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At VX Aerospace in Morganton, team members use a vacuum infusion process to make the carbon fiber body of ROSE, Team Sunergy’s second solar vehicle. Members fill buckets with resin that is then pulled through the fibers by a vacuum. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Hunter Bristow, foreground, is part of Team Sunergy’s electrical team. Bristow is a freshman sustainable technology major from Chapin, South Carolina. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy members Kali Smith, far left, Carlos Núñez García, second from right, and Halle Küttel patch the molds of ROSE’s carbon fiber body to ensure there are no leaks, providing a tight infusion and equal distribution of resin. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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VX Aerospace’s Corina Cojocaru, far left, serves as the team’s subject matter expert during the infusion process. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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As Hunter Bristow looks on, Team Sunergy Operations Director Kali Smith, far left, lays down carbon fiber for making the shell of the car. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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At VX Aerospace, Team Sunergy members Kali Smith, center, and Hunter Bristow, far right, watch as Corina Cojocaru checks the carbon fiber that was used to make the shell of the car. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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ROSE’s seats were donated by Compmillennia, a North Carolina-based company specializing in composite work for boats. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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The design of the car’s printed circuit board (PCB) — more or less the brain of the car — is displayed on a laptop computer. Team member Carlos Núñez García used Altium, an electronic design automation software, to generate the design. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy Executive Faculty Director Dan Blakeley, far left in foreground, explains to team members how a chassis panel wasn’t sized properly and would need to be redesigned and recut. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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A close-up of one of the car’s sandwich panels. Sandwich panels are used for the chassis in the car because of their high structural rigidity and low weight, and are made up of a low-density core with a thin skin-layer bonded to each side. ROSE’s sandwich panels are constructed of carbon fiber and honeycomb Kevlar provided by The Gill Corporation. This type of Kevlar is normally used in airliners, but The Gill Corporation had scrap pieces available that fit the team’s needs. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Tape is applied to prepare the sandwich panel to be shaved down to the correct size. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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A Team Sunergy member bonds the roll cage to the bottom shell of the car using a mixture of resin, Cab-O-Sil fumed silica, which is a powerful thickening agent, and chopped fiberglass. Dan Blakeley described the bonding agent as "incredibly strong." Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team members Hunter Bristow, left, and Halle Küttel sand and test fit panels for the chassis to ensure an exact fit. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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The chassis is flipped upside down to test fit it in the top shell of the car. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy member Halle Küttel sands chassis panels. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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James Furr, who performs mechanics and dynamics as a member of Team Sunergy, carries the car’s chassis. Due to the materials used, the chassis weighs approximately 30 pounds. If the team had used an all-metal chassis — which many teams do — it would have weighed at least three times as much. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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After bonding the roll cage to the bottom shell, a wet lay-up molding process is performed to ensure maximum structural integrity. The process combines a layer of reinforced fiber with liquid resin to create a high-quality laminate. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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With the chassis and roll cage bonded to the bottom shell, Team Sunergy members test the fit of the top shell. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy members Cody Waters, left, Carlos Núñez García, second from right, and Kali Smith prepare to place the top shell over the chassis while Halle Küttel — no, she isn’t sleeping — lies in the car to watch for gaps between the shells. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Kali Smith, Team Sunergy’s operations director, in foreground, tests the fit of the two shells of the car on the front passenger side. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy Mechanical Director Cody Waters sands the chassis to make sure the hood fits over it. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Carlos Núñez García, in foreground, places adhesive on every spot where the chassis meets the top shell. To ensure it holds, the team uses 3M’s Automix Panel Bonding Adhesive — the only officially licensed panel bonding adhesive of NASCAR. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy member Carlos Núñez García sands the car’s top shell. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Carlos Núñez García, who joined Team Sunergy in fall 2017. García is from Spain and came to Boone with his wife who held a teaching role in Appalachian’s Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures. He tried to start a solar vehicle team in Spain and was excited to learn Appalachian had a team he could join. He designed the printed circuit board system for the car and assisted in the building of the body. García returned to Spain in May. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team member Halle Küttel sands the top shell of the car. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Back at Team Sunergy’s garage in Boone, Hunter Bristow, right, sands a door for the car. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy Operations Director Kali Smith sands a car door in Team Sunergy’s Boone garage. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team member Brandon Schwartz preloads shocks for the car. Determining the preload amount requires extensive mathematical calculations based on the weight of the car and what sort of performance is desired from the car, according to Dan Blakeley, Team Sunergy’s executive faculty director. The calculations involved aren’t taught in classes, Blakeley said — one needs to be self-taught. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Hunter Bristow, a member of Team Sunergy’s electrical team, sands a car door. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy Assistant Mechanical Director Wyatt Bailey sands a hole in one of ROSE’s chairs, which will be used for a seat belt. The American Solar Challenge regulations require all solar cars to be equipped with a minimum of a five-point lap and shoulder belt harness system for each occupant. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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The newly named ROSE (Racing on Solar Energy) returns from VX Aerospace to Team Sunergy’s garage in Boone. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy members unload ROSE from the truck. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team member Henry Plaskonos crouches on the floor of the Boone garage, spotting for placement as the other members set ROSE on blocks. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy member Jon Ricker. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Kali Smith, left, removes splinters from Lucas Tax’s hands. Splinters are a common casualty when dealing with carbon fiber, she said. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Sitting on the cart pictured in the bottom, left-hand corner is a large portion of the car’s front suspension. The suspension was designed from scratch by Cody Waters using modeling software. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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A pickup plate is installed on the chassis. This is where the car’s suspension will be mounted. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Michael Hughes, right, electronics technician with Appalachian’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, serves Team Sunergy as a jack-of-all-trades, helping to fix and design equipment. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Milling bits and other tools used to machine parts. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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A three-axis CNC (computer numerical control) milling machine used by the team for machining metal parts. The machine uses a computer to electronically control the motion of the machine. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy member Cody Waters holds a part that was not machined properly. As shown here, the tooling path exceeded the part’s left and right edges. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Cody Waters displays a pickup plate that he designed from scratch. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Mike Montalvo, right, from Team Sunergy’s mechanical team, looks on as Cody Waters fits the A-arm to upright of the suspension. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy member Cody Waters, in foreground, press-fits a spherical bearing into A-arm for the car’s suspension as Mike Montalvo looks on. An A-arm is part of a vehicle's suspension that consists of two rods in the shape of a letter A. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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James Furr saws the steering column for the car to the correct size. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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Team Sunergy member Halle Küttel uses Bondo to fill in cracks and smooth the car to prepare it for painting. Photo by Chase Reynolds

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The making of ROSE, Team Sunergy’s first Cruiser Class solar vehicle — a photo gallery

By Alex Jansen
Posted June 22, 2018 at 1:30 p.m.

BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University’s solar vehicle team, Team Sunergy, designed and built its first Cruiser Class vehicle entirely in-house — including cup holders — ahead of the 2018 American Solar Challenge and Formula Sun Grand Prix.

See many of the step-by-step processes required to build this vehicle named ROSE (Racing on Solar Energy).

Racing on Solar Energy — the evolution of ROSE and Appalachian’s solar vehicle team
Racing on Solar Energy — the evolution of ROSE and Appalachian’s solar vehicle team
June 22, 2018

Appalachian’s Team Sunergy unveils its Cruiser Class car named ROSE (Racing on Solar Energy), designed for 2018 competitions and beyond.

Read the story
Support Team Sunergy
Support Team Sunergy

Want to support Team Sunergy? You can join this incredible winning team and help Appalachian students in their race toward the future of transportation.

Donate now

About App State’s Team Sunergy

Appalachian State University’s internationally recognized Team Sunergy is an interdisciplinary, student-led team with a passion for sustainable transportation — and the ingenuity, innovation and drive to create it. The team began in fall 2013, as a class project to build a solar-powered golf cart, and has evolved into an award-winning program that has achieved podium finishes in every year of competition in both the Formula Sun Grand Prix and American Solar Challenge (ASC), including a first-place finish in the 2021 ASC. Both races set the standards for and test the limits of solar vehicle technology. Team Sunergy’s first vehicle, Apperion, was a modified single-occupant race car. In 2018, the team designed and built its current, two-passenger, Cruiser Class car, ROSE (Racing on Solar Energy), from the ground up. Learn more at https://sunergy.appstate.edu.

About Appalachian State University

As a premier public institution, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives. App State is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System, with a national reputation for innovative teaching and opening access to a high-quality, affordable education for all. The university enrolls more than 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and 80 graduate majors at its Boone and Hickory campuses and through App State Online. Learn more at https://www.appstate.edu.

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Racing on Solar Energy — the evolution of ROSE and Appalachian’s solar vehicle team
Racing on Solar Energy — the evolution of ROSE and Appalachian’s solar vehicle team
June 22, 2018

Appalachian’s Team Sunergy unveils its Cruiser Class car named ROSE (Racing on Solar Energy), designed for 2018 competitions and beyond.

Read the story
Support Team Sunergy
Support Team Sunergy

Want to support Team Sunergy? You can join this incredible winning team and help Appalachian students in their race toward the future of transportation.

Donate now

What do you think?

Share your feedback on this story.

Share

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Appalachian Today is an online publication of Appalachian State University. This website consolidates university news, feature stories, events, photo galleries, videos and podcasts.

If you cannot find what you're looking for here, please refer to the following sources:

  • Podcasts may be found at Appalachian State University Podcasts
  • Stories and press releases published prior to Jan. 1, 2015 may be found in University Communications Records at the Special Collections Research Center.
  • A university-wide Google Calendar may be found at Events at Appalachian

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Archives

Appalachian Today is an online publication of Appalachian State University. This website consolidates university news, feature stories, events, photo galleries, videos and podcasts.

If you cannot find what you're looking for here, please refer to the following sources:

  • Podcasts may be found at Appalachian State University Podcasts
  • Stories and press releases published prior to Jan. 1, 2015 may be found in University Communications Records at the Special Collections Research Center.
  • A university-wide Google Calendar may be found at Events at Appalachian
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