Fuel efficiency or home efficiency contest

[John Gutmann]

OK here some things I have been looking at and how and my view on them:

SAE Supermilage -- Good competition, but.....you have to use a 4 cycle briggs and stratton engine

Shell Eco-Marathon -- Mostly what I was looking for, but the competition is in california

Solar Decathlon -- Good competition, but it uses solar power......Clarkson is in Potsdam ny, So it would be hard to test things

X-Prize -- good competition for sure, but unsure about things with it, does it have to be 85 ( or is it 89 ) octane gas, as in the REGULAR at the pump? or what I couldn't find much.

What are your guys (and girls) opinions on what I am saying.

[KenWittlief]

back in the late '70s and early '80s I had a subscription to The Mother Earth News, A magazine focused on independent living and a low-impact lifestyle.

I have often thought it would be a great experiment to take the Henry David Thoreau / Walden path for a year or two, using modern technology, and see what kind of a human habitat could be created.

I find the idea very interesting, and very relevant to our present economy.

[Capt. Quirk]

http://students.sae.org/competitions...eage/index.htm

[FourPenguins]

IIRC, in order to win the X prize you have to bring the 100mpg car to production and sell it commercially, so unless you work for a major auto company, that one probably isn't an option.
Correction: It doesn't have to go to market, but it must be marketable at a realistic cost and fulfill all road and safety laws.

[MrForbes]

The sae contest is interesting, when we did it in 1983 I made an OHV cylinder head for the B&S engine using the AME shop's mills and whatnot.

[Capt. Quirk]

A lot could be learned from that old B&S L-Head configuration. Engine builders can get more horsepower with the 5hp upright engine than the newer OHV intec engines, fully modified uprights can exceed 45 horsepower.

With common microprocessors you could make your own ignition and fuel injection systems, changes to the engine like (mechanical) adjustable cam timing and or valve lift or even (microprocessor controlled) electronic valve solenoids and scrap the camshaft altogether. Also there is a large amount of aftermarket parts available.

Engine testing could be accomplished with a small, easy to build inertia dyno that could simulate the actual vehicle.

[MrForbes]

We had a few small water brake dynos in on of the engineering labs, I used one (and a balance to measure fuel consumption) to test the engine before and after modifying it, and calculated BSFC at full and part throttle. I ended up winning a contest (and an HP-41 calculator) in my design class, mainly because I actually tested the effectiveness of my design....no one else did....

[dtengineering]

Is it a race or an efficiency contest? One hour, limited batteries, fastest average speed wins. It is electrathon racing and we used to do it here in Vancouver (video) before getting into FIRST.

Some of our student-designed cars had a long way to go in the efficiency area, but racing still played a role as a good driver could make or break (literally) your car. I found electrathon combined speed, technology, and efficiency with a good pit atmosphere and exciting races.

Maybe you will, too.

Jason