The Smarttrons ChemE Car Team, Faculty of Engineering (FT) Semarang State University (UNNES), is ready to compete in the final of the international ChemCar Wettbewerb 2021 online competition in Germany which will start from September 13, 2021 to September 22, 2021. The team will use the side yard of the UNNES Auditorium as a car track in this competition.
The CheChemCar Wettbewerb Competition is a ChemCar competition which is held annually in Germany where students are required to design and demonstrate the performance of a prototype car fueled by chemical reactions with certain challenges that require various kinds of process optimization and technical considerations. This competition requires students’ ability to analyze, synthesize, evaluate complex information, especially in the engineering field.
In addition, the ability to work together and be able to apply knowledge and technical skills in the real world is also one of the important goals in this competition.
The organizers of the competition are DECHEMA (the Expert Network for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology in Germany) and VDI (The Association of German Engineers) which are two of the world’s leading engineering association organizations. The Smarttrons FT-UNNES team was initiated and mentored by Dhoni Hartanto ST MT MSc consisting of Muhammad Salman Alfarisi (S1 Chemical Engineering) as team leader, Asesanti Suci Nur Pratami (S1 Chemical Engineering), Desy Hikmatul Siami (S1 Chemical Engineering), Amadea Vaskalya Pramesti (S1 Chemical Engineering), Arif Budiargo (S1 Mechanical Engineering Education), and Abdul Rachman Al Qudus (S1 Mechanical Engineering). This team will also be assisted by a Safety Inspector, namely Arie Is Marsongko, ST to supervise and ensure the safety of the competition.
The prototype car fueled by chemical reactions that will compete in the German competition later is called Smarttrons v. Delta. The challenge faced by the team in designing and assembling this car was the strict safety selection by one of the safety consulting companies for industry from Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, namely Inburex Consulting.
The Smarttrons team has made improvements and developments on the car’s mechanism system so that it can increase the efficiency of the chemicals used. In this competition, environmental factors are also important in the assessment so that the chemicals used are environmentally friendly chemicals and do not cause emissions that are harmful to health and the environment. At the same mileage this car can save the use of chemicals 50-80% and has a smoother movement than the previous version of the car. Therefore, the use of reduced fuel causes less waste to be generated, making it more environmentally friendly.
The selected team will compete in the final of the CheChemCar Wettbewerb Competition 2021 which consists of 7 teams from various countries including the host Germany. This is the second chance that the UNNES Smarttrons team has taken part in the German ChemCar competition, after previously in 2018 Smarttrons occupied the top 7 and at the same time received an Honorable Mention in this competition. On another occasion, this team has won the competition at the international event ICECC (Indonesia Chem-E-Car Competition) 2021 in the middle of this year.
The Chancellor of the State University of Semarang, Prof. Dr. Fathur Rokhman MHum along with the Vice Chancellors, Dean of FT UNNES, Dr. Nur Qudus MT IPM and the academic community of FT UNNES expressed gratitude and pride for the achievements of the FT-UNNES Smarttrons Team for being able to enter the final in this prestigious international event.
The Smarttrons FT-UNNES team is expected to be able to perform optimally in the event so that it can continue its championship title and add achievements to bring the name of UNNES at the international level.
