电动引擎
IDEAWORKS' Electric Race Boat Team Takes First Place in Manned Category at 2022 Promoting 电力推进赛
Competing against 16 teams representing other colleges and universities, Washington College’s Electric Race Boat Team – clear underdogs -- took first place in the manned class for Small Craft at the 2022 Promoting Electric Propulsion race in May, completing 5英里的比赛用时22点23分，创造了13英里的新纪录.4英里. 竞争对手 included teams from Old Dominion University, Princeton University and University of 肯塔基州等等.
The Promoting Electric Propulsion race is held annually on the Potomac River and sponsored 由美国海军工程师协会颁发. 这是九州娱乐官网队的 first time out at this race, which is specifically geared to collegiate teams. 他们的 entry was less powerful compared to some of the rest of the field, but proved superior in systems 设计 and testing, and was ultimately the only boat in the manned class 顺利完成整个课程.
The five-member team that claimed victory at PEP included Evan McCarthy ’22 (Team Captain and Driver), Jakob Stiens ’22, Seyed Marjaei ’23, Hannah Perkins ’24 and Tristan 赖特的25.
This celebrated win was five years in the making, as the team has been hard at work since 2017 with the continued iterative 设计 and development of an all-electric 赛船. “每年的团队都建立在集体成功的基础上，并从中学习 collective mistakes of the previous year,” said Brian Palmer, Director, Digital Media 学生管理团队的服务和顾问. 团队遇到的挫折是 an integral part of the process of identifying problems likely to be encountered and 试图消除这些故障点.
In fact, the time the team has dedicated to finding and fixing weaknesses over the 过去的几年使这场胜利变得更加有意义. “大多数其他球队都有 more powerful motors, higher voltage batteries and boats that should have beaten us 在纸面上，”帕尔默补充道. “我们的团队之所以获胜，是因为我们利用了现有的资源 并做出我们所能做到的最好的完整系统.”
For example, an April test run of the boat revealed that the air-cooled electric motor 以比赛速度跑时，体温缓慢升高. 他们把头凑在一起 and 设计ed and built a water-cooled jacket around the motor in order to actively 用冰水冷却. 在比赛当天，他们可以把马达开到最大 没有担忧.
“每年的团队都建立在集体成功的基础上，并从中学习 collective mistakes of the previous year,” said Brian Palmer, Director, Digital Media Services 还是学生团队的指导老师.
Team member Jakob Stiens ’22 is a 3:2 Engineering student at Columbia University felt 他们遇到的最有用的挫折之一是电池. 通过处理 sagging voltages and underperforming battery cells, the team learned to create strong, 能维持电压的长效电池组. 最后，就是可靠性 是什么给了他们优势. “看到我们的表现超过所有球队，我感到非常满意 就长期可靠性而言，”斯蒂恩斯说. “几乎每艘船都有一些 sort of electrical or other 设计 flaw that caused them to eventually lose power. Ours was the only boat in our category to make the whole race from start to finish.”
Team member Seyed Marjaei ’23 also sees the iterations as part of the journey, noting that working through the challenges has been lessons in both resilience and perseverance, 对个人发展至关重要的软技能. “我们不会有 我们的成功没有受到挫折。.
The benefits of being part of the Electric Boat Race team extend beyond competition 赢了. 学生不仅在未来的发展中发挥着积极的作用 systems and future workforce at the core of electric vehicles – a shift that is rapidly taking place – but they are also making real-world connections with potential future employers and other contacts through the vast network of the American Society of Naval 工程师，比赛赞助商.
And then of course, there are the skills students are learning from each other – electronics and battery 设计, prototype fabrication, woodworking, business, and general problem-solving. “What makes this team different is that we aren’t just Engineers,” said Marjaei. “即使 big corporations are made up of multiple departments like marketing, business and 金融. 我们遵循相同的结构，任何领域的每个人都可以 参与并将他们的知识应用到一个真正的、世界级的项目中.”
Team Captain Evan McCarthy ’22 echoed that sentiment, noting the practical skills gained from being a part of the team – teamwork, leadership, and time management – 所有这些都适用于任何现代职业道路.
McCarthy also sees the tangible connections made from the events and races as a benefit 致团队成员. “我们必须与领导者、创新者竞争和合作 甚至是潜在的雇主，”他说. “特别是在最后一场比赛中，我们都来了 out with connections to multiple teams and individuals making their mark on the industry. 我们与参与此次活动的公司和组织建立了联系.”
Prior to 2022, the team had competed for several years in the Wye River CHALLENGE Electric Boat Marathon, an annual 24-mile race run by the Electric Boat Association 美国. 他们于2017年首次参加比赛，但由于自制电池耗尽， 无法完成课程. 在2018年又一次失败的尝试之后 team hardened the systems, acquired a wood boat hull and completed the course in 4:45, 以3rd 整体和1st 2019年在单体先进电池类别中获得一席之地. 通过额外的改进， they finished in 4:13 and again took first in 2020 in the Monohull, Advanced Battery 第二类nd 地方整体. 2021年，他们创造了2小时48分的新纪录，获得了第一名 overall in a modified version of the event where teams competed individually and tracked 他们的距离和时间.
The Electric Race Boat team is also indicative of the “九州娱乐官网” spirit at Washington College, as it was born out of an interest by students in the future of electric vehicles 回到2016年. 据帕尔默说，学生们想制造一辆电动汽车 that could serve as a commuter vehicle, and as a proof of concept, they converted 一辆以电力为动力的山地车.
Using that momentum, and with the Chester River in the College’s backyard, it made perfect sense to take advantage of the Waterfront Campus in the quest to better understand 开发电动汽车需要什么.
“Being a part of the Electric Race Boat Team is really a once in a lifetime opportunity,” 说Stiens. “这是一个扩大视野的机会，可以看到和体验很多 不同的东西. 从技术和职业的角度来看，它提供了丰富的技术 工具和技术以及设计和工艺理论方面的培训.”
The Electric Race Boat team is part of the IDEAWORKS Innovation Center at Washington College, a platform that embraces, nurtures, and develops a mindset that employs creative and critical thinking and the ability to solve complex problems through iterative 设计. 我们邀请来自各个学习领域的学生加入，探索，创造， 合作和创新.
跟随团队 IDEAWORKS 在Instagram.
在这里观看PEP比赛的视频: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDX1g0qkQBY