Mumbai students shine

Whether it is representing India on an international forum or winning the entry into Olympiads, Mumbai students have always aimed to achieve success. Adding yet another feather are the 70 students from K J Somaiya College of Engineering. The students ranked first place in India in the ‘Electric Vehicle category’ in the Formula Bharat 2020 with their vehicle Artemis at an Engineering Design Competition held at Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu recently.

Competing in electric category with 15 other teams from across the country, the students from the mechanical and electronics department, spent several months on research, development, designing manufacturing, testing and validation of the vehicle.

“A passion for engineering, learning and innovation is what motivates most team members to participate. It is a chance to learn beyond the confines of the classroom and compete against some good universities across the country.” says Shanay Shah, student team leader of the participating team, who was also a part of the stage with winning team in 2018.

Formula Bharat 2020 is an engineering design competition where students design, manufacture, test and validate a single-seater open-wheel formula-style racecar.  The students competed in static and dynamic events which tests the designing capabilities of the students as well as the performance of the vehicle created by the students.

“The feeling of receiving that champions trophy is unparalleled. This motivated us to work even harder towards this victory,” expresses Shah.

The electric vehicle formulated by the students has a custom-made battery management system, which was designed and manufactured by the students from the scratch. The motor vehicle also has a high power to weight ratio due to imported motor and cells. “The motor can give 80KW horsepower and 180 Nm of torque. The accumulator was made of 112 cells summing up to 470V,” reveals the faculty advisor Manoj Patil. To which the principle Dr Shubha Pandit adds that the scrutinizing before the dynamics were rigorous to ensure of all-electric teams. “Students from the first year to the last year work on this project and this helps them sharpening their technical knowledge,” she says.

Working tirelessly on the car and putting all the efforts on those four wheels, the students, at the competition, realised that 75 other teams have come their with their cars. “It was amazing exposure to know how other teams function. We can surely implement a lot of it in our team,” says Shah and adds that participating in such competitions help students learn teamwork, organizational and marketing skills, along with managing working under stress and deadlines.

 “We are the only team to have won the competition four times, and we have been victorious each time we have participated at the competition,” concludes the student.