Engineering students win 2013 Clean Snowmobile Challenge

A group of UW–Madison College of Engineering students took first place in the internal combustion division of the SAE 2013 Clean Snowmobile Challenge, their fifth time doing so in the 14-year history of the competition.

The Society of Automotive Engineers competition, held at Michigan Tech University’s Keweenaw Research Center March 4-9, challenges engineering student teams to reduce noise and emissions in stock vehicles while maintaining performance and controlling costs.

UW team captain Mike Solger says this year’s team started with a four-stroke Skidoo Ace snowmobile, selected as a solid foundation on which to make improvements, for an “all-around” solid final product.

“We added a turbocharger and engine controls, which allows us to maintain performance and decrease our emissions and make it quieter as well,” he says.

Solger says the team was well positioned to take advantage of a new rule allowing vehicles to switch between “economy” and “performance” modes. “We’ve been using our own engine control unit with student-developed code for quite some time,” he says.

The team also won the Blue Ribbon Coalition award for the most practical solution to a problem, and received bonus points for requiring no maintenance on fuel, oil, exhaust or other systems after the start of the week-long testing regimen. Solger says that by ensuring a solid foundation, they were able to save themselves a lot of extra work later. “We focused on trying to design it as best as we possibly could before we started testing,” he says.

“We’re very proud that we won this year,” Solger says, crediting much of the team’s success to its advisors. “They were crucial to our success and we are grateful for their help.”