M. M. ENGG.

COLLEGE

TEAM MOLTRES
ESVC030

ELECTRICAL REPORT
GENERAL OVERVIEW:Solar cars utilize suns energy. Solar array, a combination of solar cells, collects suns energy and
converts it into usable electrical energy. This usable electrical energy is stored in batteries. Batteries
connected to the motor. Motors can be run and controlled by the use of a motor controller that adjusts
the amount of energy flowing to the motor according to the throttle.

CIRCUIT CONNECTION
SOLAR ARRAY:A photovoltaic array or solar array is a linked connection of solar panels which in turn is formed by
joining solar cells. Solar array is mounted on upper part of chassis of the solar car which converts the
incoming solar energy into electrical energy.
Team used Polycrystalline solar panel because-

POLYCRYSTALLINE
Low cost

MONOCRYSTALLI
NE
High cost

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ESVC030

Easily available in market

Not easily available

It is light in weight

It is heavier comparatively

The specification of solar panelSPECIFICATION

MAX. POWER (Pm)

140W

MAX. VOLTAGE (Vm)

19V

MAX. CURRENT (Im)

7.2A

OPEN CIRCUIT VOL. (Voc)

25.5V

SHORT CIRCUIT CUR. (Isc)

8.3A

MODULE EFFICIENCY (%)

13.5

CELL TYPE

POLYCRYSTALLINE

CELL DIMENSION(MM)

156X156

DIMENSIONS(MM )

1465X650X35

WEIGHT(Kg)

CALCULATION:
Take solar irradiation is 1000 watts/m^2 and temperature of atmosphere is 25.C.
So Power of panel is given by
P=V*I
P=power in watts
V=voltage in volts
I=current in ampere

And efficiency of array is given by

=P/(R*A)
=efficiency of array
P= power of array in watts
R=irradiance in watts/m^2
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TEAM MOLTRES
ESVC030

A=area of panel in m^2

CHARACTERISTIC :
Circuit arrangement for characteristic of panel-

OBSERVATION TABLE
R

1000

1.006

8.3

1000

1.006

10.6

7.89

83.631

8.31

1000

1.006

17.5

7.55

132.27

13.14

1000

1.006

19

7.2

136.8

13.59

1000

1.006

21.1

6.01

126.7

12.55

1000

1.006

23.01

3.1

71.33

7.09

1000

1.006

25.5

GRAPH:

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M. M. ENGG. COLLEGE

TEAM MOLTRES
ESVC030

current
0 5 1015202530

voltage

V-I CURVE

power
0123456789

current

P-I CURVE

efficiency
0 100 200

power

P- CURVE
power
0 5 1015202530

voltage

V-P CURVE

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M. M. ENGG. COLLEGE

TEAM MOLTRES
ESVC030

CONNECTION OF PANELS:

CHARGER:Charger controlled charging of battery. This circuit has Auto cut off facility also. This high current
charger can be used for the fast charging of sealed lead acid batteries used in Automobiles, Inverters
etc. This charger can give 5 Ampere current for quick rejuvenation of the battery. It uses an Adjustable
voltage regulator so that 6 volt and 12 volt batteries can be charged. When the battery acquires full
charge, charging process will be terminated. LM338K is a high current variable voltage regulator that
can provide 2 to 25 volts DC with high current output. Its important features are 7 Ampere peak output
current, adjustable output down to 1.2 volts, thermal regulation etc. It is easy to use and require only 2
external resistors to set the output voltage. The time dependent current limiting ability of the device
allows peak current of upto 12 ampere to be drawn for short time. So that it is useful in heavy transient
loads and speed start up.

Circuit operation:Input voltage is obtained from a 0-15 volt 5 Ampere secondary transformer with the 10 Ampere KBPC
Rectifier Module. Capacitor C1 makes the DC ripples free and around 16 volt DC enters into the Vin
input of the regulator. VR can be used to set the output voltage from 2 volts to 15 volts. A digital panel
meter is used for measuring the output voltage. Readymade LED or LCD panel meters are available at
reasonable cost. This can be directly connected to the output. So by adjusting VR, it is easy to see the
output voltage in the meter. If the output voltage reduces due to line voltage drop, it can be easily
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M. M. ENGG. COLLEGE

TEAM MOLTRES
ESVC030

detected through the panel meter. The panel meter also can be used to measure the terminal voltage of
the battery. If the power supply is switched off, meter shows the terminal voltage. If the voltage
remains steady, it indicates that the battery is fully charged and holding charge.
Auto cut off circuit is built around the 5 Ampere Darlington NPN transistor TIP122. When the terminal
voltage of the battery rises above 12.5 volts, Zener diode ZD conducts and inhibits the working of the
Regulator LM338. When the battery voltage drops below 12 volts, Zener turns off and the regulator
again provides charging current

Setting the output voltage:A fully charged 12 volt battery should have a terminal voltage of 13.5 volts and that of a 6 volt battery
6.5 volts. To charge the battery, set the output voltage for charging as 14 volts for 12 volt battery and 8
volts for 6 volt battery.
BATTERY:The batteries store energy from the solar array and make them available for the motors
While choosing the batteries, we need to consider the following points:

System voltage required

Maximum permissible ampere- hour
rating
Time taken to charge the batteries
Weight and Size
Cost
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TEAM MOLTRES
ESVC030

Batteries that are commonly used in solar cars are Lead-acid batteries, Li-ion batteries, Ni-MH
batteries, Ni-Cd.
Team used Lead-acid battery because Reliable.Over 140
years of development.
Robust.
Tolerant to overcharging.
Low internal impedance.
Can deliver very high currents.
Wide range of sizes and capacities available.
The worlds most recycled product.
Low cost.

BATTERY
Specification of battery that we used is given below:
SPECIFICATION
BATTERY TYPE

LEAD- ACID

RATED VOLTAGE

12V

CAPACITY

20AH

CHARGING CURRENT

7A

DISCHARGING CURRENT

30A

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TEAM MOLTRES
ESVC030

CONNECTION OF BATTERY:

PARALLEL CONNECTION
MOTOR CONTROLLER:Controller is an electronic device that controls the amount of power delivered to electric motor
according to the signal from the potentiometer connected to throttle pedal.This is a brand new PWM
controller, easy to use and high effective. Though I named it as 12V 60A controller, but in fact it can be
applied to 12-40V 720W DC motors. Feature of controller is

Input 12-40VDC, the controller detect the voltage automatically, and output 12-40VDC
corresponding.
Max load 720W, maximum current 60A.
Output frequency 100 KHz, duty cycle adjustment range: 0-100%.
Sizes (include heat sink): 75x50x41mm or 3.0x2.0x1.6 inch.

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TEAM MOLTRES
ESVC030

CIRCUIT CONNECTION

COMPONENTS
controller board

potentiometer

wires with socket

SPECIFICATION
Controller type

PWM

Rated voltage

12V

Rated current

60A

Rated power

720W

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ESVC030

MOTOR:Motors, powered by batteries, run the solar car. Motors generally employed in solar cars are either AC
motors or brushless DC motors.
Limitations of brushed DC motors overcome by BLDC motors include lower efficiency and
susceptibility of the commutator assembly to mechanical wear and consequent need for servicing, at
the cost of potentially less rugged and more complex and expensive control electronics. BLDC motors
develop maximum torque when stationary [citation needed] and have linearly decreasing
torque[citation needed] with increasing speed.
BLDC motors offer several advantages over brushed DC motors, including more torque per weight and
efficiency[citation needed], reliability, reduced noise, longer lifetime (no brush and commutator
erosion), elimination of ionizing sparks from the commutator, more power, and overall reduction of
electromagnetic interference (EMI). With no windings on the rotor, they are not subjected to centrifugal
forces, and because the windings are supported by the housing, they can be cooled by conduction,
requiring no airflow inside the motor for cooling. This in turn means that the motor's internals can be
entirely enclosed and protected from dirt or other foreign matter. The team intends to use BLDC motor
because of its following advantages:

DC motors can be overdriven for short periods of time which is great for short burst
accelerations.
DC motors can assimilate the Regent feature of AC motors so that charging is possible during
breaking mode of operation of motor
Efficiency of brushless DC motors is >80%.

SPECIFICATION
Operating voltage

12V

Rated current

60A

Max. speed

2500
RPM

Max. torque

10 N-M
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M. M. ENGG. COLLEGE

TEAM MOLTRES
ESVC030

CHARACTERSTICS OF MOTOR:
CURRENT RPM

TORQUE

POWER

2.5

2500

30

2200

60

2000

2.5

96

12

1500

4.5

144

18

1100

216

32

800

7.5

384

45

500

540

60

100

10

720

GRAPH:
15
10
TORQUE

5
0

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
CURRENT

CURRENT-TORQUE CURVE

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3000
2500
2000
RPM 1500
1000
500
0

TEAM MOLTRES
ESVC030

10 12

Torque

TORQUE-RPM CURVE

3000
2500
2000
RPM 1500
1000
500
0

10 20 30 40 50 60 70
CURRENT

CURRENT- RPM CURVE

INSTRUMENTATION
One of the most important pieces of instrumentation is a state-of-charge meter. A state-of-charge meter
gives information about system voltage, amp. draw, battery energy remaining, and estimates the how
much time remains until the battery is out of energy.
The E-Meter is the do-it-all in instrumentation. Another instrument that may be useful is a speedometer.
Instead of using a regular speedometer drive, use magnetic contact speedometers, found in many sports
equipment stores. This option does not add drag to the solar car. To ensure that batteries are running
properly, a voltmeter is connected to each of the batteries. A failed battery may show the proper voltage
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ESVC030

when the car is not running, but while the battery is under load, the voltmeter will show a lower than
normal battery voltage.
APPARATUS

USED FOR

VOLTMETER

Voltagemeasurement

AMMETER

Currentmeasurement

WATTMETER

Power measurement

SPEEDOMETER

Rpm measurement

MULTIMETER

Multi purpose

ENERGY-METER

Energy measurement

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