Solar Powered Cars
How Does A Solar Car Works?
The solar energy is the best source of abundantly available renewable energy, which is now being used to produce a variety of useful products. The thought of using this renewable energy to drive the automobiles arose in the later half of the 20th century and the first 100% solar vehicle drove on the earth in 1986. With the rising prices of the diesel and gasoline fuel, an alternative source of renewable and cheapest form of energy is the need of the hour. So, it’s a timely act to take up the nature-given sun’s energy to drive our vehicles.
Though solar cars have some practical difficulties to be used as a domestic mode of transport, constant research and development in this field would yield us a cheapest mode of transport. To make this invention more accessible one should understand the basic working concept behind these sun-driven cars.
The Basic Concept
The solar car collects the solar energy from the sun and utilizes it to run the vehicle. The solar panel tracks the sun’s energy and converts into the electrical energy. The power trackers are essential component that converts this raw electricity to a proper system voltage. This electricity is in the DC form, so the motor controllers convert it into the AC voltage. The voltage drives the motor, which in turn rotates the wheels making the car run. So, to understand the working principle the components of the solar car can be analyzed under two categories – the mechanical components and the electrical components.
Mechanical Components:
- The frame of a solar car is designed to be quite compact and the only aim is to support other components of the car and a minimal aesthetic features.
- The body of a solar car has to be designed crucially, because it provides room to the solar panel that is considered as the heart of any solar gadgets. Also the aerodynamics of the car has to be within requirements to reduce air drag while in operation.
- The solar car use tires that have low rolling resistance.
- Solar cars use hydraulic disk brakes like a normal road-run automobiles, so with this kind of brake system, a solar car can be brought to halt from 30 mph in only 70 feet.
Electrical Components:
- The solar panel is the heart of the solar car, which is the center that converts solar energy into the electrical energy. It consists of an array of solar cells. A solar cell is made of a semi-conducting material like the Silicon that is doped with a specific donor. Also there are Gallium arsenide solar cells, which are 10% more efficient than the normal silicon solar cells. The GaAs cells are used in solar space vehicles.
- Batteries: The solar car uses the sun’s energy! The next question would be what if suddenly the weather becomes gloomy? Should I have to lock my car and walk my way? No! The battery in the car acts as a power backup for the car. In general Lithium ion batteries are used, which are similar to the ones used in our laptops and cell phones. A study says that, with 25 kg of these batteries charged in your car, you can drive 200 miles without sunlight.
- Motor and its Controller: The motor of the solar car is built into the wheels meaning that there is no transmission unit. One rotation of the motor equals to one rotation of the wheel. The controller is used to convert the DC power into the three-phase AC that can drive the motor. So, the controller basically acts as a chopper. Adjusting the frequency of the AC power can control the speed of the motor.
October 18th, 2008
I’m always pleased to see blogs like yours because they share my point of view bout the earth in general, but I am more inclined to write about different power options to lessen the impact of Co2 emissions. If you’d like, you can check out
http://www.alternative-energy-secrets.com. I often go there for I have the same sentiments when it comes to “saving the world one blog post at a time” agenda.
Keep on posting!
Bye for now..err not really, ill check out your archived posts..