UT announced Friday that it had received a $45,000 STEM education grant from the DENSO Foundation for programs focused on science, technology, engineering, and math as one of 26 grants awarded, totaling $1 million.
“We are happy to have the continued support of DENSO for our EcoCAR team’s efforts,” said Butch Irick, research assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering. “Grants such as this are important to our team, both for the equipment that it allows us to obtain as well as the boost we get knowing we have their backing.”
With this grant, UT plans to improve components and systems for the hybrid powertrain being developed for university’s EcoCAR Mobility Challenge 2019 Chevrolet Blazer, including:
- High voltage traction motor
- High voltage inverter/controller for the motor
- Planetary gearbox for the rear drive system in the through-the-road parallel hybrid
- Materials for integrating the hybrid drivetrain
- Workstations to support the EcoCAR student team’s activities in computer aided engineering, finite element analysis, and computational fluid dynamics