| James Kon |
TEAM Polybrusem of Politeknik Brunei has made the country proud by finishing the recent Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2018 held in Singapore in flying colours and winning the hearts of new age technology enthusiasts.
The Brunei team’s fuel-efficient car placed 10th of 26 participating battery electric prototype vehicles at the event.
The competition, which took place at the City State’s Changi Exhibition Centre, saw the participation of 120 student teams from 18 countries.
Shell Eco-marathon is a competition for students who are passionate about developing innovative mobility solutions. It challenges engineering, design, science and technology students to design, build and drive the world’s most energy-efficient vehicle.
The Politeknik Brunei team managed to set a new benchmark and also break its own record from 84km/kWh last year to 117km/kWh this year. The double achievements made Polybrusem the top Brunei team in the competition in terms of efficiency and ranking.
To celebrate this landmark achievement, Politeknik Brunei held an appreciation and certificate presentation ceremony for the Polybrusem team members and event sponsors.
Denis Ho Mun Tai, Director of Politeknik Brunei presented the certificates. Ho applauded the students for their remarkable achievement and expressed his gratitude to the sponsors.
Appreciation certificates were presented to Brunei Shell Petroleum, Brunei Shell Marketing, Brunei Gas Carriers, Brunei LNG, Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam, Aegion FYFE, IET, Royal Brunei Airlines, Aewon, MOC Sdn Bhd, Keluarga Tasmera, Filterworks and Micronet International College.
Members of team Polybrusem who received recognition certificates were: Pengiran Haji Mohd Alauddin bin Pengiran Haji Momin, programme leader for the Diploma in Mechanical Engineering programme; Norliza binti Zaini, team electrical supervisor; Mohammad Hifdzur Azmi bin Haji Mohd Sain, team manager; Nurul Ramizah binti Ramlee, assistant team manager; Nur Athirah Umairah binti Abdul Mateen Elok, team safety officer and first driver; Muhammad Najiullah Al-Aqiel bin Dr Mohammad Adi Zaky, the team’s car designer; Muhammad Rashid bin Harun, head of electrical; Muhammad Nurfazillah bin Zaidin, electrical assistant; and mechanical technicians Mohammad Wazini bin Roslan and Nablibullah bin Haji Muhamad Zain.
“We totally redesigned the vehicle from last year’s competition and this took us a year. Since the location of the event is quite windy, we tried to design a car which could reduce the drag resistance force and is lighter,” said Mohammad Hifdzur Azmi in an interview.
On the challenges that the team faced, he recalled, “We faced some problems with the electrical circuits during the race, and as a team we worked together to solve them. After showing very low efficiency in the first round, we did troubleshooting of our car by re-examining all of its components thoroughly. As we progressed through the stages of the race, we managed to increase the car’s efficiency and achieve a distance of 117km/kWh.”
On the team’s success, he said, “The hard work of the team and support from sponsors and guidance from the Politeknik Brunei Board of Directors, teachers and everyone else – all contributed to our success. The overall determination and hunger to achieve a landmark result for Politeknik Brunei also helped motivate the team.
“We didn’t expect that we can achieve a top 10 ranking because there were many challenges. But we strived on and competed with other universities to obtain such an achievement,” he added.
Mohammad Hifdzur Azmi and his other team members will soon be graduating from Politeknik Brunei and will not be representing the institution in next year’s Shell Eco-marathon Asia.
“I am happy to have been able to achieve this landmark result for Politeknik Brunei before leaving the school,” he said.
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