of 15km/h. After 6 months of tinkering and researching for this car, I examined the remote control of
the car and in my opinion, the car operates quite well, the balance is good, I deliberately folded at
high speed but the car still solid. At the end of 11th grade, my school set my car to participate in the
NSW solar car innovation competition. However, good things did not come to us when my car won
the consolation prize when the car still had limitations to overcome like weak shock absorbers,
substandard balance, and unsightly design. Overall, I tried my best to use my knowledge of math,
physics, and a little bit of car knowledge to be able to apply it to that car. After this experience I have
learned that having knowledge will support us with many things and recognizing what we will
perform with what we intend to achieve. In the future, I will continue studying and research to get the
knowledge to use in my life and as well as my mechanical engineering profession.