Students Ready to Dazzle with Propeller-Driven Human Powered Submarine

THIS YEAR'S HUMAN POWERED SUBMARINE TEAM has some big shoes to fill. The last UCSD vehicle to compete in the International Human Powered Vehicle Association’s (IHPVA) event made history as it shattered the world speed record for non-propeller human powered submarines.

This year's group of mechanical & aerospace engineering students, led by team captains Daniel Wacholder and Cameron Murphy, approached the project with a "been there, done that" attitude, as it began construction on a brand new design. "A non-propeller sub has already been built and it set a world record. That's great, but we wanted to do something totally different. We decided to build a propeller-driven sub and compete in a more difficult category," says Wacholder. Switching to a propeller- based system poses a new set of design and testing challenges.

The team will begin water testing the vehicle in Spring 2002 in preparation for the drag race-like event which will be held in July. Current sponsors include the Jacobs School, Orincon, Nokia, General 2Plastics, Haas Automation, SunRez and the American Society for Mechanical Engineers (ASME). The ASME San Diego Chapter hosts the event every other year. Additional support is still needed to help fund this popular event.