astronomy

University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team

University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team rather than just read about it. In short: The University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team (UTSVT) is a student-driven effort to design, build, test, and race solar vehicles for the purpose of reinforcing skills learned in the classroom, raising awareness of solar power, and bringing solar power closer to practicality. To accomplish this task, a multidisciplinary group of students from various disciplines in the Cockrell School of Engineering, and from other sch…

Key takeaways

University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team (UTSVT) is a student-driven effort to design, build, test, and race solar vehicles for the purpose of reinforcing skills learned in the classroom, raising awareness of solar power, and bringing solar power closer to practicality. To accomplish this task, a multidisciplinary group of students from various disciplines in the Cockrell School of Engineering, and from other schools across the University of Texas, such as the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Natural Sciences come together to design and construct the most efficient vehicle as possible. The vehicles are completely powered by the sun and are entered in competitions against universities from across the United States and internationally. The team serves as the host for American Solar Challenge (ASC) and Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP). In addition to participating in races, the team participates in outreach events to educate the general public and K-12 students about the excitement of STEM careers and alternative energy.

Vehicles

Texas Native Sun I The Longhorn Solar Race Car Team (LSRCT) built its first vehicle, Texas Native Sun, with a graphite and epoxy carbon fiber composite monocoque chassis and body, an 800 watt 1,000-cell solar array, and 66 nickel-hydrogen batteries. A 2 hp (1.5 kW) high-density permanent magnet DC electric motor powered its hydro-mechanical continuously variable transmission via a chain drive. The teardrop-shaped car's length, width, and height were 19 by 6.5 by 5 feet (5.8 m × 2.0 m × 1.5 m), and it weighed 320 pounds (150 kg). Its top speed was 67 mph. Project advisors included professors Gary Vliet and Ron Matthews. It competed in three races—Sunrayce 1990 (placed 22nd out of 32), Sunrayce 1993, and the California Clean Air Race 1991 where it placed second out of 30 teams.

Texas Native Sun II Built in 1995, UT's second solar car, Texas Native Sun II, was a two-seater larger than the first, weighing 1,200 pounds (540 kg) with a top speed of 50 mph (80 km/h). It featured a bespoke electric hub motor and controller supplied by lead-acid batteries. The solar array consisted of 792 terrestrial-grade silicon cells with a peak power of 1.1 kW. An aluminum tubular chassis supported its composite balsa wood and carbon fiber body. Texas Native Sun II raced in the Tour de Sol in 1996 placing fourth in its class and retired in 1998.

Solstice Design started in 1998 for the team's third solar car, Solstice. The 16-member team aimed to follow the principal of "keep it simple, stupid" to make the car to be smaller and lighter than the prior entry. The car was constructed of an aluminum chassis with a carbon fiber honeycomb body. An 8-square-metre (86 ft2) array of 756 monocrystalline silicon solar cells would charge its eight-cell 96-volt battery, sending power to its 6 kW (8 hp) brushless DC motor. Two computers monitor telemetry. While Solstice was slated for Sunrayce 1999 and the 2001 American Solar Challenge, it was not completed in time. Construction had begun in November 2000. The team planned to run it the Formula Sun Grand Prix in 2002 and 2005 and the American Solar Challenge in 2003.

Solar Steer The renamed University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team (UTSVT) began the fourth car in 2004. Solar Steer was the first vehicle to have lithium-ion batteries and a carbon fiber body. After a fatal crash at the 2004 NASC and with the prior car being outdated, the team decided on a clean sheet design prioritizing reliability. It was completed in 2005 at a cost of $60,000. The solar array is made of 600 photovoltaic cells grouped in modules of 50, and split into three subarrays, for a total area of 8 m2 (86 ft2). A maximum power output of 1,200 W (1.6 hp) could propel it to a cruising speed of 45 mph (72 km/h) and top speed of 55 mph (89 km/h). Solar Steer was entered in the 2005 North American Solar Challenge, but after overcoming an initial steering malfunction, it did not pass qualifying in College Station due to the combination of cloudy skies, low battery capacity, and reduced solar efficiency relative to the other teams. The team also entered Solar Steer into the North American Solar Challenge for 2006.

Samsung Solorean

Design began in early 2007 for UTSVT's next car, named after Samsung, their sponsor, and the DeLorean from Back to the Future. Samsung donated roughly half of the $120,000 budget and provided engineering support. The chassis is chromoly tubular steel supporting the carbon fiber body. The battery pack consists of 598 LG 18650 lithium ion cells. The solar array is an assembly of 393 SunPower A-300 monocrystalline silicon cells split into three arrays able to produce up to 1.21 kW (1.62 hp). A National Instruments CompactRIO controls all electrical subsystems. The motor is a New Generation brushless permanent magnet motor that can provide 3.75 kW (5.03 hp) of power at 95% efficiency while weighing 20 kg (44 lb). UTSVT's 47-member team completed Solorean in June 2008, just too late to compete in the North American Solar Challenge that summer. Samsung Solorean competed in the 2009 and 2010 FSGP and 2010 American Solar Challenge.

TexSun TexSun was completed spring 2013 at a cost of $140,000, $50,000 of which was donated by Circuit of the Americas. The three-wheeled vehicle has an aluminum space-frame chassis, carbon fiber body, and uses an Enertrac 602 hub motor to power the rear wheel. The batteries are lithium iron phosphate. It weighs between 500 and 600 lb (230–270 kg). The solar panels, mounted to a carbon-kevlar wing, provide a maximum of 1,300 W (1.7 hp). The car has a theoretical top speed of 60 to 70 mph (97–113 km/h). TexSun placed sixth at the 2013 Formula Sun Grand Prix held at Circuit of the Americas for the first time. It also participated in the 2015 and 2016 FSGPs, and competed for the last time at the 2017 FSGP the team hosted.

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Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team

In research: University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Solar car racing, University of Texas at Austin, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team in simple terms?

Why does University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team.