NEWS

CIV Testing in Sweden

The propeller-powered, bio-fuelled Concept Ice Vehicle (CIV) was first put through its paces in Sweden in 2008. Since then, Lotus Engineering designer Keiron Bradley and his team of engineers have been working on a number of engineering upgrades to the CIV. In March 2009, the Moon-Regan team joined the engineering crew to test drive the CIV on the rough, snow-covered terrain near Trondheim in central Sweden.

Location
Set in a stunning landscape of woodland, frozen lakes, and mountains, the team was based at the lake-side Klocka Fjällgård lodge, which formed a somewhat more comfortable ‘base camp’ experience than the team will be having in the Antarctic. However, it was the CIV that needed testing at this time, not the mettle of the team.

‘The snow is deep here,’ says expedition team principal Andrew Regan on Day One of the four-day testing period, ‘The snow in Antarctica is either very icy, or it’s very powdery like sand. Here, there’s ice, then there’s granulated snow, then there’s soft, wet snow on top. I’d be very interested to see how the CIV deals with that.’

Fuel
Fuel consumption is a pivotal factor in the success of the expedition. Calculations on the CIV’s fuel consumption were made based on its performance on a 4km circuit. Expedition principal Andrew Moon explains: ‘We’ve got one shot of getting the fuel right. We’re going to have fuel at Patriot Hills where we start off. We’re going to have a refueling dump at Thiel Mountains, more fuel at the South Pole, then no more fuel till we get down to McMurdo, so we’ve got to have the right amounts at each place, otherwise we will run out.’ There are other elements about the landscape of Antarctica that need to be taken into account when calculating fuel needs: ‘The increasing altitude will affect fuel consumption potentially increasing it by 40-45% because of the higher altitude,’ adds Andrew Regan. ‘As you go onto the plateau, which is over 10,000ft above sea level, that makes a big impact on the fuel consumption.’

Suspension
Suspension is equally important. If the heavy-duty hydraulic suspension doesn’t work, then the CIV will not be able to tackle the varied terrain that the team will encounter over their 2,000-mile journey across the Antarctic. During testing in 2008, the suspension was bottoming out. Modifications were made to the struts, and the suspension was tested again in Sweden 2009. Andrew Moon relates the results: ‘This time, rather than bottoming out, the struts simply broke. So the test was successful in that we found out the things we needed to know. The conditions were tough – there was rough snow. It was similar to parts of Antarctica – similar to around the 88th degree.’

Power
Although the CIV is relatively light, the propeller needs to be efficient enough to propel it forward across the roughest ground. After testing in 2008, the engineers decided to improve the forward thrust by replacing the original propeller with a more efficient prop with variable pitch blades. Testing in 2009 showed that the changes were successful.

Steering
The CIV is driven using a steering wheel, while a hand throttle controls the engine, and another lever alters the pitch of the propeller blades. During the testing in 2008, the steering was found to be incredibly ‘heavy’. Improvements meant that the steering was greatly improved. Andrew Moon expands: ‘I hadn’t driven it on ice before, so I was a bit apprehensive as I set off,’ he admits. ‘But the steering had been fixed successfully, and it worked. It was great – very light – it had a nice feel to it. I could actually relax. You have to feel for ‘that amount of throttle and this amount of edge’, and work out what the response is like.’