"Sinag" Filipino Solar Car

[dprox]

[SIZE="4"]SINAG[/SIZE], the country’s first solar-powered car was
developed by De La Salle University engineering students.



It will compete in the 3,000-kilometer 20th
World Solar Challenge in Darwin, Australia in October 21-28, 2007.
CONGRATULATIONS and GODSPEED!

You / 2bu
[SIZE="4"]Driven youth[/SIZE]
[SIZE="1"]By Mark Christian Parlade
Inquirer / Posted date: August 01, 2007[/SIZE]

MANILA, Philippines—It is said that the world belongs to the youth who will someday inherit the earth. But with today’s headlines screaming disastrous global climate change, can the young be blamed for their impatience, for taking into their own hands the cause of the environment, and for demanding a more viable alternative energy source?

A group of mechanical engineering students of De La Salle University can wait no longer. With the help of their mentors and the country’s biggest corporations, they are developing the Philippines’ first solar car which will compete in the World Solar Challenge in Australia, this October.

They’re not even joining the contest to win. They are just out to prove that the Philippines can stand shoulder to shoulder with other progressive nations in developing solar power as an environmentally safe alternative energy source.

Appropriately enough, they have named the car Sinag, evocative of the bright new day that will come when alternative energy is fully realized. Mostly junior and senior students, they have worked day and night for the past year to put the solar car together from scratch.

The students were divided into various groups to oversee the assembly of the solar car’s critical parts: the mechanical, electrical, and shell teams.

The mechanical team handles the design and fabrication of all mechanical components like steering, brakes, suspension and weight balancing.

Electrical components, instrumentations and race strategy are the concerns of the electrical team.

Meanwhile, the shell team is in charge of designing and assembling the car’s aerodynamic shell.

While they major in mechanical engineering, the students said nothing really prepared them for the challenge. “We had to read about car assembly from the Internet and books,” said Jose Martin Lucas Sy-Quia, leader of the shell Team.

Before Sinag, the bespectacled 21-year-old loved to cook, swim and read. “We’ve focused on this challenge for now. Everything else except for our studies takes a backseat.”

Robert Obiles leads the electrical Team, where his penchant for computers, surfing the Internet and playing strategy games serves him and his teammates well.

“We’ve done so much research on schematics and assembly. It’s difficult enough to build a car. Much more, a solar car!” said Mico Villena, 20, leader of the mechanical team. “But in the end, we hope all the hours studying and sacrificing for this endeavor will be worth it.”

Under professor Rene Fernandez, the team has been diligently putting together Sinag’s composite body made out of carbon fiber and Nomex honeycomb core structure which will make it ultra-strong and light.
At only 150 kg, the car is capable of reaching a maximum speed of 100 kph. Six sq. m. of the car’s top surface is covered with terrestrial grade silicon solar cells from manufacturer, Sunpower, that collect energy from the sun and convert it into electrical power.

Corporate sponsors of the car are Ford Group Philippines, Motolite, Philippine Airlines, San Miguel Corporation, Shell, Sunpower, and Ventus.

The project is also supported by Aurora, Cabrera Lavadia and Associates, J. Walter Thompson, Creasia, Merritt Partners, Tuason Training School, Gochermann Solar Technology, and Stratworks.

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Sinag's official website is http://www.philippinesolarcar.org/.
More news/feature items on Sinag : | 1 | 2 | 3 |

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