Overview

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Chapter: University of Texas at Austin

Primary Contact(s): Joshua Eudave

Primary Contact(s) email(s): jreudave3@utexas.edu

Project Start: Fall 2018

Project Type: Energy (Solar/Wind)

Spatial Scope: School/Campus

Estimated Duration (Semesters): 6

Majors Represented: Mechanical

Years Represented: 4th Year Undergrad

Estimated Project Cost: 4236

Funding Source: University Research Fund, Various case competitions

Collaborators: Sponsored

Community Partners: ESW, Mechanical Engineering department, UT Surplus.

Project Description & Impact:

The impact of this project is that some testing will have been done to expand the use of Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotubes for the purpose of acting as coatings on concentrated solar arrays. We hope to beat the durability and thermal properties of the coatings currently used on the receivers of concentrated solar facilities.

Recommendations:

Ensure that a project can have access to the necessary facilities to actually move forward with a project. The biggest hurdle to our project has been finding a location to both work on and latter test the material. If the ESW chapter can set up a project lead with a university representative who can help them move through all the red tape associated with doing anything on the university or city this would be very helpful.

The purpose of this project is too construct a 2 axis solar tracker that concentrates roughly 1666in^2 of light onto a square inch coupon of Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotubes from Surrey Nanosystems. The purpose of this is to see how well the material maintains its thermal and optical properties after extended exposure to high intensity radiation on the visible light spectrum.

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Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotube durability Test

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