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NIATT Projects Headline Snapshot Day
Capstone design students, other undergraduates, and
representatives of regional industry gathered on
December 2nd for the 2011 December Snapshot Day.
More than 20 teams from across the College of
Engineering showed off progress to date on their
two-semester service learning projects with clients
from across the northwest. The format was an
interactive poster session in the Gauss Johnson
Laboratory. Five teams completed their work with the
close of the Fall 2011 semester. These teams also
gave 20 minute technical presentations about their
work to members of the Mechanical Engineering and
Electrical & Computer Engineering advisory boards.
The remaining teams will report their end-of-project
status at the annual University of Idaho Design Expo
on April 27, 2012.
Prominent among the projects presented were NIATT's
Hybrid Formula Car and next generation Clean
Snowmobile Drive System.
 The
Snapshot Day marked the official unveiling of a
hybrid vehicle prototype that has been under
development for the last two years. Left to right
(back): Cody Brumett, Dylan Rinker, Justin
Ruegsegger, Sam Wos, Corey Adrian, Travis Shiell,
Bobby Jackson, Stephen Hieb, (front): Jordan
Anderson , Chris Eacker, Zack Porter are members of
the Hybrid Formula Team. All systems are fully
integrated on a vehicle platform that is ready for
technical inspection like the one it will encounter
at the Formula Hybrid Competition in May 2012 at the
New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The vehicle includes a
repackaged Yamaha YZ250 engine and Lynch electric
motor that both supply power upstream of the
transmission, allowing for significant weight
reduction and traction torque improvement over
typical entries in this engineering competition.
Half of the team graduated in Fall 2011, and their
technical presentation won first place, applauded
for their integration of design analysis, innovative
manufacturing, and thoughtful component testing. Tom
LaPointe, NIATT Advisory Board Member, said "This is
just the kind of real-world experience that gives UI
students the kind of hands-on experience necessary
to hone their competitive edge and help them excel
in today's job market."
 A
prototype drive system for the Clean Snowmobile was
also on display at the Snapshot Day. Nearly all
snowmobiles use a track that is driven at the
front-most part of the loop. This is convenient for
packaging, but inefficient at transmitting power
from the engine to the snow. Jeremy Nichols (left)
and Chris Hill were showcasing their rear drive
prototype snowmobile track system during Snapshot. A
group of capstone students, Team RearMotion, have
developed a prototype skid that will be mounted and
tested in one of the NIATT Clean Snowmobile
Challenge sleds to measure the drivetrain efficiency
improvements compared to a traditional track system
from the same sled. Improved drivetrain efficiency
should benefit the Clean Snowmobile Challenge entry
with increased fuel economy and better acceleration.
An improvement in handling is also expected.
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Researchers
in NIATT are conducting the second phase of an
exploratory research effort that focuses on
understanding and quantifying the relationship
between vehicle fuel use and emissions, and its
trajectory throughout signalized intersection
approaches. This is an important step toward
accurately quantifying the environmental impacts of
different signal improvement and sustainable
mobility projects. Most of the vehicle emissions
data used in emission and fuel consumption modeling
are collected in a controlled laboratory
environment. With the rapid technological changes to
vehicles design that lead to reduction in vehicle
emissions and fuel use, it is necessary to develop
cost-effective real-time emission and fuel
consumption data collection methods in the field to
support microscopic traffic modeling applications.
Matt Ricks working on VISSIM. 
Congratulations to
Christopher DeLorto, NIATT's student-of-the-year.
Christopher will be
honored at the Council of University Transportation Centers
Annual Awards Reception and Banquet during the Transportation
Research Board meeting in Washington, DC, in January 2012.