About Us

Cornell ChemE Car is a happy family, housed in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering but welcoming of anyone who wants to join. Below, we detail some general information about the team and about the competition as a whole. To contact us, please skip to the bottom of this page.

What is ChemE Car?

The AIChE ChemE Car is an annual competition sponsored by national AIChE. The goal of the competition is to build a chemical-powered car, about the size of a shoebox, which can travel 50-100 ft, carrying a water payload of 0-500 mL.

Each spring, AIChE holds nine regional conferences. Here, teams compete for the top three spots, which guarantee a trip to the national competition in the fall. For example: Cornell, in the Northeast region, competes against RPI, Northeastern University, University of Maine, etc., and the top three schools from the Northeast Region go to the national competition.

How does the competition work?

For a detailed analysis of the competition rules, we would refer you to AIChE's official rules. They are available in PDF, and are quite comprehensive. However, we will highlight the main rules below.

Let's begin with the physical constraints of the car. When disassembled, the car must be able to fit into a box 40 cm × 30 cm × 18 cm. It must have a container which is capable of holding up to 500 mL of water without spilling. In addition, the total cost of the car must not exceed $2,000.

The vehicle must be powered by a chemical reaction. One cannot use a kit (e.g., this common fuel cell car) without extensive modification, and one cannot use commercial batteries. Importantly, the car cannot have any brakes, or other mechanical/electronic stopping devices.

A few hours before each competition, a poster session takes place, where judges have the opportunity to inspect the cars. The prime focus is safety, but there is also an opportunity to discuss novel design features of the car, environmental and safety features, etc. Teams must score at least 70 out of 100 in the poster session to be allowed to race.

The competition itself is held on a course which can be anywhere from 50 to 100 feet long. At the beginning of the competition, the judges will announce the distance and water payload required. The distance (as seen on the diagram) must be between 50-100 ft, and the water payload between 0-500 mL.

During the competition, there are two rounds of races. The order of the first race is determined by teams' score during the poster session. The order of the second round is determined by performance during the first round. The higher your score in the first round (that is, the closer you are to the target line), the later in round two you will go. As an example, if team A is farthest from the target during round 1, they will be the first to race during round 2.

An extremely important rule during the race is as follows: when the announcer calls start, a car must start moving, traverse the distance, and come to a complete stop, within two minutes. This rule has been the bane of many excellent cars, which just kept going, and going, and going, and going...

Last, but certainly not least, is the safety aspect of the ChemE Car competition. In recent years, due to some publicized accidents, AIChE has made safety the prime focus of the competition. Each team is required to submit a Job Safety Analysis (JSA) months ahead of the competition, which details safety aspects of the car. In addition, almost all car disqualifications at the competitions are due to safety violations. Take safety seriously.

Weekly Meetings

During the 2011-12 academic year, the team meets on Wednesdays at 5:00 pm, in Olin Hall room 255. In addition, each sub-team holds weekly meetings at different times throughout the week. All are welcome to attend these meetings.

Advisor(s)

Our advisor is Professor Jeff Varner. However, we would be remiss not to recognize the contributions of many others to the team. Professor T. Michael Duncan, for use of his lab space, and Professor Lynden Archer, the William C. Hooey Director of the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, for his enthusiasm and support. Professor Paulette Clancy, the preceding William C. Hooey Director of the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, for her continued support of the car team, and Glenn Swan, for his continued help with fabrication and all things machine shop-related, and many others, who are not listed here.

Contact Information

If you have any questions about the car team, feel free to send an email to chemecar@cornell.edu. Also, please do stop by one of the team meetings (they can be quite enjoyable). In addition, if you see the captains or any of the other seniors in Olin Hall, you can stop them and ask a question.