SUSTAINABLE

RACING UTILIZING
SOLAR POWER
Seminar presented by,

CONTENTS

ENERGY

Renewable energy is an alternative to fossil fuels

Solar technologies are extremely promising

It has increasing output efficiency and the

capability to be used in a variety of locations
Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are perfect for
maximizing the energy production

FUEL IN RACING CARS

Majority are powered by internal combustion

engines utilizing fossil-based fuel
Some utilize electricity or hydrogen as energy
carriers
Such vehicles include:
low energy density electric vehicles competing
under regulations set by Green power in the
UK
higher energy density vehicles including those
in the recently started EV Cup.

ADVANTAGES

It can utilize the kinetic energy lost while

braking to charge batteries or super capacitors
It can be later expended in acceleration or
overcoming the non-conservative forces
Non conservative forces-aerodynamic drag and
rolling resistance
This is been exploited in hybrid road cars as well
as the KERS which used in Formula One

SUSTAINABLE RACING

Solar car racing-races ofelectric vehicles

-powered bysolar energy
Obtained from solar panels on the surface of the
car
The two most notable solar car distance races are:

THE WORLD SOLAR CHALLENGE

THE NORTH AMERICAN SOLAR CHALLENGE

Contested by a variety of university, corporate

teams
These races are often sponsored by government or
educational agencies, and businesses such as
Toyota, to promote renewable energy sources

WORLD SOLAR CHALLENGE

Most significant and longest running

Held every two years
It requires competitors to cross the Australian
continent using only the power of the sun
The World Solar Challenge is currently the
pinnacle of solar car competition and ideal venue
to demonstrate creative thinking and new
transport technology.

SYSTEMS IN SOLAR CAR

Electrical system
controls the power entering and leaving the system
battery pack stores surplus solar energy produced
when the vehicle is stationary or travelling slowly or
downhill
use a range of batteries includinglead acid batteries,
nickel-metal hydride batteries , nickel-cadmium
batteries ,lithium ion batteries and lithium polymer
batteries

MECHANICAL SYSTEMS

designed to keep friction and weight to a

minimum while maintaining strength and
stiffness
normally
use
aluminium,
titanium
and
composites to provide a structure that meets
strength and stiffness requirements while being
fairly light
steel is used for some suspension parts
usually have three wheels, but some have four

Three-wheelers usually have two front wheels and

one rear wheel: the front wheels steer and the rear
wheel follows.

have a wide range of suspension because of

varying bodies and chassis
must meet rigorous standards for brakes:

disc brakesare most commonly used due to their

good braking ability and ability to adjust.
mechanical and hydraulic brakes are both widely
used.
brake pads or shoes are typically designed to retract
to minimize brake drag

the major design factors for steering systems are

efficiency, reliability and precision alignment to
minimize tire wear and power loss.

SOLAR ARRAY

consists of hundreds or thousands of photovoltaic

solar cells converting sunlight into electricity
in cars we often use polycrystalline silicon, mono
crystalline silicon, or gallium arsenide
cells are wired into strings while strings are often
wired to form a panel
panels have voltages close to the nominal battery
voltage
cells are encapsulated to protect them from the
weather and breakage
acts like many very small batteries all hooked
together in series. The total voltage produced is the
sum of all cell voltages

AERODYNAMICS

Aerodynamic drag is the main source of losses

aerodynamic drag of a vehicle is the product of
the frontal area and itsCd
for most solar cars the frontal area is 0.75 to 1.3
m2,Cdas low as 0.10 have been reported, 0.13 is
more typical

MASS

vehicle's mass is a significant factor

light vehicle generates lessrolling resistance and
will
need
smaller
lighterbrakesand
othersuspensioncomponents
this is thevirtuous
lightweight vehicles

circle

when

designing

ROLLING RESISTANCE

Rolling resistance can be minimised by using

right tires
inflated to the right pressure,
correctly aligned
minimising the weight of the vehicle.

PERFORMANCE EQUATION
the design of a solar car is governed by certain
work equation which can be usefully simplified to
the performance equation:
b Ev/x+P}={WCrr1v+(1/2)CdAv3}

left hand side represents the energy input into

the car (batteries and power from the sun)
right hand side is the energy needed to drive the
car along the race route (overcoming rolling
resistance, aerodynamic drag, going uphill and
accelerating)

COMPUTER SIMULATION OF SOLAR

CAR BODY DESIGN

SYMBOL DESCRIPTION FORD AUSTRALIA AURORA AURORA AURORA

YEAR 1987 1993 1999 2007
Motor, controller and drive train efficiency (decimal) 0.82 0.80 0.97 0.97
b Watt-hour battery efficiency (decimal) 0.82 0.92 0.82 1.00

E Energy available in the batteries (joules) 1.2e7 1.8e7 1.8e7 1.8e7

P Estimated average power from the array (1) (watts) 918 902 1050 972
xRace route distance (meters) 3e6 3.007e6 3.007e6 3.007e6
W Weight of the vehicle including payload (newtons) 2690 2950 30002400
Crr1 First coefficient of rolling resistance (non-dimensional) 0.0060 0.0050 0.0027
0.0027
Crr2 Second coefficient of rolling resistance (newton-seconds per meter) 0 0 0 0

N Number of wheels on the vehicle (integer) 4 3 3 3

Air density (kilograms per cubic meter) 1.22 1.22 1.22 1.22
Cd Coefficient of drag (non-dimensional) 0.26 0.133 0.10 0.10

A Frontal area (square meters) 0.70 0.75 0.75 0.76

H Total height that the vehicle will climb (meters) 0 0 0 0
Na Number of times the vehicle will accelerate in a race day (integer) 4 4 4 4

G Local acceleration due to gravity variable (meters per second squared) 9.81 9.81
9.81 9.81
V Calculated average velocity over the route (meters per second) 16.8 20.3 27.2 27.1
Calculated average speed 60.5 73.1 97.9 97.6
Actual race speed km/h 44.8 70.1 73 85

ENERGY CONSUMPTION

optimizing energy consumption is of prime

importance
so continues monitoring and optimisation is
required for the vehicles energy parameters
race
speed
optimization
programs
that
continuously update the team on how fast the
vehicle should be travelling, for this some teams
employtelemetry that relays vehicle performance
data

AURORA 101

it represents a high end entrant

mass minimization is done with much of the body
structure being carbon fiber and the motor housing cast
from magnesium
to minimize rolling resistance Michelin developed 16inch, 185/60 dedicated tyres with low rolling resistance
coefficients
maximized the projected surface area exposed to the sun
minimize the aerodynamic drag
as speeds have increased, the shapes used including
Aurora 101, have integrated the solar collection surfaces
into the main body, leading to a lower aerodynamic drag
but providing less solar collection.

ABOUT THE RACE

the requirement to have a surface area exposed to the sun
results in considerable wetted area, which generates
skin friction drag
to minimize this drag component the profile of the Aurora
101 is shaped to keep the state of the boundary layer
laminar
for the WSC the average solar density is~1000 W/m2
which varies during the day
most teams will have < 1.5 kW solar array output and
energy management is extremely important as the leading
cars may finish the event within minutes of each other
solar racing cars are examples of very high operational
efficiency, requiring less than 10% of the energy used by a
conventional passenger car to travel at highway speed.

THE AURORA 101 SPECIFICATIONS

Top speed > 150 km/h

Daily range > 700 km at highway speed
Power consumption @ 100 km/h < 1400 W
Power consumption @ 150 km/h < 5500 W
Weight < 140 kg including batteries
4.1 m length, 1.8 m width and 1.1 m height
6 m2 of monocrystalline silicon solar cells
22 kg of Lithium polymer batteries
Drag coefficient x area, 0.106 m2
Electric wheel motor efficiency @ 100 km/h > 97%
Total drive train efficiency @ 100 km/h > 90%

FSAE ELECTRIC RACING

this class of racing arose out of the FSAE competition

which traditionally used 600cc four stroke IC engines
it is the largest student- based competition in the
world with teams competing at events in America,
UK, Brazil, Italy, Germany, Australia and Japan, with
more events planned
the cars are designed for short, twisty circuits
average speeds of 40 t0 50 km/hr and maximum
speeds of the order of 100 km/hr
the highest scoring event the Endurance Event
the second highest driving event Autocross Event
the first all-electric FSAE car was built by RMIT
University in 2009
this vehicle was followed by R10E

in the intervening time between R09E and R10E

battery technology had improved
this car used Dow Kokam Lithium Polymer
batteries
Details are given below

Max charged capacity = 13.4kWh (80Ah)

Nominal voltage = 155.4V, peak power = 150kW
Number of cells = 84 (2x42), total mass = 82kg
Charge time = 5-6 hours
Advanced Elithion BMS (monitors temp and voltage
during charge/discharge) and cell balancing

MOST RECENT VEHICLE R11E

carbon- fiber tub with a small

steel space-frame chassis
reduced the overall weight of the
car to 246 Kg
energy management is crucial
simulation of vehicle parameters
for
minimum lap times
achieved by maximizing the
longitudinal
and
lateral
accelerations and decelerations
around a circuit are done
utilizing concepts such as G-G
diagrams
planned regenerative braking and
an electronic differential were not
implemented
due
to
the
unexpected complexity.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

for the WSC the circuit is long and straight thus there is
no need for regenerative braking, in contrast is a FSAE
circuit short and tortuously twisty, resulting in cars being
in a continual state of acceleration and deceleration.
lending road vehicles to more easily benefit from
regenerative brakes. Despite the great benefits
it poses formidable challenges; the energy transfer has to
be done in very short times
so systems have to cope with high power densities that are
rapidly reversing
due to mass transfer under the heavy braking most
energy has to be scavenged from the front wheels so
brakes-generators should be positioned here
so additional mass, complexity and lack of reliability

REFERENCES
http://www.greenpower.co.uk
http://www.evcup.com/
http://www.formulastudent.de/uploads/media/

FSE Rules 2010 v1.1.pdf

http://rmit.net.au/browse;ID=2su62rct92on#_

RMIT Energy Care

www.wikipedia.org