{"id":2389,"date":"2015-09-29T13:00:25","date_gmt":"2015-09-29T20:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.plm.automation.siemens.com\/t5\/Academic-News\/Road-to-Australia-Making-the-2015-Michigan-Solar-Car\/ba-p\/316395"},"modified":"2026-03-26T08:13:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T12:13:32","slug":"road-to-australia-making-the-2015-michigan-solar-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/academic\/road-to-australia-making-the-2015-michigan-solar-car\/","title":{"rendered":"Road to Australia: Making the 2015 Michigan Solar Car"},"content":{"rendered":"

In less than a month, the University of Michigan<\/A> will race a newly designed and uniquely built solar car nearly 1,900 miles across the Australian Outback. The new car, named Aurum, was designed, built and tested with Siemens PLM Software. The Michigan Solar Car team<\/A> is confident that Aurum will be the car that finally carries them to a first place finish in the World Solar Challenge<\/A>. Michigan has notched four third-place finishes, but never won the prestigious international race over its chief rivals, Nuon from the Netherlands and Tokai from Japan.<\/P><\/p>\n

\"Road_to_Australia1.jpg\"<\/P>
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With PLM Software, the Michigan Solar Car team was able to 
accelerate development and spend more time building and testing 
their new vehicle, Aurum.<\/PRE>
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Michigan designed their previous car with NX CAD, but for the latest vehicle, they made more extensive use of NX CAE and NX CAM. \u201cEverything mechanical in the car gets analyzed with NX CAE,\u201d said Josh Agby, the team\u2019s mechanical lead. \u201cThis includes the main systems of the car\u2014the front suspension, rear suspension, brakes and steering.\u201d Pavan Naik, the overall project leader for the Michigan Solar Car team, explained that the value of NX CAM went beyond simply defining machining instructions. \u201cWe\u2019ve been using NX CAM more than we did two years ago,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to visualize how our parts are being machined out before we send it out to our sponsors for milling.\u201d<\/P><\/p>\n
\"Road_to_Australia2.jpg\"<\/P>
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Michigan\u2019s solar car drivers will have to withstand six-hour shifts
 across the Outback with temperatures well into the hundreds.<\/PRE>
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As important as NX has been to the development of Aurum, Teamcenter has been a game changer in streamlining the entire process. \u201cIn year\u2019s past, we had a difficult time managing which files we were working on and integrating them from all the different divisions,\u201d said engineering manager Arnold Kadiu. \u201cThat has changed drastically this year. Using Teamcenter, we\u2019ve been able to combine all our files together in a single concise model.\u201d<\/P><\/p>\n
 \"Road_to_Australia3.jpg\"<\/P>
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Aurum, Michigan\u2019s new hope for winning the 2015 World Solar 
Challenge in October, features several key innovations that team 
leaders believe will make the difference against chief rivals, 
Nuon and Tokai.<\/PRE>
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Using Siemens PLM Software, the team has dramatically accelerated its development process, giving them more time for on-the-road testing. They\u2019ve been in the Outback for nearly a month already, getting the car and its drivers acclimated to the harsh weather conditions they\u2019ll face during the race on October 18-22. Project leader Pavan Naik is confident that the team is ready to surprise the favorites this year. \u201cWe\u2019ve designed an awesome car,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s reliable. It\u2019s fast. We\u2019ve tested it. We\u2019ve got a great team. We\u2019ve tested them. I know we can win. It\u2019s just a matter of executing.\u201d<\/P><\/p>\n
See the video on how Michigan made its 2015 solar car. Follow the competition live on Facebook<\/A> and Twitter<\/A> using #WSC15.<\/P><\/p>\n
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