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K. JANARTHANAN
Competing against more than 50 teams from different countries may seem daunting to most people. Bharat Krishnan found it "heartening".
The 25-year-old mechanical engineering student and eight of his friends from Nanyang Technological University designed an eco-car which clinched the Vehicle Design (Urban Concept) Award at this year's Shell Eco-marathon Asia Off-Track Awards.
The electric eco-car, called the "NV 11 Nanyang Autonomous Venture", has an aerodynamic design inspired by the shape of a whale.
The shape reduces air resistance, saves energy and helps the vehicle move faster.
It can carry a driver and a passenger.
"The NV11's core is a carbon fibre and Kevlar composite unibody chassis," said Bharat.
"This ensures that it remains lightweight without compromising on the safety and strength aspects."
The NTU team started working on the vehicle in August last year, with Bharat focusing on its steering system and finding ways to reduce noise and vibration.
Modifying a design inherited from the NTU team that participated in Shell Eco-marathon 2019, Bharat and the team of final-year undergraduates enhanced the steering, drive train, electrical and braking systems.
"I was tasked with reducing the weight of the steering system by simplifying it," said Bharat.
"It was initially built with autonomous driving in mind.
"I built the new system with the help of laboratory executives by using precision lathes and milling machines."
The Covid-19 situation made it doubtful whether the Shell Eco-marathon would be held this year.
The on-track competitions, held in Singapore in 2017 and 2018, were cancelled.
"We were quite disappointed," said Bharat.
"Nevertheless, we decided to apply ourselves as we wanted to lay a foundation for future NTU teams."
Lab closures meant that some of the tests and experiments had to be stopped. "This meant that we missed the opportunity to gather data," said Bharat. "Leaving work unfinished was quite disheartening."
The NTU team need not have worried unduly as the competition was held online and they were declared winners in the vehicle design category. Awards were given in five other off-track categories during a virtual ceremony broadcast live on Shell Eco-marathon's Instagram and Twitter accounts on June 3.
Temasek Polytechnic, which received the Technical Innovation Award, was the only other award recipient from Singapore this year.
"Our team felt ecstatic," said Bharat, who found car shows and engineering videos more interesting than cartoons as a child.
"The award also acts as a beacon for future NTU teams to uphold the standards set by us."
He credits his parents for his success. "They were very patient with me as I used used to rip apart everything as a child," he said.
Bharat hopes to work on automobiles like the NV 11 in future.
"I look forward to new innovations in transportation technologies and being part of a generation of engineers who are able to work on them," he said.
