TU Chemical Engineering Students Win
2004 National Chem-E-Car Competition
The Chem-E-Car team from the University of Tulsa won the distance competition at the 2004 AIChE Annual Student Conference. Their distance from the finish line (at 75 ft) was 14 inches, and the required water load was 400 mL. The next closest competitor was Tennessee Technological University at 22 inches, and third place was the University of South Carolina at about 4 ft. First prize is a check for $2000 and a trophy. The top six place finishers are invited to compete at the 7th World Congress of Chemical Engineering to be held in Glasgow, Scotland, July 10 – 14, 2005.
The field was full for the first time this year: 31 universities registered their teams. All but two or three cars competed, and a car that came on stand-by was able to compete. Click here for a list of the car teams who registered to compete.
Although mechanical engineers have been on the team in the past, recent teams have been all chemical engineering majors. The team members and their classes are (left to right) Christina Bishop (senior), Michael DeShazer (sophomore), Taylor Coleman (sophomore), Stephen Heitzman (sophomore), and Dorian Marx (freshman). Not pictured is Ismail Fahmi (freshman) and Elizabeth Clagg (senior). All of the students except Elizabeth attended the competition in Austin.
The name of the car is the Hydrogen Hurricane. The running and stopping mechanism of the car has three steps. Hydrogen gas from a gas cylinder and ambient air power a fuel cell. The energy produced by the fuel cell is stored in an ultra-capacitor bank. The fuel cells are not carried on the car. When it is time to run, the capacitors are discharged to a motor through a circuit containing a magnesium strip. The magnesium strip is dipped in a hydrochloric acid solution, which slowly eats through the strip. When the strip is broken, the circuit is broken and the car stops. Different concentrations of hydrochloric acid are used the make the car stop at different distances.
The fuel cells used in the car were made at the University of Tulsa by Naji Shaban and Christopher Shafer, Spring 2004 graduates and previous Chem-E-Car team members. Dr. Christi Patton mentored the students as they made the fuel cells. Oregon State University Professor Skip Rochefort, a Rules Coordinator for the competition, was pleased that our winning car used fuel cells built by the students instead of commercial fuel cells.
The University of Tulsa has competed in every regional and national competition since Spring 2000. Karma Slusarchuk, TU AIChE Chapter President, saw the first national competition in 1999, and she decided that TU should participate. The faculty advisor, Dr. Laura Ford, encouraged Karma and the students who followed her to participate in the regional and national competitions every year since then. After the first two years or so, the regional competitions became qualifying rounds for the national competition (although there are a few open slots available). We have qualified every year by placing in the top three distance places at our regional competitions. Our previous runs at national have generally been in the top ten places.
While announcing the winners, the MC reminded the crowd of our run at Los Angeles in 2000. In our first run, the students forgot the water load but the distance was very good. They told the judges about the water, and the judges disqualified their run. Our second run fizzled, and we lost the competition. The honesty of our team members made a lasting impression on the competition committee.
In addition to doing well in the distance part of the competition, we have placed in the regional poster competition (1st, 2nd) and placed 2nd in the national poster competition in 2002.
The students and department are very excited about their win this year and the opportunity to compete in Glasgow in July 2005.
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ChE Tulsa University 
