Second Annual Micro Steam Competition

Micro steam cars aren't always fast, but they sure are exciting. Pack over 100 students in a room on the 10th floor of the Hall Building, all enthusiastically cheering on their team's vehicle, add some hockey sticks to keep the cars on track, and the all-important ingredient — pop-can propulsion — and you have the perfect recipe for a fantastic competition.

About the competition

The micro steam car design project is part of the thermodynamics course for second and third year mechanical engineering students. Students design and build a car approximately 30 cm long powered by a soda-can water boiler, a pin-sized nozzle and a turbine which drives the front wheel(s). The project culminates with a competition in which the objective is to achieve maximum distance traveled on a restricted amount of solid fuel tablets.

This year, the competition, now in its second year, was held on the 10th floor of the Hall Building on Friday, April 12. About a hundred students gathered to watch the cars go through their paces. The winning teams were:

CUGNOT STEAM WORKS (1st place)   
Adrian Loffredo
Colin Chisholm
Mathieu St-Martin
Distance travelled: 82 metres

NOZZLES UP (2nd place)   
Matthew Brownridge
Lisa D'Angelo
Sara Irene Imbriglio
Katherine Kokmanian
Distance travelled: 69 metres

ROYAL KELVINS (Tied for 2nd place)
Aziz Sabirov
Stephane Roux
Alex De Melo
Distance travelled: 69 metres

Congratulations to all the students who took part, as well as a big thank you to the staff that helped make this great event possible.