Once in a while, I receive a press release that is a joy to publish...it's all about "doing well by doing good."
Here's one that was fun to get, read, and run. We'll keep you posted on the race.
Brad products provide the connections for University of Waterloo's Midnight Sun IX solar powered race carDurability and reliability in extreme conditions key to use of Brad productsOctober 1, 2007 - Lincolnshire, IL USA. - Woodhead Industries, a division of Molex Incorporated, is pleased to be a sponsor of the University of Waterloo's Midnight Sun IX solar powered race car team.As a sponsor, Woodhead Industries provided the team with Brad products which were integrated in this year's Midnight Sun IX solar powered race car. "The team has a lot of success using the Brad products because of their durability, allowing the solar vehicle to operate under rugged environments like the Australian outback" explains Johnny Yip, one of the team members involved with the design of this year's car. Products used included BradConnectivity cabling for DeviceNet and 4-pole Micro-Change cables as well as Molex connector sockets. Midnight Sun IX uses DeviceNet for the on-vehicle network allowing devices such as the motor controller and the drive control unit to communicate with each other. BradConnectivity Micro-Change cables were used for low speed and analog signals including electrical connections for turn signal lights and the accelerator pedal. And finally the Molex connector sockets were used to build custom cable sets for board-to-board communication. Yip points out "one great advantage is the product's screw-in type connector. This provides extra robustness to our electrical connections when subjected to vibration on the road."
Johnny Yip, a computer engineering student at the University of Waterloo (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada), is one of 100 students who were involved with the design and construction of the Midnight Sun IX. Yip's responsibilities included electrical manager and specifically working on the battery protection system.The Midnight Sun IX team will be participating in the Panasonic World Solar Challenge from October 21 to October 28, 2007 in Australia. The challenge is a 3,000 kilometer race that spans the Australian outback, starting in Darwin and ending in Adelaide.
