News Highlights
Author:
Maha Al-Azar,
Media Relations Officer,
Office of Information and Public Relations,
ma110@aub.edu.lb
AUB teacher-student team builds
first solar car in Arab region
Professor Asmar (center) flanked by Maalouf (R) and Kanafani (L)- proud of their achievement
A team of fourth-year engineering students and their
professor have successfully built the first solar-powered
vehicle in the Arab region. Named Apollo's Chariot--in
reference to the Greek god of the sun--the steel-and-fiberglass
one-seater vehicle measures five and a half meters in length
and two meters in width. It weighs about 700 kilograms, or
almost half the weight of an average sedan.
Led by Mechanical Engineering Assistant Professor Daniel
Asmar, the team of Elie Maalouf, Amin Kanafani, Ahmed
Hammoud, and Rawad el-Jurdi, took about seven months of
dedicated work to build the "Chariot."
With its
aerodyna
mic
design,
the
futuristiclooking
vehicle
glides
through
the air
quietly.
During a
demo on Maalouf drives the 'Chariot' forward...
campus,
Elie maneuvered it effortlessly--forward, backwards, along a
curb, then up a small hill. Noise and air pollution do not
figure in the dictionary of Apollo's Chariot.
"It looks like a rocket, but moves like a swan," said Amin,
adding incredulously: "We actually built a car that runs on a
new kind of energy. It's almost like magic!"
"I really hope that, in the near future, I will be able to drive an
improved version of this car, everyday-- to university, to
work, to go out with my friends," added Elie.
But
Professor
Asmar
admits
that solarpowered
vehicles
are still
years from
becoming
commerci
ally
available.
Right
...then backs up
now,
building
one that can be safely driven on the streets would cost more
than a million dollars. Nevertheless, they are important for
research purposes.
Apollo's Chariot cost about $25,000, a sum that was raised
through several local and foreign sponsors: Power tech, a
Lebanese company that specializes in batteries; Voluntariato
Internazionale per lo Sviluppo (VIS), a volunteer Italian
association for development; Italian Cooperation, a
department within the Italian Foreign Ministry; Byblos Bank;
Carrosserie Abillamaa, a Lebanese company that specializes
in truck production; Oelle, an Italian manufacturer of farm
trucks; Bank of Beirut and Arab Countries (BBAC);
Bridgestone tires; and the AUB Department of Mechanical
Engineering.
Through
36 small
and eight
large
photovolta
ic cells,
the car
converts
solar
energy
into 1000
watts of
power.
The
...then turns around a curb
componen
ts of the
car include the cells and batteries, which capture and store the
solar energy, and a DC (direct current) motor which converts
energy from the batteries into a uniform source of energy. A
maximum power point tracker device also maximizes the
amount of power delivered from the cells.
"I'm ecstatic," said Professor Asmar. "This is a dream come
true for me that would not have been possible without our
sponsors."
Asmar said that he had been dreaming to build a solarpowered car ever since he was an undergraduate student at the
University of Waterloo in Canada. Asmar joined AUB as an
assistant professor at the end of 2007.
Thirty-six small and eight large photovoltaic
cells are what keep the vehicle running...
"We feel very
proud of our
achievement," he added. "Usually, researchers don't manage
to get their car to run like ours on their first attempt. Of
course, our goal is to keep on improving it, so we could
compete in next year's World Solar Challenge, representing
Lebanon and AUB for the first time."
The World Solar challenge is a 3000-kilometer race by solar
electric cars, whose purpose is to promote research on solar
energy. It is held in Australia and was first launched in 1987,
having taken place nine times since then. The next race is
scheduled for 2009. The team also hopes to promote solar
energy locally, by taking the car on a road trip on the
highways of Greater Beirut in the fall.