MechSE team wins national Chainless Challenge

The Chainless Challenge Illinois team—consisting of seniors Greg Wilk, Elijah Johnson, Saad Baig, Ryan Mott, Taylor Beever, and David Garb from the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering (MechSE)—brought home 1st place in the Parker Hannifin Chainless Challenge, held April 11-12 in Irvine, California.

"The guys had worked really hard all year long," said the team’s faculty advisor, MechSE associate professor Elizabeth Hsiao-Wecksler. "We were really confident going in that we were going to do very well."

The competition calls on each team to create a human-powered cycle that is missing the main component that distinguishes it from other vehicles of its kind—a chain. Ten universities from across the nation pitted their chainless bikes against each other in three categories: the Sprint Race (200-meter dash), the Endurance Race (an eight-mile circuit race), and the Efficiency Challenge (a braking and restarting challenge). To be eligible for the race, the cycles had to include a fluid transmission, either hydraulic or pneumatic, and they could not use a chain connecting the pedal sprocket to the wheel.

The Illinois team members designed a cycle that uses hydraulics to transport power from the pedals to the wheel. They placed second in the Sprint Race, third in the Endurance Race, and third in the Efficiency Challenge, the only team to place in all three of these categories. Overall, the Illinois group won first place in Best Presentation and Paper and Best Overall Score, awards that were accompanied by $3,500 and $5,000 prizes, respectively.

"There was a presentation day and a demonstration day. Between the two, I had them practicing late into the night and revising their presentation," Hsiao-Wecksler said. "It paid off."

The six Engineering Mechanics students competed in the Chainless Challenge as their Senior Design Project (ME 470), developing the vehicle over the course of the past two semesters. Wilk, Johnson, and Baig enrolled in the course for Fall 2012 and Mott, Beever, and Garb took the class this spring.

The Chainless Challenge is a project available to ME 470 students. Illinois students have participated in the Parker Hannifin competition nearly every year since 2005. Their 2013 victory is Illinois’ second 1st-place finish, having won in 2005.
_______________________

Contact: William Bowman, associate director of communications, Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, 217/244-0901.

Writer: Lyanne Alfaro, Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering.

If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, editor, Engineering Communications Office, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 217/244-7716.