Pre Built Competition Description, Rules 2.0 and Guidelines Competition Date: December 2, 2017 Coordinator: Austin Cwiklik
Introduction General Competition Overview Procedures Detailed Competition Overview Constraints Limits on Team s Projects Diagrams Visual Representation Contact Info Table of Contents
Introduction This document is the official guide and rules for the 2017 Spark Conference Pre built Competition. The Pre Built Competition allows a team of high school students to create a specific project during the fall semester and then bring it to Spark Conference to compete against other teams of students. This year s competition centers around creating a working Stirling engine to compete in two specific challenges. A Stirling engine is a heat engine that works off of heat differentials where hot and cold gas expand and contract to create motion to spin a crankshaft. There are several kinds of Stirling engines but the three most common types are a two cylinder Alpha engine, one cylinder Beta engine, and one cylinder Gamma engine. For this competition, teams are not limited to what kind of engine they can make so long as it meets the basic specifications to be considered a Stirling engine. The first challenge for the Stirling engine is a weightlifting competition where teams will see whose engine can lift the greatest load. The second challenge will see teams go head to head in a race to see whose engine can pull a cart of the team s own design the fastest. At the end of Spark, winners will be announced for each competition along with the Grand Champion and a team awarded for most creative engine design judged by a group of Texas A&M engineering students! The Pre Built competition exists to let students gain experience in working with on a team, explore the role of an engineer, be creative in their approach to an engineering competition and have while doing it! Please find details about the competition and rules in the following document. Good luck and have fun!
Procedures Competition 1 What: Teams will use their engines to lift an increasingly heavier load Goal: To see which team has the most powerful engine Details: Each team will be assigned a judge who will handle all weights used Each design must have a pallet that the judge will place weights on before starting the engine The weights used will be coins (quarters, pennies, and dimes) Teams will start by having to lift a quarter 6 inches from its resting point At the end of each trial, teams must lower the pallet back down to its resting position Upon success, another quarter will be added and the process of lifting repeated If the engine fails to lift a load, the last coin added will be removed and replaced with a coin of a lower weight When the engine fails to lift a load that is on the lowest weighted coin, the team will be given one chance at a redo. Whereupon if they fail again, the challenge is over and the judge will take away the load to be weighed. Weight of the pallet won t be taken into consideration If the team succeeds then the challenge continues however upon next failure, the challenge will end Teams may stop their engine to lower the pallet after every trial however upon starting the engine, it must run untouched for 5 seconds before continuing Teams are permitted to take 3 repair breaks for the entire duration of the challenge. These breaks may occur between trials however they only have one minute of total repair time to split between the three breaks Once teams are ready to be judged, they will be given a heat pack which teams can place and activate at their discretion however they will be given only one heat pack for this challenge and aren t allowed to touch it once the challenge starts The team who lifts the heaviest load wins the award for most powerful engine In the event of a tie, teams will face off in an endurance challenge where they will be given fresh heat packs and must lift the same weight repeatedly until failure The team with the most repetitions will then be the announced the winner
Side note: Teams that finish the first challenge early will begin racing as soon as there are enough competitors to form a round. Between the first and second challenge there will be a 5 minute intermission where teams may fix damages from the first challenge, replace the pallet with the cart, and add any additional modifications for the second challenge. Teams aren t allowed to create and add new parts during this time and may only add and adjust existing parts. Competition 2 What: Teams will race to see who can pull a cart using their engine Goal: To see which team has the fastest engine Details: At the start teams will be assigned a lane, round, and judge for the race Teams will be given 2 minutes to set up their engine on one end of the track and their cart on the other The lane will be 3ft wide and 5ft long The given space to set up the engine will be 3ft by 2ft The given space to set up the cart will be 3ft by 1ft The given space to let the engine warm up and the cart start moving is 3ft by 2ft Once the setup period is over, judges will give each team a hot pack that, when prompted to, they will activate and place in their engine There will be a 30 second heat up period after which the call will be made for teams to start their engines signaling the start of the race Once the race starts, teams are only allowed to actively start and maintain the rotation of their engines until their cart reaches the end of the wind up period at which the assigned judge will begin timing Any accidental contact made with the cart or the engine beyond that point will result in the team being scored the distance the cart traveled until contact. Teams will then be given the opportunity to repeat the race at the end of the challenge TIME PERMITTING Teams will receive the same treatment stated above if their engine stops mid race, goes out of bounds, or takes longer than 3 minutes to complete the race Interfering with the performance of other team s designs or intentional manipulation of one s own design during the challenge will result in an immediate disqualification, zero tolerance Once the cart reaches the finish line the judge will stop timing and teams will stop and remove their cart and engine from the track to allow for the next round to set up The team with the quickest time wins the award for fastest engine
Teams are not permitted to make any changes to their engines between the main round and the make up round until the setup phase begins The higher score between the main and make up round will be taken In the event of a tie, teams will have 2 minutes to set up their engines in the form of a tug of war Engines will be placed across from one another and tied together via string similar to the cart race setup Teams will each be given a heat pack to, when prompted, activate and place in their engine After 30 seconds have passed, a judge will start each team s engine with a light spin whereupon teams may no longer touch their engine The engine that crosses the halfway point first, loses Side note: At the end of the competition, awards will be given to the winning teams of each challenge as well as the winner for Most Creative Engine Design that will be decided upon by a panel of judges. Also, the team who gets the best combined score from the first and second challenges will be declared the Grand Champion.
Constraints Must be built prior to Spark No alterations may be placed on the engine, pulley, or cart once at Spark. Replacement parts are allowed if necessary Only one design can be used per team for all challenges The engine must remain stationary, inside the specified zone for all challenges, except in the case of a tiebreaker for challenge 2 All engines must be at room temperature before judging can begin Each team s cart must have only 4 wheels connected to an axle that can rotate freely Spark will provide each team with two Little Hotties Hand Warmers one for each challenge, that must be used for the heating of the engine Only one team member can start the engine during the first challenge and 1 more may assist with the cart in the second challenge. Members can switch roles only between challenges Maximum of 5 members per team and minimum of 2 members per team is allowed Aside from starting the engine, teams aren t allowed to touch their design while a trial is in progress Teams can secure their engines to the ground in both challenges using their own removable adhesives (i.e. tape) No motors or self moving parts are allowed No active cooling in any form is permitted The use of prefabricated parts or kits (including 3D printed parts) or hazardous material (i.e. glass, fire, electricity) is prohibited SPARK holds final say over what materials are permitted to be used. If unsure, please contact the SPARK Competition Coordinator Team s engines must fit inside a 2ft x 2ft x 2ft box Team s carts must fit inside a 4in x 8in x 4in box Teams are only allowed to use a simple pulley The cart must use the Stirling engine as its sole source of power SPARK and the SPARK Competition Coordinator holds final say on all matters
Diagrams Challenge1 Challenge2
Contacts for Questions Spark Competition Coordinator: Austin Cwiklik Phone number: 210 382 6506 Email: austin_cwiklik@tamu.edu Spark email: spark@sec.tamu.edu