The National University of Singapore (NUS) officially announced in early October yet another success on the global stage. The university’s engineering department put out an eco-car—ecologically or environmentally friendly car—called KRUCE (for Kent Ridge Urban Concept Eco-car), which runs on a hydrogen fuel cell, that won a place among the top five contestants in a global competition called the Shell Eco-marathon.
KRUCE apparently beat out at least 61 other entries from 37 different countries to get such a high ranking at the competition, the ideal to which participants aspire “to design and build” is “the world’s most fuel-efficient vehicle–and produce the fewest emissions,” according to the organiser, energy and petrochemicals giant Shell.
There are two main categories of vehicles in this competition: one for “futuristic prototypes” of streamlined vehicles designed chiefly for reduced drag and maximised efficiency; and the other for “urban concept vehicles” that are deemed to “four-wheel roadworthy” specifications. Regardless of category, entry vehicles can run on either conventional fuels such as diesel and gasoline, or alternative fuels, which can run on anything from solar and electric sources to bio-fuels and hydrogen. And the goal of every vehicle is to “consume as little fuel as possible over a set distance,” said Shell on its Eco-marathon promotional webpage.
Toward the end of the competition, only 28 teams managed to complete at least one of three runs. KRUCE arrived in time to take part in just one run, but that one run was all it took to gain a top five placement. According to the team behind KRUCE–which was supervised by associate professor Lu Wen Feng and associate professor Ian Gibson–the recent win was a testament, not only to the innovativeness of the NUS engineering department, but also to the eminent usefulness of an engineering analysis tool called MSC.Adams put out by a US-based specialised simulation software and services provider called MSC.Software.
“MSC.Adams was used in the design of the mechanical steering system, where we needed to understand how various components would react to forces. Adams allowed us to determine the test in virtual environments that optimised the designs for performance, safety and comfort,” said Gibson from the NUS Department of Mechanical Engineering. “Once the virtual prototype was completed, Adams checked the model and allowed us to determine the dimensions in terms of the turning circle, steering angle and other aspects of its structural design.”
According to Gibson, the NUS team behind KRUCE has already started work on the vehicle it intends to enter next year’s Shell Eco-marathon, which is planned to run in Asia. “MSC.Adams will be fully integrated into the engineering analysis process for the design of the next eco-car and based on this experience with Adams, we have plans to develop a city car that is capable of extreme long-distance travel,” added Gibson.
