I visited the battery lab while traveling OSU. There were a lot of wonderful things that stimulated my curiosity. It was filled with countless fruits of hard work, as numerous as the stars.
First, the students’ works—cars: race cars, tank cars, analyzing cars, and so on. The race cars combined cool shapes and usability of running, and the tank cars have not only huge tanks but also good fuel efficiency. The analyzing cars had very complex devices. They were excellent, but their fuel efficiency wasn’t so good. Among all of them, what interested me the most was the solar car. The car uses solar panels and runs on solar power. Nowadays, devices that use solar power are commonplace. For instance, watches, streetlights, calculators, satellites, and so forth. However, cars equipped with solar panels are still rare. While our satellite moves only by solar power, it is rare to achieve this with a car large enough to carry passengers. The explainer said, “It has a lot of solar panels, which provide the minimum amount of power needed to travel a sufficient distance with one person riding in it.” According to what I heard later, the car participated in a solar car championship, but I couldn’t hear about the results.
Second, the professionals’ works _ Laboratories. There were various laboratories, such as those focusing on car batteries, aerodynamic characteristics, heat efficiency, and so on. Specifically, controlling battery heat dissipation and improving charging efficiency. Although everything was very interesting, what caught my attention the most was the fuel cell.
It wasn’t a usual fuel cell. It had a handle we could revolve and a transparent body through which we could see the inside. The explainer said, “The fuel cell is used in the car we are making.” I’m interested in energy engineering, so fuel cells are one of the most interesting things for me.
Finally, I visited OSU with a classmate who had a completely different specialty and juniors who hadn’t decided their specialty yet. However, they said that they enjoyed the experience as well. So, we can learn deeply regardless of one’s interests, whether you have decided your subject or not.
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