UK Software Company Sponsors Solar Car
Comply Serve, a UK-based collaborative progressive assurance software specialist, has partnered with the University of New South Wales, Australia, in the design and build of the elite Sunswift eVe, an engineering innovation in solar powered automotive design.
This breakthrough aerodynamic hybrid car will take part in the World Solar Challenge (WSC) race. The WSC is a flagship solar car event that takes place in Australia every two years, and the event unites international teams of engineers, motor specialists and solar energy system technicians to compete in a 3000km race from Darwin to Adelaide, spanning some of the world's most hostile desert terrain.
Taking place in October, all entries have traditionally competed in one of three main categories:- Challenger, Adventure and Evolution. The Sunswift eVe enters in the new Cruiser class introduced to the race this year. This category poses a new challenge to the teams, focusing on practicality rather than speed and stipulating that vehicles must be able to carry at least two occupants rather than the traditional single driver.
The Sunswift eVe model has been designed with safety and practicality at the forefront of all requirements, finding inspiration in conventional sports car design. "This year's vehicle, unlike all of our previous models, has four wheels and doors. It departs from the typical spaceship design of most solar cars and actually looks like a real car!" explained Sam Paterson, project director at Sunswift. "We hope that one day innovation will see solar cars such as the eVe become available for commercial use. It would be a fantastic outcome if this category, and all the competing cars, can impress and motivate the automotive industry to incorporate solar energy technology into the design and build of everyday cars for the consumer market."
In their ambition to design a practical solar car, the team has utilised the very best CAD software products on the market. As part of the design through manufacture process, Comply Serve worked with both the engineering and business divisions within the Sunswift team to deploy their web-based progressive assurance software system, ComplyPro on the project. The cloud-based software maintains a single source of information for all project data for all users, accessible anywhere and anytime, providing full traceability across the complete project.
"The anytime/anywhere access to ComplyPro has proved really useful in my negotiations with geographically dispersed sponsors and suppliers throughout Australia and New Zealand" commented Sam Paterson.
"It has been an honour to sponsor Sunswift and implement our software as part of this innovative development, as Sunswift cars are at the forefront of renewable energy advances and engineering success. We wish the Sunswift team the best of luck in the race in October", added James Frampton, Comply Serve country manager in Australia.
"ComplyPro is flexible and very intuitive to use. The eVe team required minimum training and set-up, and found it invaluable for securely managing data and compliance across all project functions, allowing all users to work from a single, guaranteed data source to manage all requirements and progressively assure the build of the car".
The overall build and design of the car boasts many cutting edge features and technologies including a 100% carbon fibre shell and silicon solar cells, in addition to efficient lithium ion batteries and a 97% efficient electric motor to provide the most effective power for the vehicle.
This is just one of Comply Serve's latest ventures in the Australian peninsular, following their recent expansion within the region. The company also regularly participates in various INCOSE events, including the Transport Working Group in New South Wales.
