Monterrey, NL. An interdisciplinary team from the Autonomous University of Nuevo León (UANL) won the Innovation Award of the 2022 Aiche Student Annual Conference, held in Phoenix, Arizona, for the design of a car powered by chemical reactions.
The group is made up of students from the Faculties of Chemical Sciences, who are leading the work, and from Mechanical and Electrical Engineering.
The university students explained that chemical reactions are carried out by chemical engineers and everything related to electronics by mechatronics and industrial engineers who are in charge of improving the process of batteries, electrocells, the heart of the cart, where it begins to generate the chemical reaction, and with the help of the mechatronics the braking occurs”.
They received the award in the regional stage, in addition to obtaining third place in the Student Poster Contest, part of the conference that brought together delegations from 34 universities from Brazil, Canada, Colombia, China, the United States, Greece, Qatar, and Mexico. among others.
As for the car, it participated in the Aiche Chem-E-Car competition. “The idea of the competition is for students to apply knowledge of chemical engineering. The premise was that the students create a mobile that lights up and drives through chemical reactions. Our design stood out because it’s like an electric car, like a little Tesla. We dedicated time to carry out this chemical engineering project and we believe that it is representative of the country”, explained César Alejandro Garza Hernández on behalf of the team, led by professor and researcher Javier Rivera de la Rosa.
He added: “This car was designed from the ground up. Its design stands out among other vehicles that have the appearance of square containers. With the help of our fellow mechatronics engineers we applied many circuits, cards. They set us apart like a car Hi Tech. A lot of attention was paid to safety.”
This contest favors the ability of students to measure the chemical reactions that provide the start, movement and completion of the route of a vehicle, so all students put their knowledge at the disposal of the project.
“This year we had the honor of winning the most innovative design. The competition has precision as a criterion. It is not about speed, but rather they indicate a distance to cover. We must get as close as possible, so it is quite an adventure to calculate the correct measurements and quantities to achieve the goal”, reported Sofía Aidé Sánchez Llanes, also part of the UANL team.
The competition is held every year and the universities affiliated with the Aiche (World Home of Chemical Engineers) participate. It has a regional phase that includes the states of Texas, Nuevo León (UANL and Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (Monterrey campus) and a university from Louisiana.
Projects that qualify go on to the annual competition, which brings together universities from around the world.
The UANL team had the support of the Faculty of Chemical Sciences, directed by Dr. Argelia Vargas Moreno, and a local company with an international presence, dedicated to the development, manufacture and sale of special products for agriculture.
The competition ran from November 11 to 14.
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