Your TA Eli Shoemake, Patrick Adam, and Ian Richardson contributed to the winning design for the 2014 International Hydrogen Student Design Competition. The teams design, to pressurize hydrogen via a method we call Cryogenic Thermal Compression (CTC), is totally novel, allowing fueling stations to cost less than 1/4 of those currently under construction.

In the 1.5 years since winning the competition, we have built a network of contacts in industry willing to advise and sponsor the build of our fueling station, which we hope will be the first hydrogen fueling station in the Northwest. The timing is fortuitous to coincide with the Department of Energy’s H2-Refuel $1 million prize challenge. So in short, the stakes for Systems Design this semester may be the highest in the history of engineering education. That’s ok, we have a plan.

Last spring ME 316 achieved new heights. We re-visioned the class and undertook what was likely the largest project in the history of the course in the Machinescape. Along the way we turned what was the lowest student reviewed course in MME and likely made it the highest with a 4.9/5.0 instructor rating.

Taking ME 316 even further to build the first fueling station in our state and the competition is possible through several opportunities converging at once:

  1. The competition deliverables directly map to the ME 316 syllabus and course outline.
  2. Support from the Washington Research Foundation, WSU Alumnus Paul Laufman, Insitu Inc., and others (pending).
  3. A large build space in the Thermal Fluids Research Laboratory (TFRB) Suite 113 and 108 to house the Light Air Mobile Shelter (LAMS) container retrofit.

Along the way we are going to pioneer a new class structure and communication system. We will follow the JigSaw classroom technique integrated with the Slack communication system. We’re working to seamlessly integrate Slack with this WordPress page. So to be clear, your coursework you are completing for this class actually COULD be a startup company and a way to pay for your college debt (WSU has not decided what it will do with the winnings if you do pull it off). Your communications and blog posts will appear on the web telling the story of you and this project. Opportunities this big are rare. (Hand out FERPA form).

Before midnight on Tuesday (8/25) you must complete the following for completion credit:

  1. Create a Feedly personalized news stream for yourself. Add the HYPER lab blog feed to your feedly following these instructions.
  2. Login to the Slack H2-Refuel team invite sent to you from the TA.
  3. In the #Random thread of Slack add your 3 favorite feeds you found (PC please). My favorite are a) Wired, b) The Verge, and c) Space.com.
  4. Complete the CATME Team-maker survey sent to your WSU email from the TA.

On Wednesday we’ll form into teams and begin preparation for our customer visit on Friday. See you then.