ZPower XR41 microbatteries.(Image courtesy of ZPower.)
Manufacturer of silver-zinc rechargeable microbatteries, ZPower, has invited students currently enrolled in undergraduate engineering programs in the United States to participate in the 2017 ZPower Battery Bowl Design Challenge. The competition challenges each team to design a device prototype powered by ZPower’s microbatteries, where the winner gets to take home a grand prize of US$25,000.
Students can participate either individually or in teams of up to eight people, and must use ZPower’s XR41 or XR48 rechargeable batteries for designing and prototyping their product.
Participants will submit a one-page summary of their proposed devices. The competition is open for up to 100 applicants; however, only 20 will make it into the next qualifying stage, where ZPower will send them a product development kit to develop their device.
The student teams will also have to submit a PowerPoint presentation detailing their design by July 31, 2017. Ten days later, the ZPower Contest Committee will announce the finalists, who will be called on to present their idea and a prototype to the committee at their headquarters at Camarillo, California. The winner will be announced by September 8, 2017.
“With this competition, burgeoning engineers throughout the country will become aware of ZPower batteries, their capabilities and the potential they represent in new product design,” said Ross Dueber, ZPower president and CEO. “The engineering students of today are the innovators and technology disruptors of tomorrow. We are disruptors ourselves, and we want to support the spirit of innovation and provide the types of challenges that will result in creative, forward-facing design.”
For engineering students interested in entering the competition, registration opened on February 15, 2017 and will go through to March 31, 2017.
For more information and contest rules, visit the ZPower Battery Bowl Challenge website.