Club KUST provides opportunities to experience a harmonious blend of theory and practice.

SHELL team challenges the World Solar Challenge and Shell Eco-marathon every year.

“We will continue to be a family-like team that can achieve engineering and human growth.”

 

 

With the advent of the climate crisis, countries around the world are switching from internal combustion engine vehicles to eco-friendly vehicles with the aim of reducing carbon emissions. However, many vehicles, from electric vehicles to hydrogen vehicles, have yet to overcome various problems, such as fire. As a result, countries and companies around the world are stepping up their efforts to develop eco-friendly vehicle technology. In particular, in Korea, there is a club at Kookmin University called KUST, where students who are interested in eco-friendly vehicles voluntarily gather to develop technology. The students in KUST have a firm belief that the transition to alternative fuels for vehicles will definitely take place, and they are passionate about the fact that they can play an important role in this process.

 

KUST is a car club that has consistently participated in automobile competitions such as the World Solar Challenge and the Shell Eco Marathon for 16 years since its establishment in 2009. In particular, the KUST Shell team is showcasing its capabilities on the global stage by researching and developing eco-friendly vehicles, including hydrogen fuel cells. On the 4th of this month, a reporter who visited the Engineering Building at Kookmin University to hear their vision was able to feel their youthful passion as they exchanged questions and answers with the KUST Shell team.

 

The reporter asked the following questions to Professor Dong-hoon Shin, who is a professor of mechanical engineering and is in charge of the KUST club at Kookmin University, and to Park Bo-hyung, who led the KUST Shell team for the past year, Bae Jun-hyuk, who was a team member, Kim Min-jin, who was a team member, Han Hee-jin, who was a team member, and Lee Ju-yeon, who will lead the KUST Shell team for the next year. They answered the questions.

 

■ How did you first learn about the KUST club and what motivated the students to apply?

 

- Student Kim Min-jin: I came here first because I'm interested in car design and eco-friendly cars. However, there are also cases where people apply after seeing the promotional poster. I know that information can also be found in a student community called Everytime.

 

- Team Leader Park Bo-hyung: KUST also promotes itself through Instagram and Internet cafes. Some students apply to Kookmin University because they have been interested in the World Solar Challenge since they were high school students and hope to enter KUST through such promotional activities.

 

- Student Lee Ju-yeon: When I was a high school student in 2019, I came to Kookmin University on a college tour. At that time, seeing the eco-friendly cars on display at the Kookmin University Engineering Hall was a big reason for me to go to Kookmin University.

 

■ How did you come across competitions such as the World Solar Challenge and Shell Eco-marathon?

 

- Professor Donghoon Shin: It all started in 2009 when I built a solar car (a car that runs on solar power) in a design program class. I wanted to see how well the car was built and entered it in an international competition, which was the World Solar Challenge. The World Solar Challenge is held in Australia. It is about 3,000 km long. Kookmin University was the first Korean university to participate in the World Solar Challenge, and even now, the level of the competition is so high that there are probably not many teams that can participate. We are proud of this. After that, when the World Solar Challenge was cancelled due to COVID-19, I participated in the Shell Eco-marathon instead. I also have plans to participate in the World Solar Challenge again in 2027. I think it is a competition that students can learn a lot from.

 

■ The most recent competition you participated in was the Shell Eco-marathon. How was the Shell Eco-marathon organized?

 

- Park Bo-hyung, Team Leader: Shell Eco-marathon is divided into three categories: internal combustion engines, batteries, and hydrogen. Prototypes and urban types are also distinguished here. The KUST Shell team will also compete in the hydrogen category with an urban type. For the prototype, it is important to maximize the pure fuel efficiency, and for the urban type, there are more things to consider, such as safety devices, based on actual road driving. You can think of the urban type as a more advanced course. Naturally, there are more prototype teams participating. Teams that compete in the urban type are mostly those that have reached the top ranks in the prototype and are challenging themselves in the advanced course. The KUST Shell team's recent vehicle also has four wheels and can be driven by one person. It even has a wiper function so that it can be driven in the rain.

 

 

■ How long does it take to prepare for the competition?

 

- Park Bo-hyung, Team Leader: It takes a year or more for more than 20 people to build it. Sometimes we have to work through the night because we don't have enough time for a year. I think you have to start more than a year in advance to enter a competition. However, since the project is a one-year project, there is a problem with the application process being a one-year project as well. That's why you have to create it within a year, even if you have to work through the night. In the first half of the year, we start designing the vehicle, and in the second half of the year, we build the vehicle and test-drive it.

 

■ Where do you test-drive the vehicle?

 

- Park Bo-hyung, Team Leader: We are conducting test drives at Taean Technoring. This place is being rented by Hankook Tire. I understand that Technoring used to rent out its facilities mostly to companies.

 

■ I understand that the latest competition was held in Qatar. The climate there is different from that in Korea. How do eco-friendly vehicles respond to such volatility?

 

- Bae Jun-hyuk: I participated in the Shell Eco-marathon with a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. When hydrogen and oxygen react to produce electricity, the movement of ions produces electricity. If the humidity is too dry, the conductivity of the ions may decrease, and the power generation efficiency may drop sharply. I was worried because Qatar is a dry country. In fact, teams from humid countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia encountered problems during the competition. On the other hand, the KUST Shell team used a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) to react hydrogen and oxygen to produce water, and then moved the produced water to the catalyst to maintain the humidity inside the catalyst. Through this process, the team succeeded in driving without any problems in Qatar. It is true that they are still somewhat affected by the climate, but I think this will improve with further technological development in the future.

 

 

■ It seems that eco-friendly vehicles still have a long way to go. How can they become competitive?

 

- Professor Shin Dong-hoon: So far, the technology for eco-friendly vehicles is not yet mature. In addition, the government needs to establish standards such as safety standards, but it is difficult for the government to keep up with the pace of technological development. I think that the issue of cost-effectiveness will be solved over time. Internal combustion engine vehicles are a system that has been developed over the past 100 years. On the other hand, eco-friendly vehicles such as electric vehicles have only been around for a short time. I think they will definitely be competitive in a few decades. In Korea, Hyundai Motor Company has been developing hydrogen vehicles with determination. I think that technology development will naturally follow after enough time has passed.

 

■ What was beneficial about working together as a team for a year?

 

- Minjin Kim: I didn't have the opportunity to actually use the theories I learned in class, but I felt that my skills as an engineering student were improving as I applied various technologies such as CAD design, Solidworks design, 3D printing, electronic circuit configuration, and driving data analysis.

 

- Junhyuk Bae: I think it will be a great experience to be able to build a car as a student and to use carbon fiber. By having experiences that others cannot easily have, I think I can use them as great advantages in the future, such as preparing for employment.

 

- Han Hee-jin: Through team activities, I was able to greatly improve my problem-solving skills, planning skills, and drive, not only by gaining technical knowledge, but also by finding and implementing my own solutions to the problems given to me. I also think that I have grown in my ability to communicate in the process of creating synergy by leveraging each other's strengths, such as coordinating opinions with team members from various majors and backgrounds. I am confident that these experiences will lead to core competencies that will enable me to play my role in project activities in any field in the future.

 

■ (To Park Bo-hyung, Team Leader) Do you have any thoughts on leading the team for a year?

- Park Bo-hyung, Team Leader: I think I have grown a lot in terms of technology and engineering as a team leader for a year, but I also feel the importance of human relationships and people. No matter how good an individual's ability is, I think there will naturally be friction of opinion in the process of preparing for a competition. I feel a sense of accomplishment that I have grown in my ability to coordinate as a team leader for a year. Not only me, but all of the team members also relied on each other and grew together. KUST was not simply a club or team, but a family that spent a year together. We had fun leisure time together, such as going out to dinner and traveling together. Recently, we have become even closer as we spent time sightseeing after the competition in Qatar. I am happy that both me and my team members have spent a year growing both academically and humanly.

 

 

■ (To student Lee Ju-yeon) I heard that you will be the leader of the team for the next year. What are your aspirations?

 

- Student Lee Ju-yeon: I have a great sense of responsibility as the team leader of a team that will lead a big competition. First of all, I will complete the next competition by thoroughly analyzing, supplementing, and improving the shortcomings of the previous competition in preparation for the next competition. As with all teams, the ultimate goal is of course to win. In particular, the next competition is significant in that we will be taking on a new challenge with a frame body. Our goal is to achieve weight reduction and efficiency improvement by making the frame ourselves. In addition to the simple results, I also want to play an important role in coordinating the relationships between team members. If there is any conflict between team members, I will quickly identify it, find a way to improve it, and resolve it to create and lead a harmonious team like the previous year.

 

■ (To Professor Shin Dong-hoon) You see promising students grow and leave the school every year. Do you have any feelings as you watch them grow?

- Professor Shin Dong-hoon: Among Kookmin University students, KUST club graduates have excellent employment quality. Some of them have found employment at major science and engineering companies, including Hyundai Motor Company, while others have started their own businesses with brilliant ideas and achieved success. Even though they all entered Kookmin University at the same time, each student has a different level of ability by the time they graduate. As an educator, I feel a sense of pride when I see the growth of my club students.

 

■ Lastly, as you are a club that deals with eco-friendly cars, I would like to ask for your opinion on the environment.

- Park Bo-hyung Team Leader: The environment is an asset not only for us but also for future generations, and I believe that the climate crisis is not something that will happen in the distant future. I hope that the competition vehicles we are building will serve as a stepping stone to lead to eco-friendly mobility in the future. I hope that our club will help improve public awareness as it becomes more well-known.

 

 

 

 

 

This content is translated from Korean to English using the AI translation service DeepL and may contain translation errors such as jargon/pronouns. If you find any, please send your feedback to kookminpr@kookmin.ac.kr so we can correct them.   View original article [click]