2014 AIChE Mid-Atlantic Regional Student Conference
ChemE Car Descriptions
University of Pittsburgh – Walt
Travis Bills, Jonathan Hughes, Elyse Dumas, Jacob Adams, Evan Patricia, Connor Hooper
Description
Hydrogen is produced in a reaction between metallic magnesium and sulfuric acid. The
reaction is: Mg(s) + H2SO4(aq) = H2(g) + MgSO4(aq). The hydrogen is then bubbled through
water, passed through a silica gel, and finally delivered to the fuel cell. The electricity
produced is then passed through a Vex motor which drives the wheels of the car. An ion
exchange mechanism controls the flow of electricity to the motor, turning it off after the
solution turns from blue to yellow.
Rutgers University – MGM
Fuat Celik (advisor), Maya Gelman, Ingrid Parede, Shriram Sunarraj, Victor Kabala
Description
The car’s motor is powered by a Hydrogen fuel cell and stopped using an aldol condensation
A hydrogen fuel cell is used to generate electricity for the motor. Hydrogen is stored in a
metal hydrogen cylinder and flows into the cell after desorption. The fuel cell is in a circuit
with a photosensor, electric switch and a custom motor.reaction. The reaction is an aldol
condensation reaction. A mixture of cinnamaldehyde solution, sodium hydroxide solution,
and acetone is prepared. The amount of sodium hydroxide added changes the rate of the
reaction. Once the mixture forms a yellow precipitate, light is cut off from the photosensor,
breaking the circuit powering the car
Penn State University – Fenske Phoenix
Creedon Meminger, Nick Gruber, Chris Taptich, Corey Thomas, Kenton Klobusnik, Eric
Kurtz, Olga Vinogradova, Geno Leone, Brennen Bench, Samantha Roenigk
Description
The power for the dual axle drive system is supplied by a hydrogen fuel cell, the hydrogen is
dispensed at atmospheric pressure from a HydroStik container. The stopping mechanism is
an iodine clock reaction. On one electrical circuit there is a battery power supply , a
magnetic mixer , and an LED. The LED shines through the iodine clock reaction vessel and
onto a photo-resistor. The reaction vessel is a clear glass vial with a stir bar inside which is
stirred by the magnetic mixer. The photo-resistor is on the circuit with the motors and fuel
cell, when the light from the LED is cut off because of the iodine clock reaction coming to
completion, the resistor jumps from 0 to 10 ohms of resistance which effectively breaks the
drive circuit. The acid being used is sulfuric acid.
City College of New York – Grover
Kavindra Singh, Pierre Desir, Nicholas Scotto, Sunny Aggarwal, Zeeshan Saroya, Salman
Javed, Samhita Kattekola, Zubair Bhuiyan, Kemakorn Ithisuphalap, Brandon Raghobir,
Marco Martinez
Description
Our car, Grover, consists of a rectangular chassis with four wheels that are powered by a
galvanic cell via a 12V motor. The motor is attached to a rear axle via a single gear. The
galvanic cell, designed and constructed on campus, is a Zn-MnO2 rechargeable battery with
potassium hydroxide, KOH, as the electrolyte.
The stopping mechanism of our car is regulated by a redox reaction where FD&C Blue #1
(blue food dye) is decolorized by sodium hypochlorite (the oxidant in household bleach).
The reaction chamber where this process takes place is situated between a light source and
photoresistor hereby obscuring the path of the light between the components. As the
reaction goes to completion the intensity of the light incident onto the photoresistor reaches
a threshold that allows enough electricity to flow and trip the relay. The relay then in turn
breaks the driving circuit and the car stops.
University of Virginia – Junk in the Trunk
Ellen Zhong, Chris Fu, Nam Pham, Chelsea Harris, Subeer Talapatra, Greg Stoffa, Sarah
Shamsie
Description
The car’s chassis is a modified RC Car. The water will be stored in a container attached to
the rear of the car. The power source for this car is a combination of zinc-carbon batteries
and hydrogen fuel cells. The battery components are zinc (anode), carbon-manganese oxide
slurry (cathode), separated by a fabric membrane dampened slightly with water. Several of
these cells will be wired together in series with the hydrogen fuel cell to power the electric
motor of the car.
The stopping mechanism is an iodine clock reaction. The iodine clock reaction is comprised
of sodium thiosulfate, hydrogen peroxide, sulfuric acid, corn starch, and potassium iodide.
Overtime, the reaction solution will turn from clear to an opaque blue. A photo-resistor is
placed opposite of the laser through a container of the reaction solution. The stopping
mechanism circuit will cut power to the motor when the photo-resistor detects the sudden
drop in light intensity. The amount of time the car runs will be regulated by the amount of
sodium thiosulfate added to the iodine clock syringe. Depending on the distance and weight
of water added to the car, this amount will be determined using experimental data and
established calibration curves.
University of Virgina – JPOC
Ziyad Amer, Richard Garrett, Anthony Lim, Shaheer Mian, Andy Tsai, Prudhi Tunuguntla,
James Wu
Description
Hydrogen peroxide, catalyzed by manganese oxide, decomposes to oxygen and water in a
stainless steel cylindrical tank. The resulting oxygen gas is fed through a pressure regulator
to limit the driving pressure. A pressure relief valve is set at 10% above the maximum
expected operating pressure. The oxygen gas flows through high pressure tubing into a
pneumatic motor, which drives a gearing system that turns the rear axle of the car.
Stony Brook University – They CME Rollin’
Mohammed Rahman, Nicole Libretto, Andy Cheng, Abhik Giri, Jinying Lin, Allen Tran,
Angell Chee, Kim Nguyen, Helen Liu, Jake Lindberg, Lixin Han
Description
“They CME Rollin” is a car that is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell with the use of an LED
circuit and a sensor that reacts to the outcome of a chemical reaction, the vitamin C iodine
clock reaction. The fuel cell runs on a hydrogen battery stick that is loaded into a small
vessel on board prior to the competition. The circuit distributes power to the motor, IR
LED, and a photoresistor. The LED shines through a clear solution onto a photoresistor and
the stopping mechanism is supported by a chemical reaction, thereby stopping the light
from shining through the solution onto the photoresistor. Hence, this will open the circuit
and stop the car.
University of Maryland, College Park – Testudo Mobile
Brandon Hurn, Marta Cherpak, Benjamin Gelinas, Richard Graver, Amanda Merlock, Katie
Pohida, David Shoemaker, Isaac Zaydens
Description
The car is powered by 6 individual Nickel Metal Hydride batteries dipped in 6M potassium
hydroxide solutions and combined in series to produce approximately 7.2V. This power is
distributed through the circuitry of the car to turn the motor as well as ensure successful
stopping. The motor is mounted to a perforated polyvinyl chloride sheet and rotates the
front axle, moving the car forward in a controlled style. The drivetrain consists of front and
back axles which both are fitted with 9 cm diameter wheels.
The car is stopped by means of a Vitamin C clock reaction. The reaction vessel contains
starch, iodine, vitamin C, and hydrogen peroxide and is placed in a dark styrofoam packing.
Upon completion of the reaction, the solution changes from colorless to dark blue and
triggers a photoresistor that has been receiving light from an LED shining through the
reaction vessel. The concentrations used in the reaction change the reaction length and as
such, the car can be controlled. Once the photoresistor senses the “lux flux”, a transistor
cuts the power from the battery to the motor, triggering shut off and allowing the car to roll
to a stop at the approximate distance.
University at Buffalo – PAUL
Phillip Hatfield, Cherie Hsu, Joe Manso, Rob Pettitt, Yadu Ramachandran, Ethan Schrodt,
Mitch Muehlberger
Description
Our car, PAUL, runs off of a hydrogen fuel cell. The car is made mostly out of acrylic and
Lego parts. The gear box is a modified transmission from an RCcar. The car is powered by
an initial charge of hydrogen to the fuel tank, when the main toggle switch it flipped
hydrogen flows to the cell and after a short start-up period the car will begin to move. The
car is designed to stop flow of hydrogen to the car once a certain pressure in the fuel tank
has been reached, thus the distance the car travels can be controlled by the amount of
hydrogen initially charged to the system.
Carnegie Mellon University (Car #1) – Cookie Monster
Josh Kubiak, Yijie Qui, Dennis Guo, Vishnu Razdan, Alexandra Cerny
Description
Synthesized ethanol is used as the fuel for a hobby grade internal combustion engine
typically fueled by nitro glow fuel (methanol, nitromethane, and oil). The drive shaft of the
motor turns a pinion gear leading to a set of reducing gears and ultimately to a differential
which transfers power to the rear wheels. Throttle control is managed by an Arduino in real
time. The Arduino determines the speed of the car from a hall effect sensor mounted on a
forward wheel and sends commands to a servo which opens and closes the carburetor airintake to maintain a constant speed. The car is timed by an iodine clock reaction which is
monitored by the Arduino using a photoresistor. When a color change is detected, the
Arduino closes the air intake on the carburetor to shut off the ICE.
Carnegie Mellon University (Car #2) – FSB
Alex Frankel, Jon Berman, Amy Yuan, Anna Bandecca, Chris Kim
Description
The car is driven by a hydrogen fuel cell fueled by hydrogen from a cylinder and oxygen
from the air. The fuel cell provides consistent power to a motor which moves the chassis. It
is stopped by a manometer which breaks a circuit when a certain amount of oxygen is
produced by a hydrogen peroxide decomposition, creating enough of a pressure to push the
manometer fluid (salt water) and break a circuit connected by the manometer fluid. A relay
connected to an Arduino is then used to automatically break the circuit connecting the fuel
cell to the motor, stopping the car.
Manhattan College – La Torta
Tian-Lin Han, John Barrios, Biance Beltran, Breann Chai, Menn Elkady
Description
La Torta is built on a custom Lego Technic chassis. The chassis is built with all-wheel drive,
ensuring a minimum of two powered wheels in contact at the ground at any given time. The
chassis carries the power supply unit, the stopping mechanism box, and two ballast bottles.
The power supply unit is a multi-cell lead-acid battery. The batteries are doubly contained –
the lead,lead-oxide, and sulfuric acid electrolyte are contained within an acid proof glass jar
with an HDPE acid-resistant lid. Three glass jars wired in series are further contained in a
large cylindrical HDPE plastic jar with lid. This comprises the main power supply unit,
which is connected to the motor and stopping mechanism. The stopping mechanism
consists of a liquid-tight box housing an iodine clock reaction and the associated light-
sensitive circuitry. When the iodine clock reaction runs to completion and the solution turns
black, power is cut to the motor and the car is stopped.
Johns Hopkins University – The Blue Jay Shuttle
Abraham Anonuevo, Rachel LeCover, Seth Hochberg, Alex Abramson, Pavlos Pachidis, Mex
Yelsky, Jane Foster, William Zhang, Zeyu Hao, Winston Lee
Description
Our car is powered by a stack of aluminum air batteries, connected in series by insulated
copper wires. Each cell is constructed by covering the entire surface area of a copper sheet.
Then it is enclosed with a piece of paper towel (soaked in salt solution) and aluminum foil.
We use zip ties to compress the cell stack vertically. This will decrease the internal
resistance of the carbon powder before starting the car. This mechanism uses the reactionoxidation reaction between the oxygen in the air and the aluminum foil to produce current.
For the stopping mechanism, our car uses a color changing reaction and a photosensor. At
the starting line, Solution B (hydrogen peroxide and sulfuric acid) is injected to a cell culture
flask containing Solution A (potassium iodide, sodium thiosulfate, and 1% starch). Solution
B reacts with the iodide ions in Solution A to form triiodide ions while the sodium
thiosulfate generates back iodide ions. When all of sodium thiosulfate is consumed, the
triiodide ions are free to complex with starch, forming a dark blue solution. This dark blue
blue solution blocks the emission of light from the LED light and the photo receiver, thus
breaking the circuit.
Virginia Commonwealth University – Clarence
Julia Biddle, Aleksander Flippen, Sai Katikala, Sam Wojcicki, Cameron Brinn
Description
The car is run on an aluminum air battery made from aluminum foil sheets, activated
carbon and saline solution. The battery is connected to an electric motor that moves the car.
The stopping mechanism for the car is an iodine clock. The iodine functions by reacting
liquid potassium iodate with a solution of sodium bisulfite of various concentration and
starch in dilute sulfuric. When the reaction goes to completion and the solution turns black,
it triggers a photosensor to shut off power to the motor of the car.
Bucknell University – Kontos
Andrew Fox, David Kalb, Josh Custer
Description
Stelio Kontos is powered by a 12V PEM hydrogen fuel cell. The hydrogen is produced before
the competition using water and a catalytic converter. The hydrogen is stored in a syringe
which is connected to the fuel cell. When the competition starts, the car motor and fuel cell
are turned on and the fuel cell pulls the hydrogen out of the syringe to power itself.
The stopping mechanism works based off the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide into
water and oxygen gas with catalase as a catalyst. The catalase is contained within spinach
and catalyzes the decomposition reaction. Before the competition, ground spinach is stored
in a reaction vessel. Hydrogen peroxide is stored in a syringe that is connected to the
reaction vessel. When the competition starts, the syringe plunger is depressed, forcing the
hydrogen peroxide into the reaction vessel with the spinach. The oxygen from the resulting
reaction fills the syringe. When the plunger of the syringe expands to a certain point, a
button is pressed which shuts off the car motor. Additionally, at this point the syringe
becomes open to the atmosphere so that excess oxygen gas can be released. The rate of
reaction is controlled by adding a calculated amount of water to the hydrogen peroxide, thus
decreasing its concentration and the rate of reaction. This method allows us to have a timed
stopping mechanism.
The Cooper Union – The Violent Crystal
Steven Chen, Chris Panebianco, Chae Jeong, Jake Potter, Tiffany Tang, Josephine Chen,
Maggie Jakus, Jessica Marshall
Description
The powering reaction employed is a gas producing reaction using sodium bicarbonate and
acetic acid. The gas produced by the reaction will be pressurized in a container and used to
turn a turbine to generate electricity which will be used to power a motor.
The stopping reaction is a color changing reaction using sodium hydroxide and crystal
violet. The color of the solution will change from purple to clear. A photo-resistor will be
used with an Arduino to detect the color change of the reaction and stop the motor when the
photo-resistor detects a certain amount of color change.
Virginia Tech – Pete’s Model VT
Meredith Cook, Amy Wang, Coogan Thompson, Yinning Hao, Bobby Hollingsworth, Peter
Rime (Advisor)
Description
Our car’s stopping mechanism is the iodine clock reaction. This reaction starts off initially
clear and then turns dark after a certain amount of time depending on the amount of one of
the reactants. This then prevents the light shining through it from connecting our circuit
and the car stops. We control the amount of sodium thiosulfate in it which is how we make
the car go a certain distance.
Our car is powered by a 12 volt lead-acid battery. There are 6 cells in the battery consisting
of lead and lead oxide plates with an electrolyte, sulfuric acid. This is connected directly to
the car’s single motor on the front axle which turns the wheels.
New Jersey Institute of Technology – 200 Proof
Anthony Ippolito, Jaymin Patel, John Paul Golinski, James Shearman, Elsa Goncalves
Description
Our car “200 Proof” is powered by an ethanol ICE coupled to a generator, the maximum
output of the engine is 2.2hp ,and the generator 120W of electrical power. The timing
mechanism is a photochromic reaction which we harness by controlling the concentration of
UV photons, we demonstrate additional control of the reaction by maintaining isothermal
conditions.
Manhattan College – Speed Bump Ahead
William Casey, Arsen Mustafaj
Description
The vehicle is built on a custom chassis using Lego Technic pieces. The main chassis is
rectangular, relatively flat, and houses two axels connected in the center to a Lego Technic
motor. The dimensions of the car are 20 cm tall, 20 cm wide, and 36 cm long. The motor to
driveshaft differential gear ratio is 3:5 and the driveshaft to axel gear ratio is 1:1 at both
ends. The control unit, the battery and the stopping mechanism reaction chamber are
mounted on top of the car’s chassis.
Power to the Lego Technic motor comes from 4 to 6 aluminum-air batteries, connected in
series and stacked vertically on a cardboard rack. The stopping mechanism dissolves a
magnesium strip in an ammonium chloride solution. The magnesium strip, which is
connected between the batteries and the motor, reacts with the ammonium chloride
solution until the strip breaks, disrupting the circuit and stopping the car. The circuit also
includes a master switch to manually shut off the car, if needed. The amount of time that the
car runs for is adjusted by changing the concentration of the ammonium chloride solution.
The more concentrated the solution, the shorter the running time.