Greenpower National Finals

 

Headline Results, - Raptor fusion 9th place

Rock on Raptor 31st out of 75 competitors in the national final

The Penair Engineering team car Raptor Fusion was fourth on the grid at the National finals joined by 75 other competitors who had either made the mileage or who had been given a wild card. Penair Engineering was also joined thrree other Cornish teams in the final, by Richard Lander, Falmouth and Penryn. We thought our journey from Cornwall was long but other competitors had travelled from the top of Scotland, Poland and even the US. The weather for the final was not as great as last year so the drivers had to be even more focused during the race. The mornings practice had many competitors sliding all over the place with two cars sliding off the track entirely. Both the raptor fusion team and the girls Rock on Raptor team were really focused and driving exceptionally well. The boys team Raptor Fusion remained in the top 5 for most of the race but a missed pit stop and blown fuse meant that we were out of the running for a podium position. The target now was to try and remain the best team in Cornwall. After some nail biting overtaking and some excellent driving from Duncan Covey we managed to finish in 9th place on the day as the top Cornish school. This was a disappointing result as last year we finished in 4th place but we all learned what could be improved next year and will be doing all we can to gain one of the top three slots.

The girls Team Rock on Raptor under the leadership of Debbie Killingback and Ron Koning were the real success of the day climbing 33 places and becoming the most improved team of 2013.

Well done girls!

All of the students are clearly insired by engineering which is at the end of the day what this competition is all about. Previous students from the club have gone on to study Engineering or related subjects at college and one of our previous students George Sowerby has his eyes set on studying Electrical Engineering at university.

Thank you to all of our sponsors who have made this possible. We will be improving the cars over the winter period and will continue to share our successes with you in the future.

 

 

 

 

Raptor Fusion - ready to race.

 

 Raptor Fusion and a focused team in the pits

 

 

Rock on Raptor - ready to roll

 

You could not miss the girls team. They stood out a mile

and were interviewed by the press on a couple of occassions.

 

Penair Engineering High Altitude Balloon Project

One year ago we began to look into the possibility of high altitude photography. It seemed that the most feasible method was to use a weather balloon filled with helium as it is safe and relatively inexpensive. After some research we created a prototype which we tethered above Newquay Airport to film the Greenpower race from a bird’s eye view. This was extremely effective and we got some fantastic photos.

Our next issue was that the helium balloon can travel long distances due to high winds at altitude which meant we needed a reliable method of retrieving our payload once it had landed. With little experience in this field, a GPS tracker which used a mobile phone signal seemed the way to go. We therefore picked up two cheap devices for testing.

Another hurdle was that we needed a sturdy and high quality camera to make the journey without being damaged by the extreme cold and lack of pressure. A GoPro seemed the obvious answer and our teacher was willing to donate his old one however the limited battery life was a problem. We therefore hardwired an auxiliary battery supply to ensure we didn’t lose any valuable footage.

A further problem was the weight of our payload, which we needed to keep as light as possible. We bought a polystyrene transport box, packed it with solid roof insulation and cut out sections to fit the camera, GPS unit and batteries. We didn’t want to take the risk of our GPS and batteries freezing as they ascended and the temperature fell to about -55 degrees. So we packed two handwarmers around them before positioning them right in the centre of the box.

 

 

The amount of helium was also critical, as we needed to lift the payload at 5 metres per second to get enough altitude before the low pressure expanded the balloon so much that it burst. This meant calculating quite precisely how much weight the balloon had to lift before we attached the payload and let it go. There is a lot of information on the UK HAS website http://ukhas.org.uk/  including a spreadsheet that calculates this for you.

We had obtained approval from the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) to launch in a three day window from Colliford Lake on Bodmin Moor between 7.00 am and 2pm as we were flying over airspace used by Bodmin, Plymouth and Exeter airports. After a very early start we finally launched at 7.40am into the fog, having run a landing prediction program http://habhub.org/predict/  that showed we should land in the Sidmouth area in about 2 hours. We were very anxious as there was quite a strong westerly wind and we were predicted to fly very close to the sea.

 

Unfortunately we lost contact with the GPS after only 10 minutes but optimistically drove towards our planned landing area. Two hours came and went and we were starting to think that it might not appear. We had decided to head to the beach to wait for an hour or so but then to our delight we received a text at 10.10 telling us that the GPS was alive and our plans were still on. When we looked up the latitude and longitude we discovered that not only had the balloon stayed up longer than predicted but it had drifted much further. We eventually drove to Piddletrenthide in Dorset and after one false start found it in a maize field just up the road in Alton Pancras. It looked on first inspection as though the camera had taken pictures but until we retrieved the SD card we would not know what they were. So we headed back to the Piddle Inn in Piddletrenthide where Joanna the Landlady was astonished to find that we had driven all the way from Truro.

We were astonished when we started looking at the photos. Not only were there pictures but they were far better than we had ever hoped. We had taken 1 photo every 5 seconds so could reasonably accurately time the flight and could see from the photos that the balloon had burst approximately two hours into the flight. But the big question was how high had it gone? We have no way of knowing exactly but we could see that the camera case had frozen up due to the low temperatures between 10 and 20 km high but amazingly had then cleared again to take our most stunning pictures. So it must have gone into the stratosphere and by analysing the distance it travelled we think it may have gone as high as 36km or nearly 120,000 ft.

It was a long drive home but we were elated. We had taken pictures that showed the blackness of space, the blue strip of the atmosphere and the curvature of the earth. We had achieved with a team of 15 year olds and some cheap and cheerful equipment what only a handful of schools worldwide have managed to do.

We tweeted the picture to Karen Nyberg, one of the astronauts on the International Space Station, who replied that it was an amazing achievement.

 

Project team:

Orion Page, Woody Polglase, Tim Powell, Dan Kerrison Stock – students

Martin Erents, Louise Allen – staff

With thanks to Nick Cartmill and Tom Allen

Rock on Raptor

Thursday 20^th June 2013

We set off from Penair at five past seven, bleary eyed (well, the boys were anyway) but rearing to go.

After arriving at Newquay airport, we were given wrist bands and sent to set up.

Once we had set up we took our cars over to get scrutinized (checked to make sure they were safe and track legal) then given an hour to practise around the circuit.

Needless to say, we didn’t get off to the best start; Raptor Fusion had to be rescued twice in just that hour and Rocket Raptor was towed back to us once. Fortunately, the problems were fixed and we were up and running again for the race.

Unfortunately, two hours in and Rocket Raptor found itself on the rescue truck headed back to the pit lane. After changing the batteries, Rocket was sent out again with a new driver ready to go. Rocket Raptor made it to the first corner before having to be rescued by the truck for the third time that day. Houston, we have a problem!

After a thorough inspection, the problem was unroofed and after 20 minutes, Rocket Raptor was back on track.

Last time we buy anything from China!

However, luck was not on our side because as soon as Rocket Raptor got back out on track it started to rain. And rain. And rain.

Never-the-less, completely drenched and voices hoarse from cheering (anyone and everyone), both cars pulled into great finishing places, Raptor fusion in second (Lander in first) and Rocket Raptor in eleventh (not bad for a first race, considering the conditions and the breakdown).

I think I speak both the boys and the Pink Ladies (the girls team) when I say we all had a brilliant time and would like to thank everyone who made the day possible.

Thank you!