(from left) Lulu Sekar Taji, Delvin Theodorus, Michael Adrian, Muhammad Rafli Revansyah, Abdul Quddus Al Kahfi

ITS Campus, ITS News – After being vacuumed from participating in the Chem-E-Car competition for almost a year due to the pandemic, the proud team of the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS), the Spektronics Team represented by Spektronics XX managed to maintain their existence as champions. This time, the Spektronics XX sub-team emerged as the first winner in the international Chem-E-Car competition, namely the 2021 Indonesia Chem-E-Car Competition (ICECC), last Sunday (11/4).

The success of Spektronics XX cannot be separated from the hard work of the five ITS students who are members of it. Namely Michael Adrian (Chemical Engineering 2018) as team leader, Lulu Sekar Taji (Industrial Chemical Engineering 2019) as a person in charge of data processing, Delvin Theodorus (Chemical Engineering 2019) as car runner, Rafli Revansyah (Chemical Engineering 2020) as a person in charge of chemicals, and Abdul Quddus Al Kahfi (Chemical Engineering 2020) as the person in charge of mechanical.

In the Chem-E-Car competition, held online at the ITS campus, each team was required to make a car prototype with fuel from chemical reactions. The car must stop at the specified travel distance while carrying the load. Spektronics XX won a near-perfect race score in the competition and the highest among 21 other teams from domestic and foreign universities.

Lulu explained that the Spektronics XX car could move because of the pressure from oxygen gas (O2) obtained from the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) decomposition reaction. This oxygen gas then passes through the pressure regulator set, which functions to filter the gas produced, regulate the output pressure, and control gas flow speed.

Spektronics XX is running a test run at ICECC 2021

After passing through the tool, oxygen will enter the pneumatics, which functions as a driving machine. “This pneumatic movement will move the wheels by utilizing a pulley and belt as an intermediary so that it can reduce errors from tire rotation and increase the torque of the car,” continued this student born in 2000.

According to Lulu, the success of the Spektronics XX car in the 2021 ICECC Race was due to its unique features. “There are three features that distinguish the Spektronics XX car from other team cars, namely, the transducer, timing pulley, and materials,” she explained.

Furthermore, the girl from Batam explained that the transducer is a pressure reading sensor that is connected to a micro-controller in the form of an Arduino and also an LCD. The data read by the transducer is sent to Arduino, the Arduino sends the output to the LCD. “The use of this transducer increases the accuracy of the pressure reading produced by oxygen gas compared to using a pressure gauge,” she added.

Spektronics XX is making a presentation before the ICECC 2021 judges.

The timing pulley feature in the Spektronics XX car reduces distance errors caused by rotation of the camshaft. “Another unique feature is the material used in the Spektronics XX car, which is the use of high-quality materials suitable for preventing corrosion,” explained the only female member of the team.

In working on it, Lulu said that her team had limited time to prepare for the ICECC 2021 competition due to the preparation of other projects. “However, with persistence and cooperation between team members, Spektronics XX successfully competed in ICECC 2021,” she said proudly.

In the future, the ITS Spektronics Team will continue to strive to produce more innovative ideas. “So that we can continue to maintain our championship titles in other Chem-E-Car events and can also provide inspiration for ITS students,” concluded Lulu hopefully. (far/ITS Public Relations)

Reporter: Tyara Novia Andhin