Chem-E-Car Project
Chem-E-Car Design Project
The AIChE Chem-E-Car competition is an engineering design challenge that tasks university teams with designing, constructing, and safely operating a small, shoebox-sized, vehicle that is powered and stopped exclusively by chemical reactions. The objective is not maximum speed, but design, creativity, safety, accuracy, and precision.
Each component of the car is split between 4 teams: Circuitry, Assembly, Power, and Stopping Reaction Team.
Circuitry Team: Designs and builds the electronic circuits that control the car system. They also program the circuit themselves.
Assembly Team — Integrates all mechanical and structural components of the car, including 3D-printed parts, reaction vessels, chassis stability, and ensuring that the design is compliant with AIChE rules.
Power Team — Develops, tests, and optimizes the chemical reaction that generates voltage and current to drive the vehicle. This team ensures a consistent and safe starting reaction on race day.
Stopping Reaction Team — Designs and calibrates the independent chemical reaction that stops the car precisely and accurately at the target distance. This team performs multiple experiments to ensure accuracy, reproducibility, and adherence to safety standards.
Every sub-team is important to the overall performance of the car. They are all integral to the safety, technical rigor, innovation, and performance on race day. Beyond the race itself, the competition helps our member develop professional skills including technical documentation, hazard analysis, team coordination, collaboration, knowledge presentation, and real-world application of chemical engineering principles under constraints identical to those encountered in industry.
Your help allows for Cougs to express their creativity and use the chemical engineering concepts they learn in class to work on a competitive and real-world design project. In addition, our chapter will be hosting the regional AIChE Conference this year at WSU. This will attract professionals, academics, and students from all over the PNW to our campus. Your contribution will have a particularly significant impact as we strive to successfully host this important conference event. We want WSU to shine and winning this competition can show the innovation and technical performance of our Cougs.
$5
Starting Line
The first step of any race is the starting line! Before our car can even take off, we need the basic supplies like wires, nuts, bolts, and screws. Your donation helps us get a car on the starting line. We are grateful for your donation!
$10
Controlled Reaction
Our car runs on chemistry! Your donation helps us buy our reagents and necessary labware. This lets us control the chemistry from start to finish from reliably generating voltage in the battery to launch the car and precisely stopping it with our stopping reaction at the finish line. Thank you for your support!
$25
Gear Change
Fine-tuning matters. Your support helps us build the base with 3d printing filament, replace worn axles, and put on better wheels. This equipment helps shave seconds off our race time. Thank you for your donation!
$50
Catalyst Push
Your contribution is a catalyst that accelerates our development timeline and our car! With your support, we can purchase the circuit hardware required to build, instrument, and control a fully competition-ready Chem-E-Car system. Thank you for fueling our run!
$100
Finish Line Fuel
Precision testing isn’t optional! Your donation fuels final calibration, safety checks, and practice runs that get us across the finish line. This is what will win our race. Thank you for powering our reaction!
$250
National AIChE Qualifier
Your support gives us the materials and equipment we need to compete at a national level!From circuits and reagents to testing and travel, you’re not just funding a project but you’re also helping our team step onto the AIChE stage with confidence. Thank you for your generous donation!
