Buckeye Bullet 2 Team Blog: World Finals

Showing posts with label World Finals. Show all posts

Friday, October 5, 2007

Buckeye Bullet 2 at Bonneville World Finals - report 5 from the Salt Flats

Friends of the Buckeye Bullet:
This is the fifth of a series of reports describing the progress of the Buckeye Bullet 2 at The Bonneville World Finals. The BB2 is a hydrogen fuel cell land speed vehicle designed to break the speed record for electric vehicles at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. It is designed and built by Ohio State University students out of the Center for Automotive Research in Columbus, Ohio. More details may be found at:

http://www.buckeyebullet.com/

Dedicated BB2 fans may also enjoy the daily blog:

http://buckeyebullet.blogspot.com/

More information on the Salt Flats may be found on the official website:

http://www.utah.com/playgrounds/bonneville_salt.htm

______________________________________________________________________________

October 5th, 2007, 5 pm

After a busy evening and morning devoted to upgrading control software, the team had the BB2 in the queue and ready to go around 10AM.
Unfortunately the queue never moved much as heavy winds and incoming rain forced the officials to close the track and end the meet.
World Finals is over, but there may be some further updates as the team is considering lengthening their stay by a few days to run again early next week.

Stay tuned...

Go Bucks! Go Fast!

Giorgio Rizzoni

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Buckeye Bullet 2 ready for World Finals at Bonneville - report 4 from the Salt Flats

Buckeye Bullet 2 is the fastest hydrogen powered and fuel cell vehicle on earth!

Friends of the Buckeye Bullet:
This is the fourth of a series of reports describing the progress of the Buckeye Bullet 2 at The Bonneville World Finals. The BB2 is a hydrogen fuel cell land speed vehicle designed to break the speed record for electric vehicles at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. It is designed and built by Ohio State University students out of the Center for Automotive Research in Columbus, Ohio. More details may be found at:

http://www.buckeyebullet.com/

Dedicated BB2 fans may also enjoy the daily blog:

http://buckeyebullet.blogspot.com/

More information on the Salt Flats may be found on the official website:

http://www.utah.com/playgrounds/bonneville_salt.htm

______________________________________________________________________________

October 4th, 2007, 12:45 pm

This morning the BB2 had its first run at the World Finals. In spite of a few glitches, BB2 recorded an exit speed of 224.301 mph, and an average speed on the fifth mile of 223.334 mph. This is the highest speed ever recorded for any vehicle fueled by hydrogen and/or powered by fuel cells.
Ballard Chief Technology Officer Chris Guzy and Ford Hydrogen 999 Program Manager Matt Zuehlk are currently at Bonneville and were able to witness this historic performance. Chris Guzy recently visited the OSU campus to receive the college of engineering Meritorius Service Award on behalf of Ballard, in recognition of the unprecedented support provided by Ballard to the Buckeye Bullet team. He seems to be enjoying the spirit of Bonneville.

The team had a slower start than anticipated due to several minor problems related to the fit of some body parts. Eventually, the BB2 reached the start line around 10:30, and was in line to start around 11. The first mile was painfully slow. The fuel cell system only delivered limited power at first, and Roger Schroer had to reset all the power systems twice. On the third attempt the propulsion system responded, and Roger rocketed away. The exit speed recorded in the attached slip is in fact only representative of a 4-mile run, due to the starting problems. The run was completed at approximately 80% power. There is definitely room for improving this record...

At the end of the run the parachutes did not deploy quite as intended, and the team is now working on improving the chute release systems in expectation of a second run later in the afternoon. Since the parachutes were not fully tested, the next run is likely to also take place at limited power and at a conservative speed of around 250.

If all goes well, Friday runs will be conducted at full power, and we expect to see significantly greater speeds.

Congratulations to the BB2 team!!

Go Bucks! Go fast!

Giorgio Rizzoni

225 mph!

Our first run of the week, we got it up to be the fastest car on hydrogen! We'll be taking it back to the pits to make a few changes, and then hopefully be back in line soon, probably later today.

Buckeye Bullet 2 ready for World Finals at Bonneville - report 2 from the Salt Flats

Friends of the Buckeye Bullet:
This is the second of a series of daily reports describing the progress of the Buckeye Bullet 2 at The Bonneville World Finals. The BB2 is a hydrogen fuel cell land speed vehicle designed to break the speed record for electric vehicles at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. It is designed and built by Ohio State University students out of the Center for Automotive Research in Columbus, Ohio. More details may be found at:

http://www.buckeyebullet.com/

Dedicated BB2 fans may also enjoy the daily blog:

http://buckeyebullet.blogspot.com/

More information on the Salt Flats may be found on the official website:

http://www.utah.com/playgrounds/bonneville_salt.htm

______________________________________________________________________________

October 4th, 2007, 5:15 am
Of all the things that could go wrong, I would have never imagined that the hotel would not have an internet connection...
I will find a way to send this message this morning from some other location.
The Bullet 2 passed technical inspection in the morning, but as it was getting ready for its first run, a hydrogen leak was detected by the data logging system. With help from Ballard’s Mike Procter the source of the leak was identified and fixed, but the process took some time, and by the time I reached the Salt the long course had been shut down because of high wind. When the team left the pit area at 7pm the vehicle was ready to go. The race course opens at 7 am, and we plan to be ready to tow the Bullet to the starting line at 6:45.
The conditions are excellent right now: clear and calm. I do not have any fresh images for this report, but for those who would like to visualize where we will be in a couple of hours, I am attaching an old picture of a Bonneville sunrise I took in 2003 or 2004.

Go Bucks! Go fast!

Giorgio Rizzoni

Nearly ready...

Well, we had hoped to have a run in by the end of the day, but a few gremlins and an earlier track closing caused our run to be postponed until the morning. With the arrival of the BB2 logbook, we completed our technical inspection, and spun up the motor in the pits to get ready to go to the track to run. Right after the motor spun, we had a problem with our controller that set us back a few hours, and sent us chasing our tails for a little bit. We also had some issues with the body fitting onto the car, but with a little nudge and a push, the body is fitting nicely now. So, we believe the problems have been resolved, and the car should be all set to run in the morning. Also, I had hoped to have some video for everyone to see, but this slow internet here has stopped that from happening. Hopefully I can have some up tomorrow night. Until then, I'll have run speeds up as we complete runs from the salt.

Updated : Just kidding, here's the video:

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Buckeye Bullet 2 ready for World Finals at Bonneville - report 1 from the Salt Flats

Friends of the Buckeye Bullet:
This is the first of a series of daily reports describing the progress of the Buckeye Bullet 2 at The Bonneville World Finals. The BB2 is a hydrogen fuel cell land speed vehicle designed to break the speed record for electric vehicles at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. It is designed and built by Ohio State University students out of the Center for Automotive Research in Columbus, Ohio. More details may be found at:

http://www.buckeyebullet.com/

Dedicated BB2 fans may also enjoy the daily blog:

http://buckeyebullet.blogspot.com/

More information on the Salt Flats may be found on the official website:

http://www.utah.com/playgrounds/bonneville_salt.htm

______________________________________________________________________________

October 3rd, 2007
Well, I must confess that I am not in Bonneville yet – I am leaving to join the team later this morning, after teaching my class. So, this report is based on communications from the team. I will issue an update at the end of the day.

The Bullet2 left over the weekend after a series of very successful tests held at TRC in the past several days. All systems appear to be functioning correctly, and the team is upbeat. The vehicle has seen significant changes and improvements since the August runs. Most notably, the electrical system has been completely re-wired, with invaluable assistance provided by Ford, who hosted a small group of students and taught them the fundamentals of creating a robust wiring harness. In addition, the transmission has been fully commissioned and all H2 flow restrictions have been eliminated. The vehicle was ready to go last week, and the tests conducted at TRC validated all the changes made since August.

Half of the team arrived on the Salt Monday, the other half late yesterday evening. The team went through a preliminary tech inspection, and a few very minor fixes need to be implemented. We expect that the vehicle will pass tech inspection this morning and will be cleared for a 250 mph run. SCTA/BNI officials would like to see speeds increased gradually, so it might take a couple of runs to begin to see what kinds of speeds can be achieved. If all goes well, we might have some interesting numbers to report tonight...

Go Bucks! Go fast!

Giorgio Rizzoni

_________________________________________________________
Giorgio Rizzoni
The Ford Motor Company Chair in Electromechanical Systems
Professor of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering
Director, Center for Automotive Research
The Ohio State University
930 Kinnear Road
Columbus, OH 43212

PH:(614) 688-3856
FX: (614) 688-4111
e-mail: rizzoni.1@osu.edu
http://car.eng.ohio-state.edu

Assistant: Pat Hall
PH: (614) 292-5990
e-mail: Hall.420@osu.edu
_________________________________________________________

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Arrival! (For Some)

Half of the BB2 team has arrived in Wendover, Utah along with the semi trailer carrying the BB2. They will be on the salt tomorrow morning at 7am (Mountain Time) to unload and send the car through technical inspection, which is required to pass in order to be able to run. According to the SCTA, the salt is good:

The latest storm passed over us. No rain. Both courses have been dragged.
Tuesday - mostly sunny.
Salt Opens at 7 am
Inspection, registration and pit set up tomorrow is from 10 am to 5 pm.

The rest of the team (including myself) will be arriving tomorrow night. More updates on the tech inspection as we find out more.

Monday, October 1, 2007

Call us at our new number

Oh you thought I meant telephone number. Actually, since Speedweek in August, we have changed the car number of the Buckeye Bullet 2. Our number in August, 3006, was meant to pay homage to the Buckeye Bullet 1, which had the same number. Now this is a story that has been passed onto me from former team members, but it was chosen because they wanted the windshield of the BB1 to be very safe. We used the same polycarbonate material on the BB2, and to test the safety of the BB1 windshield, they took it to a firing range, testing it with a variety of firearms to ensure that the driver would be safe from debris. They finally tested it with the .30-06 rifle, which is how the car got it's number.

This brings us to the number change for the BB2. We wanted to choose a number that would be more fitting for this new car, and after some discussion, we settled on 2016. Why 2016? Well the BB2 is powered by Hydrogen, specifically dihydrogen, or H2. The molecular weight (that's right, we used chemistry) of H2 is 2.016 g/mol, which gives us the number 2016.

So, look for a new number on the side of the BB2 this week, and check back for our updates all week while we're at World Finals!

Saturday, September 29, 2007

BB2 Has Left for Utah!

Finally, after a very long period of packing (through the night and all morning), the Buckeye Bullet 2 is on its way to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Cowen Truck Line picked up the Semi trailer today, and is taking everything (the car, tools, supplies, spare parts, even the kitchen sink) out to the Salt Flats, where we will be meeting it early next week. Of course, here is some video and a few photos of the packing: