2024 New Member Onboarding Guide

Welcome to Power Generation!

Hey! Yeah you. Welcome to Power Generation (an electric subsystem as part of Univerisity of Texas' Solar Vehicle Team) Resources! Your go to place for Power Generation stuff and shenanigans. This doc should be the home to all of your questions and concerns relating to the tools, concepts, and quirks specific to Power Generation.

What is Power Generation?

Power Generation is a subsystem of Longhorn Racing Solar and the electrical backbone of the car. Our array (solar panels) delivers power to the high-voltage (HV) system of the car, consisting mainly of the motor, motor controller, battery, and the DC-DC converter that is powering the electrical systems on the rest of the car. As such, we are absolutely cricitcal to the correct functionality of the solar car. In the long-distance races that our solar car has to compete in, the power and efficiency of the Power Generation System make or break the success of our car.

Our domain consists of both hardware, firmware, and software projects. As per our name, our hardware primarily focuses on Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). As for firmware, we work a lot with Embedded Systems, so C and microcontrollers. For software, we have an app that helps us design, test, and characterize the array.

Getting Started Steps

Learning and Troubleshooting Resources