Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1153097
22 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2019 was a collaborative effort between the UW APL and the UW School of Oceanography. Another group that used Prototron was the UW CubeSAT Team, which designs and manu- factures small satellites. This is a nationwide program that vies for load space on sub-orbit- al and orbital missions. In our business, there are often two distinct times a year where fiscal budgets break loose, and we get a lot of busi- ness: January and July–August. Launch dates do not necessarily coincide with those two times of the year, which creates a lot of work for us year-round. UWashington Formula Motorsports is my fa- vorite group at UW. The competition directive is for students to design and build a Formu- la-style racing car, and then compete against similar race cars built by other students from all over the world. Today, over 500 teams com- pete worldwide. They have two big races every year: one for all of the American universities in Lincoln, Nebraska, and one at the Hockenheim F1 racetrack in Germany. A typical Formula SAE car weighs from 300– 600 lbs. with horsepower figures ranging from 40–100 hp. Most cars can boast a 0–60 mph in 3–4 seconds with lateral acceleration of up to 2.5 g and a 60 to 0 mph braking distance of about 115 ft. During one particular visit, I asked the stu- dents if they watched F1 racing. I was sur- prised to hear many of them did not, yet they were building a Formula-style car. So, I asked about things like kinetic recovery sys- tems (KeRS), which is basically a generator that stores energy for a short burst of addition- al power. They understood this and gleefully showed me their current KeRS. There is a spe- cific weight for the cars that they cannot ex- ceed, so when I brought up drag reduction sys- tems (DRS), they were particularly concerned with adding weight. Current DRS systems have moving back- wing slats that open on the straights and slam shut when they reach a corner to effectively plant the rear of the car for better cornering and adhesion to the track. I explained that be- fore these systems, there was a rudimentary way of doing a similar thing that did not incur additional weight on the car by simply drill- ing a series of small holes on the underside of the back wing and creating a venturi-type tube for the driver to put their thumb over; this ef- fectively does the same thing as the modern DRS systems with moving wings and planting the rear of the car without additional weight. They became very excited and immediately be- gan drilling small holes in the underside of the back wing. Fun! I hope this has given you a better idea of what courses are available for the advance- ment of their electronics career. As always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions about this column or any of my previous columns. Thanks for reading! DESIGN007 Mark Thompson is in engineering support at Prototron Circuits. To read past columns or contact Thompson, click here. Thompson is also the au- thor of The Printed Circuit Designer's Guide to… Producing the Perfect Data Package. Visit I-007eBooks.com to download this book and other free, educational titles. Mark enjoyed his time working with the team at UWashington Formula Motorsports. (Source: UW Formula Motorsports)