The University of Lagos (UNILAG) won global applause recently when 20 of her students designed, fabricated and assembled an electric power racing car that successfully passed technical competence test at an international competition in Netherlands, held recently.
The car was designed to use solar battery-electric, shaped like a teardrop to minimise drag and its body built with natural material from raffia plants.Campus Sun gathered that UNILAG was the only shining star out of the three Nigerian universities that were shortlisted for this year’s Shell Eco-Marathon event held May 15-18, involving 198 universities from 27 countries of the world. Although the team from the University of Benin (UNIBEN) made an appreciable progress by getting their locally made car technically certified, the car engine failed and couldn’t race on the track with others. Also, the team from the Ahmed Bello University (ABU), Zaria, suffered some setbacks and could not meet up with the competition.
The UNILAG electric car was the brainchild of students drawn from six departments of the school: Electrical, Mechanical, Chemical, Physics, Architecture and Creative Arts. Of course, Mass Communication Department also shared the glory for promoting the needed publicity, before, during and after the project.

The participating students, who were of the average age of 22, passed through the rough lane that eventually led them to Netherlands, venue of the Shell Eco-Marathon event. They slugged it out with other universities from Europe and other countries.

The teams competed in two categories. The first task was to design and build ultra-energy-efficient vehicles to see how far they can drive using the least amount of energy. There were two classes and seven fuel categories: the prototype class focuses on maximum efficiency; the UrbanConcept class encourages more practical designs.

Prototype vehicles are futuristic and streamlined, where the primary consideration was to reduce friction and maximise efficiency. UrbanConcept vehicles are more conventional, designed and built to roadworthy specifications suited to the needs of today’s drivers.

Teams also opted for one of six fuel types: petrol, diesel, battery electric, hydrogen and alternative fuels ethanol and GTL.

Participating in such global exhibition for the first time, probably as underdog, was a test of ability for UNILAG team. Intimidation and inferiority complex became an inevitable fever  as one of the participants, Olakanmi Olushola Victoria, a 400 level Physics student, confessed later.

“Yes, we felt intimidated on seeing other institutions’ classic works; it was our first time. But we remained focused and we succeeded”, she admitted.

According to Olakanmi, anxiety overwhelmed the team when the car suddenly failed to move at the time they were called to showcase their work. But thank God, they quickly spotted the fault within the car’s wheel and fixed it.

“We were determined to pass the 10 rigorous technical tests. We went through challenges even at the least time we ever expected but we still made it. What actually failed when we got there for the first time was the wheel. Just at a short distance, the wheel buckled and we felt so disappointed. But based on the team spirit, we never gave up.”

And, of course, never bothered about others’ impression of them!  “Being Nigerian students, when we got there, other contestants were surprised and might have been wondering what we were doing there,” she said. “We were the only black students I saw there. Sincerely, the other cars we saw at the event were classic. Actually, most of the universities have been participating for years. Some of them brought their sophisticated equipment but we did not allow that to weigh us down, and we made use of what we had. Thank God we passed the 10 tests.”

Other members of the team are Inomosen Abraham, Agba Obinna, Aliu Paula, Adeboye Abayomi, Adebayo Oluwasegun, Agbaje Folasade, Emokpere David, Agbamoro Joseph, Isiogu Chukwuemeka, Ojelonde Sheriff, Akande Ruben, Odumoso Abayomi, Akanbi Ibrahim, Dolapo Oladapo, Eniodunmi Omolola, Owolabi Oreoluwah, Salami Timade, Olowsilu Emmanuel and Odubanjo Rukayat.

Agbaje, a 400 level student of Mechanical Engineering was active in the mechanical sub-group, working on the steering and braking systems, as well as the vehicle aerodynamics. She was also the main driver of AUTONOV II. She is passionate about technology and design and her future plans focuses on breaking boundaries for women in engineering in Nigeria.

Another student, Obinna Agba, a  500 level student of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, worked with the team to develop and install the battery management system and electrical/electronic accessories. He is passionate about technology, especially new trends in mobile technology.

Also Segun Adebayo, a 400 level student of Mechanical Engineering, designed the steering and braking systems, and the vehicle’s aerodynamics. Aside his technical skills, he also led a UNILAG team to a national public speaking competition, where they emerged second runners-up.

The team Manager, Abraham Imohiosen, a year five student of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, was unanimously voted the leader by the team. Aliu Paula, a 500 level student of Computer Engineering, managed the battery management system of the car. She is proficient in seven different programming languages with a preference for desktop and mobile application development.

The team supervisor, Ike Mowete, a professor of engineering electromagnetic, specialises in antennas and propagation. He was a guest columnist with The Sun newspaper, where he wrote about science and technology. He told Campus Sun that the feat was a good omen for Nigerian education, explaining that it offered the students a rare opportunity to broaden their horizon.

He stated: “Apart from the routine practical in the laboratory, this was something that needed to be done properly because it was showcased across the globe. Both CNN and other international media houses covered it.”

He commended the students for displaying resilience throughout the project. Giving an abridged overview of the production process, Prof Mowete said: “From the beginning, we knew the skills and other resources we needed. We needed those who will design, build and integrate, and they have to be students. We asked the students who have any of the skills to see us. We interviewed, selected the team and they started work according to their areas of specialisation. For example, the student from Creative Arts constructed the car’s body himself. There were a lot of other things which the students manufactured themselves which we were initially buying from outside. I am very proud of them and you needed to have seen what they did in Netherlands. They were confident because they did the work themselves.”

He said several universities participated at the event, with only four from Africa, namely UNILAG, UNIBEN and two universities from Morocco. With UNILAG’s success, the university got a recent invitation for another exhibition in October, holding in South Africa.

According to him, from the already acquired experience, the school is set to build another car for the invitation while the AUTONOV11 will be kept in UNILAG’s museum.

The Vice Chancellor, Prof Rahamon Adisa Bello, told Campus Sun that the university produced AUTONOV 1 in the early 70s during the debate to change from left hand to the right hand drive. He said the local car, built by the late Prof Ayodele Oluwatuminu Awojobi (March 12, 1937 – September 23, 1984), also known by the nicknames “Dead Easy”, “The Akoka Giant”, and “Macbeth”, was produced to convince the government that right hand drive vehicles could be easily converted to the left hand drive.

Unlike the AUTONOV 1, Bello said the new AUTONOV 11 was designed to test students’ ability to produce vehicles that would use minimal energy. The focus of the project, according to him, was on energy consumption, a situation that led the students to work on an electric racing vehicle.

Although UNILAG students didn’t win the competition in Netherland, Prof Bello was satisfied that his students’ car was able to race on the track, even though they were participating in the competition for the first time. Above all, other vehicles produced by students from Europe couldn’t prove their worth on the track.

“Students from the University of Benin also got technically certified with their own car but unfortunately their engine failed before they went on the track, hence they couldn’t race on the track. Our own team also went on the track but after the first round, something happened and they could not continue. At least, they went on the track and raced along with other ones,” he said.

The VC said UNILAG was soaring in technical skills at the international level and boasted that the school was second to none.

“What we give is quality education and we can vouch for all our graduates, anywhere, anytime. This car was experimental and nobody knew we could get to this point. We understand that there were some universities in Europe who could not meet the requirement but UNILAG did, therefore, we are performing feat that some schools in developed world cannot do,” he bragged.

He expressed gratitude to Shell Petroleum Development Company for sponsoring the project, stressing that the talents would not have been discovered without the sponsor. He said: “This shows that Nigeria has the potentials. What the students did was use their basic knowledge to produce and assemble all the components in the vehicle. What that means is that they understand the principles by which the vehicle works.”

He said the car was dear to the university because the students proved that they were learning with both brain and hands for the country’s development.  His words: “The organisers will not agree to them buying components from the market. These students got the innate knowledge to be able to accomplish the task. It also shows that the knowledge of building modern racing car is neither alien nor beyond us. This is the beginning of technology hoping to be improved on.”

UNILAG’s Pro-Chancellor, Prof Jerry Gana, also showered encomiums on the young engineers, lecturers and management for making the university and the country proud. He charged other students in the university to explore new grounds that would promote the image of the school and the country, promising that the management would support them in its capacity.


http://sunnewsonline.com/new/?p=74539

Commendable feat, more grease to their elbows.

Front page tinx.
Sits, Grab a glass of kunu, cross legs and watch the useless comments coming soon.

More pics of the vehicle please.

We are getting there...slowly but we are getting there.

Awesome

I seriously wish this innovation will not go the way of the past ones. It will be a good thing if the private sector moves on with this. The gown and the town must properly link up for us to catch up with the more technologically advanced countries of the world. Linking up with INNOSON will probably safe this from stillbirth.

Big ups to Shell.

FG link this guys to Innoson asap!

Let's not waste this talents abeg...