Engineers who design electric cars have to make sure that the many, many batteries in the car do not overheat. If these batteries get too hot, they can get damaged or even catch on fire! So it is very important that these batteries are cooled the right way.
One way engineers keep batteries cool is by running tubes filled with cold water next to the batteries. This cools down the batteries so they don’t overheat. But engineers must be careful about where they place these tubes. If the tubes are only next to the bottom half of the battery, then the top half can still overheat! Your goal is to make sure that the ‘water’ flowing across our ‘battery’ gets evenly distributed by the time it reaches the bottom of our test board.
The student handout will be given to all students working on the design challenge. It gives a brief recap of the story, it helps the students identify what they are attempting to achieve, and it recaps the design process.
Chilly Batteries TEK8 Facilitator’s Guide
This Instructor’s Guide provides the instructor additional information on how to run the design challenge with alternatives for materials and test setups as well as information to help make the design challenge a good educational experience.
The Telling the Story Video conveys the societal impact of the student’s research that is the basis for the design challenge and will set the problem-solving context for students.
The Design Challenge Video leads students through the design process. It indicates materials available, states what the criteria are for success and any constraints. It also gives a second ‘level’ of the design challenge that allows ‘early completers’ to move on to a slightly more difficult challenge.