A team of NDSU students took home awards from the 2014 Society of Automotive Engineering Clean Snowmobile Challenge, hosted by Michigan Technological University. The competition was held March 3-8.
In the competition, NDSU earned the Gage Products Award for Best Fuel Economy by achieving 28.68 miles per gallon with its diesel-powered snowmobile. NDSU also was among the teams receiving the NGK Spark Plugs/NTK Sensors Cold Start Award. In addition, The NDSU team was one of nine sleds that crossed the finish line March 4 in the challenge’s endurance run.
Team members included senior Justin Omdalen from Mayville, N.D.; senior Ross Larson from Forest Lake, Minn.; senior Justin Carlson from Hallock, Minn.; senior Joseph Borden from Tower, Minn.; and senior Dwight McKinnis from Cambridge, Minn.
The team’s faculty adviser is Robert Pieri, professor of mechanical engineering.
In the competition, engineering students from participating schools take a stock snowmobile and re-engineer it to reduce emissions and noise and increase fuel efficiency while preserving the riding excitement demanded by snowmobile enthusiasts.
“It was good to show the abilities of the diesel engine in the snowmobile application,” Omdalen said. “When leaving for the competition we were expecting this to be the last year of diesel-powered snowmobiles being allowed in the competition. After discussion with the organizers, there will now be a diesel snowmobile category of the competition in future years.”
Teams that competed in the internal combustion category were NDSU; Clarkson University, Potsdam, N.Y.; École de Technologie Supérieure, Montreal; Kettering University, Flint, Mich.; Michigan Technological University; Northern Illinois University; Rochester Institute of Technology; State University of New York at Buffalo; University of Idaho, University of Maine, the University of Waterloo, Ontario; University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin-Platteville and University of Minnesota, Duluth.
Kettering University won the overall first prize, while SUNY-Buffalo placed second and the university of Idaho was third.
“It is important to note that Buffalo, the second place overall team, ran a diesel snowmobile and won the lowest overall emissions event. There is a lot of potential for a well-built diesel powered snowmobile,” Omdalen said.
The Clean Snowmobile Challenge is sponsored at Michigan Tech by the Keweenaw Research Center and the Department of Mechanical Engineering–Engineering Mechanics. For more information on the Challenge, see www.mtu.edu/snowmobile.
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation’s top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.
