In July 2006, I reported on the manned battery-powered flight, Oxyrides ride high in the sky. The manufacturer of those tiny Oxyride AA batteries, Panasonic/Matsushita, refused to take a rest after the conquest of sky. The Oxyride team immediately plunged into the next silly venture. This time, setting the land speed record.

Sleey Oxyride record machine in full speed.

Oh, no. They were not trying to launch their Oxyride vehicle on Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah, US, and ride over the magical Mach 1 barrier. No, their target was rather very modest. A manned battery-powered run of over 100kmh. Does not sound very impressive? All right, in that case, please figure out how to build hardware using only AA dry batteries you can buy at your neighborhood convenience store as power source. Now you understand the difficulty.

Panasonic Oxyride guys outsourced this project to Osaka Sangyo (Industry) University. Sure, the same modus operandi as the development of Oxyride manned flight, built and flown by crazy engineering students of Tokyo Institute of Technology. Seemed it worked nicely in both cases; purse string held by Pananosic, actual sweat from eggheads.

Power source, 192 AA batteries. No carbon dioxide emission!

Quick forward. The test vehicle was built with CFRP (carbon fiber-reinforced plastics)/Aramid Honeycomb core with panel. This composite material is extremely light and strong (it weighs 80 percent less than the weight of steel sheet of the same strength). Total dry weight of the vehicle (battery included, pilot not included), just 38kg.

Power source was 192 Oxyride AA batteries connected in series. Wheels were driven directly by motors; no gears, no transmission. The driver, chosen for this record run, was a young lightweight student from the University.

Anyway, on August 4, the trial was performed on a circuit course in Ibaragi Prefecture. The 1km-long test course, running twice, outward and inward, to negate the effect of wind and incline. With running start, plunging into the course with full speed.

The pilot with full power.

So, the first trial. Outward run went rather well. The maximum speed reached amazing 122kmh, but average speed was 109.22kmh. Then, inward return run. Average speed 102.68kmh. The initial target of 100kmh was easily broken.

Oxyride AA battery is sold at around 130 yen (US$1.1) a piece. Regular alkaline AA battery from China usually sells at 25 yen (US$0.21). But Oxyrides are quite popular despite this expensive price tag, especially for digital cameras. 192 Oxyrides (almost 25,000 yen worth) have been completely exhausted after the 2km run. Not very good mileage for this tiny one-man vehicle, is it? But still, it was a magnificent feat.

The inward return run: 35.06 secs, 102.68kmh average speed.

Next attempt? After sky and land, then water is left open. Oxyride submarine? Dry battery-powered boat? Or Oxyride hydrofoil? Definitely, you'll hear the next news soon.

 

cheewee
Level:

kaisei1
Level: