Solar vehicle
Solar vehicles are vehicles that get their drive energy directly from solar radiation .
The vast majority of solar vehicles do this by means of photovoltaics , which means that they are equipped with solar cells on the surface that convert the solar energy on the vehicle into electrical power . As electric vehicles , they often also have an energy storage device (usually accumulators ) with them in order to remain roadworthy at least for a limited time even in poor light or cloudy conditions.
Electric vehicles that obtain their electrical energy exclusively from a stationary photovoltaic system and charge their energy storage there are not counted as solar vehicles, even if the energy they are charging was obtained purely by solar energy. These vehicles are considered to be electric vehicles in the network.
Solar land vehicles
Solar cars (road vehicles)
In principle, a distinction is made between pure solar racing vehicles and solar cars that are more suitable for everyday use (with road approval).
Solar racing vehicles
With optimal solar radiation, the high-performance solar cells of the experimental vehicles can provide up to 2.25 kW (Nuna2 NL) of electrical power (compare with cars approx. 35–200 kW). Solar racing cars are test vehicles for economical automobiles and lightweight construction . For more solar racing vehicles, see the list of solar racing vehicles
Solar cars (street legal)
The solar taxi circled the world as the first solar-powered electric car in 18 months. Louis Palmer was on the road from 2007 to 2008 and covered over 50,000 kilometers. As the first solar-powered vehicle, the SolarWorld GT circled the world between 2011 and 2012. For more solar cars, see the list of solar cars with road approval
Solar races and rallies
Various organizations around the world regularly hold races with solar vehicles.
The first solar rally was the Tour de Sol 1985. The event was mainly held in Switzerland every year until 1993.
The highlight is the race across Australia , the World Solar Challenge , which has been held every three years since 1987 and now every two years. The front runners achieved overall average speeds of over 100 km / h over a distance of around 3,000 km (as of 2005 ); it was only driven on bright day and the rest of the time was not counted. The Dutch solar mobile Nuna II delivered the record distance of 830 km in one day in October 2003. In 1993 the unmanned solar airship LOTTE2 also took part in the rally.
The vehicles only need 0.17 liters of petrol equivalent over 100 km with a weight of 300 kg. This is the most important feature of these solar vehicles, the speed is limited by the maximum speed allowed on public roads. On September 25, 2005 the 7th World Solar Challenge started in Darwin , Australia, which the NUON team won for the third time in a row with the NUNA III solar car. h Average speed was exceeded.
The North American Solar Challenge is a similar race that is also held every two years.
Other internationally important competitions are:
- American Solar Challenge - USA
- World Solar Car Rally - Japan
- SunRace - Australia
- Canadian Solar Discovery Challenge - Canada
- Dream Cup Solar Car Race Suzuka - Japan
- Solar Car Race Phaeton Hellas - Greece
- South African Solar Challenge - South Africa
The Sky Ace TIGA , a solar vehicle from Ashiya University, Japan , holds the land speed record for solar vehicles. In 2005 it reached 150 km / h in Greece and 165 km / h in Taiwan on September 19, 2006.
Solar bicycles
- The Englishman Alan Freeman built small solar vehicles as early as 1976 and a solar boat in 1978. In 1982 he built a solar tricycle and then his Solarcycle , a two-wheeled solar seat bike without pedals. Roadworthy solar bicycles were used on the Tour de Sol in 1985 and in the following years . The solar panels were mounted on a roof, a trailer, or on the side and were powerful enough to drive the bicycles with or without pedal drive quite quickly. These bikes are rarely used today.
- Albert van Dalen has been building a solar bicycle since 2010. The aim of this project is to build a solar powered bicycle that receives enough solar energy on sunny summer days to allow longer distances and driving up hills with sufficient support.
- With the solar glider, the Dipl.-Ing. Gerhard Lindenau has developed two solar-powered pedelecs as velomobiles , which have been commercially available since 2015.
Solar tracks
Solar boats
Electric boats , which use solar radiation as an energy source for boats, so far probably always by means of photovoltaics , are called solar boats. Thanks to its high degree of efficiency over a wide range of performance, the electric motor is superior to the combustion engine in terms of energy consumption. The drive power is mostly in the range of a few hundred watts to a few kilowatts. Batteries are mostly used as buffers. So theoretically - similar to a sailboat - they have an unlimited range. In contrast to sailing boats, they are particularly suitable for navigating canals and rivers. The majority of the electric boats known as solar boats not only have a solar generator, but can also be charged using mains chargers. With this concept, the boat is connected to the network at the berth. If there is also an inverter , the battery in the ship can be charged until it is full and then the energy from the solar generator on the ship can be fed into the grid. For longer stretches on open waters or seas, however, additional drives such as sails, wind or diesel generators are usually necessary. The latter are useful in cold environments to heat at the same time. In small boats, muscle power drives have also proven themselves instead of diesel generators. Due to the low power density, solar drives are not suitable for applications with permanently high power requirements (e.g. high speeds). Here are some pioneering examples in chronological order:
Basilisk 1
In 1989 the trimaran Basilisk 1 made a tour of Basel - Koblenz - Trier - Saarbrücken - Strasbourg - Basel, and in October / November (sic!) 1990 a trip from Basel almost to Ibiza (2,000 km). 50 km before the destination, the boat driver Matthias Wegmann had to give up the boat due to accumulation of unfortunate circumstances and was rescued by a freighter. Technical data: length 5 m, width 4.5 m, displacement 0.3 t, 4 passengers, 2 berths, PV 500 Wp / 10 km / h, motor 2 kW / 13 km / h, battery (lead) 2 kWh / 60 kg. This boat with folding wheels could even drive on the street as a solar mobile at 30 km / h, but never got a street approval!
Basilisk 2
Improved version of Basilisk 1: Since solar boats on the sea can never achieve the performance of sailing boats, but sailing boats on rivers / canals are virtually unusable, this boat was designed purely for inland waters. It operates on the rivers and canals of France and is now in Dijon. Technical data: Length 6 m, width 4.5 m, displacement 0.5 t, PV 800 Wp / 10 km / h, motor 24 V 2 kW / 12 km / h, battery first (lead) 4 kWh / 120 kg , then (LiFeYPo4) 5 kWh / 50 kg, 4 passengers, 4 berths. Special feature: trailer wheels are mounted in the outriggers and a detachable trailer coupling is mounted in the bow so that when folded down, the boat can be pulled by any car without an additional trailer. Concept + construction: Matthias Wegmann / solartis.fr
Alster sun
In 2000 the Alster Touristik in Hamburg named the solar ship "Alstersonne". With a length of 26.53 meters, it was the largest solar ship in the world at the time. It is a catamaran with two engines of 8 kW each . It has space for 100 people and was initially provided with an acrylic glass roof into which photovoltaic modules were integrated. In 2006 the acrylic glass roof was replaced by real glass and the inclination of the glass modules was modified.
Spree shuttle
The "Spree-Shuttle" (formerly "Gaienhofen") covered 5,000 km from June 2000 to October 2003. In the summer of 2003, the solar ship only needed two charges from the power grid . In total, more than 4,000 passengers were carried.
MobiCat
MobiCat is an electrically operated passenger catamaran. It gets its drive energy from solar energy. The watercraft was launched in July 2001 and has been operating on Lake Biel since then.
Solar ship
The world's largest stainless steel solar catamaran has been sailing on the Neckar in Heidelberg since June 2004 . The excursion and charter boat, proudly called the “SolarShip”, weighs 51 tonnes and is 24.95 m long. It offers 80 managed covered seats and 30 additional seats on the open deck. At a service speed of approx. 14 km / h, its range with charged batteries is 110 km. It is driven by two three-phase electric motors with 25 kW each. Only the middle roof area of this vehicle is covered with solar cells, so there is a clear view on the sides and halfway up.
Weser ships
Since April 2006, two solar-electric powered boats have been in use on the Weser in Hameln and are very successfully operated for tourism purposes. The continuation of this tourism project in 2008 will take place with new and technically up-to-date boat models.
Sun21
At the beginning of December 2006, the Sun21 , a solar catamaran built in Switzerland, started in Seville for the first solar boat to cross the Atlantic. After a stopover in the Canary Islands, the boat with its 5 crew members reached the port of Le Marin on Martinique in the Caribbean on February 2, 2007 and the destination New York on May 8. Martin Vosseler initiated the project .
Solon
The Sun21 was the prototype for a solar ship on Berlin's waters. On August 12, 2009 the Solon was christened by the Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit. The Suncat 58 ship has a Solon solar generator with an output of 5.6 kWp. The motors of the catamaran have a total of 2 × 8 kW electrical power. The battery storage is sufficient for 10 hours of operation without sun. A SunCat 58 seats up to 60 people. In addition to the Solon, the same manufacturer also offers small solar boats for up to 12 people and even a luxurious solar yacht.
Solgenia
Electric or solar boats equipped with photovoltaic-hydrogen hybrid technology use a combination of photovoltaics and fuel cells, the latter operated with hydrogen, which in turn is obtained reversibly with the help of solar cells. The world's first prototype, the “ Solgenia ”, is being developed as a research ship at the University of Konstanz and has been in practical operation on Lake Constance since the beginning of 2007.
SolarWave
The SolarWave was launched on December 17th, 2009, christened on January 27th, 2010 and started on April 7th, 2010 for the first self-sufficient circumnavigation of the world. The solar catamaran is 14 m long and 7.5 m wide and weighs 12 tons. On the roof of the Solarwave there are 57 m² solar panels, driven by 2 × 10 kW electric motors. What is unique about the Solarwave is that, in addition to propulsion, all navigation, operating and household units, as well as electric support vehicles (dinghies and e-bikes) are powered by solar energy. The project aims to demonstrate the feasibility of global solar mobility on a family-friendly ocean-going sports boat and encourage imitation. In 2010 the boat crossed Europe on the Rhine, Main and Danube and sailed the Black Sea.
Tûranor PlanetSolar
The Tûranor PlanetSolar is a catamaran christened on March 31, 2010, which is powered exclusively by solar energy. At that time it was the largest solar powered watercraft with a length of 31 m and a weight of 84 t. The ship, powered by 240 kW motors, was used to circumnavigate the world. It started in Monaco on September 27, 2010, crossed the Panama Canal and reached the Galapagos Islands at the end of January 2011. After almost 485 days, the solar ship returned to Monaco on May 4, 2012, completing its circumnavigation.
Basilisk 3
The first and, until 2017, the only solar boat to cover the Basel-Amsterdam-Basel route (flow speed up to 12 km / h) from July 7th to July 31st, 2010, which corresponds to around 70 km / day. As a trimaran equipped with a main hull, it managed 16 km / h at 6 kW. Technical data: length 12 m, width 4.5 m, displacement empty 2t, with 12 passengers 3t, solar cells 1.8 kWp / 12 km / h, motor 6 kW / 16 km / h, battery lead 20 kWh 600 kg, 6 berths, toilet, kitchen. Concept and construction: Matthias Wegmann, artisolar.ch.
Solaaris
The Solaaris is an aluminum catamaran that was put into service on April 2, 2012 at the Ostseestaal shipyard in Stralsund and is replacing the “Landois” water bus on Lake Aasee in Münster.
The ship, which is intended for 68 passengers, has a displacement of approx. 14 tons and a 0.5 m draft, is 15.64 m long, 4.6 m wide and is powered by two 15 kW electric motors that are powered by two 55 kWh lithium Ion batteries are supplied.
28 solar modules á 185 Wp on the flat roof are supposed to support the batteries on the eight daily journeys that lead from the Aaseeterrassen / Goldene Brücke via the open-air museum Mühlenhofin to the all-weather zoo / natural history museum and back.
Orca ten Broke
The Orca ten Broke is an unconventional inland vessel that serves as a seminar ship and does not use fossil fuels .
The CO 2 -neutral barge with approval for 199 people was built near Ostseestaal in Stralsund . The Berlin solar-assisted battery ferries Fährbär were also built here. The ship is divided into three decks, the hull and the superstructure are made of steel. The technical equipment in the engine room and 4 battery rooms as well as the tanks are housed in the lowest deck. In the 2.4 m high intermediate deck there is the seminar room, which stretches across the entire width of the ship and can also be divided into three separate rooms with room dividers. Above is the sun deck with the solar modules.
The 35.55 m long and 8.25 m wide Orca ten Broke is powered by a 110 kW electric motor, which is powered by a battery with a capacity of 200 kWh .
The aim of the energetic concept is to transfer efficient technologies that have already been successfully implemented in low-energy buildings to the seminar ship. The energetic concept was developed by the owner Felix Eisenhardt and implemented together with Ingo Schillinger from the shipyard.
If mooring or anchoring is not possible, lowerable anchor piles can be used to "park". The ship was delivered in November 2017 and transferred to the site in Berlin .
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Solar aircraft
Solar planes
Solar airships
Spacecraft
Solar vehicles have conquered a small but quite successful niche in unmanned space travel .
Wheeled vehicles explore the surface of other celestial bodies. The Lunochod 1 and 2 landing vehicles explored the moon in the early 1970s . The solar mobile Sojourner , Spirit and Opportunity conducted investigations on Mars. The solar cells supported the accumulators carried along or recharged them. Lunochod 2's mission had to be ended after the solar cells were covered by blown dust.
The ion thruster , designed as a solar ion drive, uses the electrical energy from solar cells to accelerate an ionized gas and propel spacecraft with the recoil .
Another variant is spacecraft that directly use the radiation pressure of the sun by means of solar sails similar to a sailing ship. Several practical experiments have been carried out in near-earth space in the past. A solar sail was used for the first time on the Japanese IKAROS space probe launched on May 20, 2010 , which is used to test this form of propulsion.
See also
swell
- ↑ Solartaxi project homepage ( Memento from April 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Travel reports solar taxi on Spiegel Online
- ↑ 13.12.12: Around the world , on hochschule-bochum.de
- ^ FIA Alternative Energies Cup - Regulations ( Memento from November 25, 2007 in the Internet Archive ): FIA regulations for vehicles with alternative drives
- ^ Solar Energy for Motive Power, Alan T. Freeman, 1983, self-published, Rugby, GB
- ↑ SUNGLIDER ONE SUNGLIDER EASY , on sunglider.de, accessed on May 15, 2018
- ↑ Christoph Seidler: Largest solar ship in the world in Hamburg. SPON , May 23, 2000, accessed May 25, 2017 .
- ↑ Rolf-Fredrik Matthaei: The solar catamaran Alstersonne. Retrieved May 25, 2017 .
- ↑ "sun21" sets world record! ( Memento from October 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Solar ship Solon ( Memento from June 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ SolarWaterWorld Products ( Memento from August 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Alois Feusi, Monaco: Pioneers under the Swiss flag. In: nzz.ch. September 27, 2010, accessed October 14, 2018 .
- ↑ Hanna Gieffers: Arrival in Monaco: Solar boat can circumnavigate the world in 584 days . In: Spiegel Online . May 4, 2012
- ^ Solaaris - The first solar ship in Münster , on aaseeschifffahrt.de
Web links
Solar mobility
- www.solarmobil.net - bsm: Federal Association of Solar Mobility e. V.
- www.solarmobil.info - Link list of the bsm on solar-electric mobility
- The specialist magazine Solarmobil
- Book of Synergy - History of Electric and Solar-Electric Mobility (from 1900)
- E-Mobility-21.de - Current reporting on the topic of electromobility
Solar boats
- www.solarboot-cup.de - information (rules and history) and dates about solar boat races
- www.umwelt Einsatz.ch/IBS/solship2.html - Solar Ships for the new Millennium (Engl.)