2008: Smaller. Safer. Better.
Drawings on Display at Michelin Challenge Design™
Biography
Terry C.W. Wong is a mechanical engineer and concept designer who is currently based in Vancouver, Canada. He earned his Applied Science degree from the University of British Columbia in 2002. In additional to his technical training, Terry has always had a great interest and passion for fine arts and designs, which led him to explore a wide range of related fields over the years. This includes painting, graphic arts, 3D modeling, jewelry as well as industrial design.
Besides being selected as one of the finalists for 2008 Michelin Challenge Design, Terry also participated in Michelin Challenge Bibendum 2004 that took place in Shanghai. He was a lead designer in an engineer team that designed and built a hydrogen refueling station for the featured fuel cell vehicles.
Description
Neutron is a single occupant hydrogen-solar hybrid urban vehicle that focuses on overall road safety, sustainable energy use, and a fun driving experience. The design solution’s functionalities and exterior design are mainly inspired by the atomic bonding principle and the yin-yang concept.
Based on the atomic bonding principle that “opposite charges attract and like charges repel”, Neutron creates and alters its’ electromagnetic fields to attract or repel other vehicles installed with the same system in the surroundings. For collision prevention, an electromagnetic collision avoidance (EMCA) system was implemented with a variety of sensors and feedback features that is able to react and maintain a safe distance between drivers in the ever changing road condition. In order to make the EMCA system fully feasible, future roads and highways will be designed specifically for cars with the EMCA system.
As an additional safety system, Neutron’s exterior is made of fabrics and airbags. In situations where collisions are unavoidable, the flexible exterior will be able to absorb impact, thus minimizing damage and increasing survivability for the drivers or pedestrians. During collision, pressure sensors will monitor the airbag pressure and relieve gas when it is over the set safety limit.
Neutron is a hybrid that integrated the fuel cell skateboard design as its primary energy source. For its secondary energy source, it collects energy with the solar absorbent exterior.
The exterior of Neutron is made of the two yin-yang colored fabrics: black and white.
The black colored fabric is coated with solar paint that collects solar energy and acts as the supplementary energy source to the fuel cell skateboard. The white colored fabric is a light emitting fabric that is embedded with LEDs to improve visibility during night driving and use as signal lightings.
Half of the exterior is designed to create energy, while the other half is designed to consume energy. These correlated functionalities are influenced by the yin-yang concept of complementary opposite and balance.
Neutron’s photochromic dome window design provides the Neutron drivers with an open full 360° view for their surroundings. The use of photochromic window material is because of its unique material property, which the window darkens itself when exposed to sunlight/ UV rays. With this sunlight sensible feature, the window can greatly reduce sunlight distraction and improves visibility for the Neutron drivers.
As an urban vehicle, Neutron is designed with the flexibility to rotate and move in multiple directions to meet the typical high density city driving and parking style. Moreover, with the electromagnetic system, Neutron can be driven independently or bonded with other vehicles in different configurations to travel together and share the fun!
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