Over the course of the last 3 years, Team PrISUm has fully built and designed one car and is currently designing another one. We have raced in 3 races, attended countless outreach events and have had over 100 new members walk in and out of our doors. Team PrISUm is now on its 12th project, Phaeton: A 3-wheeled space frame vehicle with a carbon fiber body. The mechanical team set out to create a thinner carbon fiber body and aluminum frame – decreasing our drag. The electrical team set out to build a safer, more reliable electronic design – adding ground isolation, ribbon connectors, and enhanced battery module communication. This new faster, lighter, and higher capacity car surpasses its predecessor Hyperion and is going to be team PrISUm’s most competitive design yet. Our energy storage has upgraded to new BostonPower batteries. These feature the same heat tolerances (60 degrees Celsius) as Hyperion but have a higher capacity (4KWh up from 3.5 KWh). Nearly the same solar cells from Hyperion will be used on Phaeton but will only cost two thirds of the price due to a drop in solar-cell costs over the years. Phaeton will use a new lighter Wave Sculptor motor controller ($6000 a piece) for converting DC to the 3-Phase AC signal that powers the same NGM motor PrISUm has been using for the last 15 years. This is where my personal perspective comes into this story. PrISUm, in reality, is split between core members (those who try hard to make an impact or have been around awhile) and peripheral members (often new members who join the team; learning and growing from the core members). The magic of solar car is that you get to see people jump this band gap every semester. Everyone who has been on the team has had the chance to learn a little more about engineering, organizations, and themselves. Myself, along with other directors, had the goal of facilitating this process as fast as possible. Now in the Fall semester of 2013, Phaeton will soon start taking shape.

Logan Scott

Phaeton 2 was built off the frame and shell of Phaeton, the team’s 12th solar vehicle. Due to the long term goal set of competing in the 2017 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, PrISUm decided to rebuild Phaeton instead of constructing a new vehicle from the ground up. In order to make the car competitive for the 2016 circuit, the vehicle was completely stripped to bare carbon fiber and rebuilt with new electronics, suspension, and fairings. Due to this effort, the team was able to increase the aerodynamics of the vehicle, increase the battery capacity, and increase the motor efficiency. This came at a slight cost, as the project was finished just in time to ship to the Formula Sun Grand Prix. The minimally tested vehicle had reliability issues that caused delays during the race. These delays, coupled with bad weather, made for a race to remember for all who attended.