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TCNJ Seniors Secure Solar Splash Awards

TCNJ’s Solar Splash team came back with numerous awards in the Intercollegiate Solar Splash Competition held in Cedar Falls, Iowa.  The team was assembled as a senior project and consisted of team members Glen Reese, Steve Voinier, Steve Stockhamer, Chris O’Mullane, Patrick Dougherty and advisors Dr. Norman Asper, Anthony Deese, and Karen Yan.

This year’s team designed their boat around a previous year’s hull. Special features of their design included fabrication of a custom propeller that was machined on TCNJ’s new five axis CNC machine, a new peak power transfer system, new solar panels complements of Schott Solar, and a robust storage system that allowed for maximum boat buoyancy in case the boat filled with water. “The project required a lot of time and effort” Patrick said, “but that helped to make the competition as fun and enjoyable as it was.”

The competition spanned five days and consisted of three events, endurance, sprint and slalom. The endurance event tested the boat’s power efficiency and use of solar power; the sprint event raced each boat to 300m; the slalom event tested the boats’ maneuverability. Teams were also judged on visual display, technical report, qualifying time, hull design and workmanship. TCNJ came back with 4th place in the overall competition, 3rd in slalom and for their technical report, 5th in sprint, and won awards for Outstanding Hull Design and Outstanding Workmanship.

 

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