About
What is a Human Powered Vehicle?
A human powered vehicle is defined as an “aerodynamic, highly engineered vehicle that may be for use on land, in the water or the air” (ASME). The use of human power has been around for an eternity in the forms of walking, running, and swimming. We can now enhance our power using new ideals and technology to maximize our output. Our goal through research and design is to achieve the most simple and efficient HPV on our budget.
The Competition
The HPV will be entered into an American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ design competition on May 1, 2009. Against the vehicles of other schools, our model will be judged and graded on several criteria including analysis, research conducted, the design itself, a sprint event, and an endurance event. Throughout the design process, the team must ensure to meet all of the rules and criteria as established on the ASME HPV competition website. Additional points will be awarded for originality, aesthetics, and practicality of the design. In this competition, there cannot be too much analysis and preparation, as the universities that show the greatest amount of effort in these categories, tend to receive the highest ratings.
Our Approach
We plan to put our team's heads together to research and develop a new and more practical HPV that will be both functional as well as simple. Our group will be using both observations from past HPVs as well as the aid from computer software. One software program we will be using is a CAD program to illustrate our vehicle fully dimensioned. Then, we will transfer that CAD drawing to ANSYS’s CFD program to determine the most aerodynamic fairing with the least coefficient of drag for our vehicle. Since the airflow around our vehicle is so crucial, we will be making a scaled down model to test in the wind tunnel. With these methods we will be able to fabricate a practical and aerodynamic vehicle that will do excellent in the competition as well as for everyday use.
Team
Leader: Corbett Schoenfelt
Members: Eric Greenberg
Christie Farmer
Mike Farris
Evan Shimek
TTU, Mechanical Engineering Dept., 7th and Boston, Lubbock, TX 79409
806.742.3451