The CPUT Solar Flyer will get its wings this Thursday when it will be officially launched at the Auditorium on the Bellville Campus.

Our students take part in the Sasol Solar Challenge 2018, South Africa for the first time this year and our entry is called CPUT Solar Flyer because the original design made the solar car look a bit like a plane.

Held every second year, the Sasol Solar Challenge sees teams from across the world design and build solar-powered vehicles to drive across South Africa in an eight day event.

The ten CPUT students are currently gathering their tents, sleeping bags and camping equipment for the journey in between some frantic, last minute building on the solar car.

This being the first time we enter, everything about building the solar car over the past almost three months, has been a steep learning curve. This applies not only to the technicians in the AMTL workshop who are teaching the students about assembling the car, but also to our engineering lecturers who want to incorporate parts of the solar car building project into coursework.

Speaking to the students at a team meeting, Prof Graeme Oliver who signed the students up for the competition, prepped them to expect a lot of activity at the finish line. Learners from Stellenbosch schools will be invited to take part in a host of activities on 29 September.

“The competition is here to encourage younger people to take up engineering as a career. You know why you are doing this, but they don’t,” said Oliver, as he suggested the CPUT students be ready for lots of questions.

After the competition the car will be used as a talking point to create awareness around studying engineering at CPUT.

*CPUT staff and students who want to attend the launch between 10.00 and 12.00 can email Nwabisa Nongxa on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to RSVP.

Written by Theresa Smith
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Students and staff are working hard to assemble the CPUT Solar Flyer in the TIA Adaptronics AMTL research unit’s workshop.

Our entry into the Sasol Solar Challenge 2018, South Africa is still a shell, but the plan is in place and work schedules have been drawn up.

Prof Graeme Oliver of the Mechanical Engineering Department says they could only fully commit to the Sasol Solar Challenge 2018, South Africa once funding approval was received so a compressed time schedule meant using a design and manufacturing process that would be achievable in a limited amount of time.

He calls the truncated schedule a great learning experience for the ten staff members and ten students, all drawn from the Mechanical, Mechatronics and Electrical Engineering Departments. 

“As we are very new to this competition we are also happy to receive advice such as the input from our LiFePO4 battery pack fabricator, who is also sponsoring some small electrical components, on battery management and switching systems to protect our battery performance,” said Oliver.

The CPUT Solar Flyer vehicle design will incorporate in-wheel hub motors and a covered space frame reinforced with composites for safety, with an-offset adjustable roof mounted solar array.

The solar array is assembled from commercially available panels and the hub motors are imported kits supplied by a local Cape Town supplier, with some additional design fabrication needed to mount them in motorcycle wheel rims with the in-wheel hydraulic disk brakes.

Initially there was a problem with mounting the motors in the wheels. The hub motors are made for bicycle rims and spokes and the CPUT Solar Flyer will incorporate motorcycle rims to meet the Challenge’s specification for tyres.

The holes on the motorcycle rims are too big for bicycle spokes so drilling holes in the motor to fit the motorcycle spokes seemed the simpler option.

The complication was fitting the spokes from the large hub motor to the relatively small motorcycle wheel. The solution was to punch washers into the right shape to fit the motorcycle rims to take bicycle spokes.

“I got a bicycle shop to size and make bicycle spokes and lace them to build the wheels for us. It can be the small things that mess you up on a project like this.”

Oliver pointed out that once you have a working vehicle it can act as a platform to test out improvements. “These days things like motors, solar chargers and even battery packs can be hooked up to a computer and you can change the way they behave to adapt them specifically to your system as you gain experience. With the system we chose you can get live readings on your cell phone about the power being produced by the solar panels so it is setup for future research.”

Written by Theresa Smith
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CPUT students and staff members will take part in this year’s Sasol Solar Car Challenge 2018, South Africa for the first time.

Held every second year, the competition sees teams from across the world design and build solar-powered vehicles to drive across South Africa in an eight day event.

Prof Graeme Oliver of the Mechanical Engineering Department has put together a team of 20 staff members and students to compete against the more than 20 local and international teams expected to participate.

Oliver initially signed CPUT up for the competition back in May, but only received confirmation of Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) funding at the end of June, leaving two months to put together the car.

Since the project is not integrated into a particular course or subject, students from Mechatronics, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering have volunteered to work on the team with the help of the TIA Adaptronics AMTL research unit based at CPUT.

“Because this is our first time entering the Challenge there is a lot of extra learning to be done. Until you have the actual thing in your hand, you can’t always tell what you need. So, we need to build the car. In two years’ time we will probably have all exact motors and solar panels and experience we need,” said Oliver.

Eugene Erfort of the Adaptronics AMTL pointed out that automotive technology is one of their focus areas. While the specific technology is different the experience gained on the Formula Student project will be useful. CPUT has taken part in the Formula Student inter-university challenge twice at Silverstone Circuit in the United Kingdom.

“Because we’ve got the history in the automotive industry we became involved in this project,” said Erfort who will handle logistics for the CPUT team entering the Challenge.

The solar electronic car which they will build for the Sasol Solar Challenge 2018, South Africa will be called CPUT Solar Flyer “because it looks a bit like a plane.”

Mechanical Engineering lecturer and project organiser Felicity Harris says if all goes well then this could be the start of future projects of this nature which can be incorporated into coursework.

In addition to helping organise the actual trip Harris is putting together an academic engagement plan.

“Part of the bigger plan is to use the project to create awareness around studying engineering at CPUT. After the competition we will take the car to schools as a talking point,” said Harris.

The 20 strong team is hard at work in the Adaptronics AMTL building, when teaching and learning schedules allow, but not all will travel to Pretoria for the actual road trip.

The team who do eventually make the journey will drive the car from Pretoria to Stellenbosch between 22 and 29 September, covering a set distance every day, and we will be able to follow their progress via social media and the CPUT website.

Written by Theresa Smith
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