Solar-car Solar Team Twente
In 2020, Pillen was approached by Solar Team Twente, this team annually provides the solar car that participates in a competition in Australia on solar energy. They were looking for a supplier of various parts for the steering of this car. Read more about this collaboration here.
Contents:
- About Solar Team Twente
- Our cooperation
Place Twente
Customer: Solar Team Twente
Product: Steering mechanism
Design: Students Universiteit Twente, Saxion Hogeschool and ROC Twente
Processing/expertise: Precision machining
1. About Solar Team Twente
Solar Team Twente, founded in 2005, exists of students coming from the University of Twente, Saxion University of Applied Sciences, and ROC Twente with a mutual goal: building the most efficient sun-powered car in the whole world.
The car is rebuilt completely each year to drive more than 3000 kilometers with the use of solar power. Each year technical boundaries are moved and the car is raced against other teams in the format of “challenges”. Every two years another team works on the car from Enschede. The goal of the team is to inspire others to contribute to a more sustainable society.
2. Our cooperation
In 2020, Pillen was approached by Solar Team Twente. Each year, this team takes care of the solar car which participates in a contest in Australia. They were looking for a supplier of different components for the steering of this car. Here Pillen has also thought along with the manufacturability of the components. The students knew how to design well, but the manufacturability was something that needed some more thinking about without breaking away from the design too much.
Doing this in mutual agreement with the students was the right option to eventually come up with a good and workable design. The steering mechanism consists of quite a few components and for this Pillen has, once again with the use of a 5-axes machine, manufactured multiple products. These products were designed while keeping aerodynamics in check so that bends and shapes were devised which Pillen only could manufacture with the use of certain machines. Solar Team Twente went ahead and put together all the manufactured parts for a “mock-up” test first and after this test, it was examined if the design at the time needed changes or improvements. This made it so that in 2021 a few components were deemed to be unusable and some components had undergone changes. Because of this, Pillen could theoretically start over again. Once again, these new products were manufactured and put together in the solar car successfully.
That is how we, as Pillen Group, contribute to Solar Boat Twente and Solar Team Twente as partner!