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ABSTRACT
The project is solar vehicle we are using a solar energy as a source of energy in our project.
Nowadays, we are experiencing an electricity scarcity we are experiencing a Lead in shortage too. So the battery manufacturing cost and resulting end user prices are sky high also a shortage of batteries in the market. We are also experiencing a hike in fuel prices considerably, is bound to go on as time pass by as soon we will be shortage of fuel too. There is an emphasis on using fuel appreciably but nobody is taking care of it.
But we are at least taking the consideration of it and with this we are trying to put a novel concept in the market.
Government is also promoting the use of renewable energy in each of every operation. The biggest option to replace the conventional theory of fuel operation, can be replaced by the battery based theory, is environment friendly too.
The only problem associated with the battery based technique is it needs to be recharged and the charging time is considerable high.
So it can’t replace the fuel completely, if we are thinking of using the battery based vehicle for conveyance. The other problem associated with the battery vehicle is the battery weight takes the maximum weight of the total weight of the vehicle.
So it needs to be reduced because it directly affects the performance of the vehicle. As due to more weight its mileage will be on shorter side due to maximum weight, if we reduce the weight the mileage will improve many folds easily in one charge.
The fact is the battery charging is done using the electricity so in all sense we are using electricity. We are eliminating these necessities to some extend, As in our vehicle we are using the solar energy for operation as we are blessed with at least 300 days a total sunlight.
And we are using the Capacitor as a source of storage of charge rather than the battery, this in effect will reduce the dead weight of the vehicle and reduce the weight of the vehicle considerably and improve the performance but we are not using the battery so we are using the solar panel to power the motor used in the vehicle and the capacitor bank as a source of temporary storage. We will have a system which will continuously scan the capacitor bank and charging the capacitor bank and the charge is discharged into the motor directly. As the charge is stored momentarily the wattage requirement reduces considerably and yielding a better result.
1. INTRODUCTION
The unique feature of the vehicle is being solar operated system, but it does not use battery to supply the motor, instead it uses capacitor banks there are four different capacitor banks used in this system, where there banks are switched one by one using the high frequency switching through the microcontroller.
Many specifications must to know about solar car from solar array , motor, capacitor bank and so on each specification has theory and calculation to mate it function correctly & able to move perfectly. The most important things id\s the capacitor bank because before this there is no solar car driven by a capacitor bank. This project a lot depends on capacitor bank because it using influence if the solar car can drive or not.
Using brain storming techniques to generate ideas , several initial design may be consider a common place to start is with the shape of the car since it will dictate the design of many other system initial designing concept are also developed for chassis design mechanical system design electric system design, driving train design& solar array design that show promise are investigated further so that design can be compare through trade of studies the concept must be eliminated until a final design can be agreed upon there are many factors to consider to each design, for example:
Weight
Efficiency
Speed
Basically research about capacitor bank to drive a solar car was a something new. Success do not depends on question that will answer it later from the research this research is carried out to get an answer for the question as follows.
a) How to build a solar car with capacitor bank? In this research author will built a proto type to improve the fact.
b) How a capacitor bank can drive a solar car? Connection between capacitor bank and motor is important thing.
Knowledge about solar array also important because the array is made up of many photovoltaic solar cell that convert sun energy into electricity .the cell types & the dimensions of the array depends on the vehicle size and class.
More over knowledge about drive train in solar car is very different from that a conventional car. Throw this project the drive trains consist of electric motor & the means by which the motor power is transmitted to the vehicle to move.
This project is to design a solar capacitor bank powered vehicle with objective as follows:
a) To design use photovoltaic source of power.
b) To fabricate & assemble a working proto type model.
This project is more focus on solar capacitor bank powered vehicle. The scope of this project is as follows:
a) Selection of solar panel.
b) Selection of capacitor bank.
c) Selection of chassis, selection of motor etc.
2. LITERATURE SURVEY
2.1. Solar Cars
The first solar car invented was a tiny 15-inch vehicle created by William G. Cobb of General Motors. Called the Sun mobile, Cobb showcased the first solar car at the Chicago Powerama convention on August 31, 1955. The solar car was made up 12 selenium photovoltaic cells and a small Pooley electric motor turning a pulley which in turn rotated the rear wheel shaft. The first solar car in history was obviously too small to drive as shown in fig.2.1.
Now let's jump to 1962 when the first solar car that a person could drive was demonstrated to the public. The International Rectifier Company converted a vintage model 1912 Baker electric car (pictured above) to run on photovoltaic energy in 1958, but they didn't show it until 4 years later. Around 10,640 individual solar cells were mounted to the rooftop of the Baker to help propel it.
In 1977, Alabama University professor Ed Passereni built the Bluebird solar car, which was a prototype full scale vehicle. The Bluebird was supposed to move from power created by the photovoltaic cells only without the use of a battery. The Bluebird was exhibited in the Knoxville, TN 1982 World's Fair. [2]
Between 1977 and 1980 (the exact dates are not known for sure), at Tokyo Denki University, professor Masaharu Fujita first created a solar bicycle, then a 4-wheel solar car. The car was actually two solar bicycles put together.
In 1979 Englishman Alain Freeman invented a solar car (pictured right). He road registered the same vehicle in 1980. The Freeman solar car was a 3-wheeler with a solar panel on the roof.
At the engineering department at Tel Aviv University in Israel, Arye Braunstein and his colleagues created a solar car in 1980 (pictured below). The solar car had a solar panel on the hood and on the roof of the Citicar comprised of 432 cells creating 400 watts of peak power. The solar car used 8 batteries of 6 volts each to store the photovoltaic energy. [5]
The 1,320 pound solar Citicar is said by the engineering department to have been able to reach up to 40 mph with a maximum range of 50 miles.
In 1981 Hans Tholstrup and Larry Perkins built a solar powered racecar. In 1982, the pair became the first to cross a continent in a solar car, from Perth to Sydney, Australia. Tholstrup is the creator of the World Solar Challenge in Australia.
In 1984, Greg Johanson and Joel Davidson invented the Sunrunner solar race car. The Sunrunner set the official Guinness world record in Bellflower, California of 24.7 mph. In the Mojave Desert of California and final top speed of 41 mph was officially recorded for a "Solely Solar Powered Vehicle" (did not use a battery). The 1986 Guinness book of world records published the official records.
The GM Sunraycer in 1987 completed a 1,866 mile trip with an average speed of 42 mph. Since this time there have been many solar cars invented at universities for competitions such as the Shell Eco Marathon. There is also a commercially available solar car called the Venturi Astrolab. Time will only tell how far the solar car makes it with today’s & tomorrow’s technology. Solar cars combine technology typically used in the aerospace, bicycle, alternative energy and automotive industries. The design of a solar vehicle is severely limited by the amount of energy input into the car. Most solar cars have been built for the purpose of solar car races. Exceptions include solar-powered cars and utility vehicles.
Solar cars are often fitted with gauges as seen in conventional cars. In order to keep the car running smoothly, the driver must keep an eye on these gauges to spot possible problems. Cars without gauges almost always feature wireless telemetry, which allows the driver's team to monitor the car's energy consumption, solar energy capture and other parameters and free the driver to concentrate on driving.Solar cars depend on PV cells to convert sunlight into electricity. In fact, 51% of sunlight actually enters the Earth's atmosphere.[3]
Unlike solar thermal energy which converts solar energy to heat for either household purposes, industrial purposes or to be converted to electricity, PV cells directly convert sunlight into electricity. When sunlight (photons) strike PV cells, they excite electrons and allow them to flow, creating an electrical current. PV cells are made of semiconductor materials such as silicon and alloys of indium, gallium and nitrogen. Silicon is the most common material used and has an efficiency rate of 15-20%. Of late, several consulting companies, such as Phoenix Snider Power, have started offering technical and financial services to institutes and teams developing solar cars worldwide
During the 1990s, regulations requiring an approach to "zero emissions" from vehicles increased interest in new battery technology. Battery systems that offer higher energy density became the subject of joint research by federal and auto industry scientists. Solar cars were first built by universities and manufacturers. The sun energy collector areas proved to be too large for consumer cars, however that is changing. Development continues on solar cell design and car power supply requirements such as heater or air-conditioning fans.[4]
July 2007 marks the 24th anniversary since Joel Davidson and Greg Johanson set The First Guinness World Record for a 100% solar powered vehicle (no batteries). In 1986, the vehicle was retired and taken apart, but the solar array is still producing electricity for an off-grid home.
2.2. History of Photovoltaic Cell
Photovoltaic system converts sun light into electricity. The term "photo" is a stem from the Greek "photos," which means "light." "Volt" is named for Alessandro Volta (1745-1827), a pioneer in the study of electricity. "Photo-voltaic," then, could literally mean "light-electricity." Most commonly known as "solar cells," PV systems are already an important part of our lives. The simplest systems power many of the small calculators and wrist watches we use every day. More complicated systems provide electricity for pumping water, powering communications equipment, and even lighting our homes and running our appliances. In a surprising number of cases, PV power is the cheapest form of electricity performing these tasks.[7]
Photovoltaic cells converts lightr energy into electricity into atomic level. Although first discovered in 1839, the process of producing electric current in a solid material with the aid of sunlight wasn't truly understood for more than a hundred years. Throught the second half of the 20th century, the science has been refined and the process has been more fully explained. As a result, the cost of these devices has put them into the mainstream of modern energy producers. This was caused in part by advances in the technology, where PV conversion efficiencies have improved considerably'.
French physicist Edmond Becquerel first described the photovoltaic (PV) effect in 1839, but it remained a curiosity of science for the next three quarters of a century. At only 19, Becquerel found that certain materials would produce small amounts of electric current when exposed to light. The effect was first studied in solids, such as selenium, by Heinrich Hertz in the 1870s. Soon afterward, selenium PV cells were converting light to electricity at 1% to 2% efficiency. As a result, selenium was quickly adopted in the emerging field of photography for use in light measuring devices. Major steps toward commercializing PV were taken in the 1940s and early 1950s, when the Czochralski process was developed for producing highly pure crystalline silicon. In 1954, scientists a t Bell Laboratories depended on the Czochralski process to develop the first crystalline silicon photovoltaic cell, which had an efficiency of 4%. The term "photovoltaic" comes from the Greek φῶς (phōs) meaning "light", and "voltaic", meaning electric, from the name of the Italian physicist Volta, after whom a unit of electro-motive force, the volt, is named. The term "photo-voltaic" has been in use in English since 1849.
The photovoltaic effect was first recognized in 1839 by French physicist A. E. Becquerel. However, it was not until 1883 that the first photovoltaic cell was built, by Charles Fritts, who coated the semiconductor selenium with an extremely thin layer of gold to form the junctions. The device was only around 1% efficient. In 1888 Russian physicist Aleksandr Stoletov built the first photoelectric cell (based on the outer photoelectric effect discovered by Heinrich Hertz earlier in 1887). Albert Einstein explained the photoelectric effect in 1905 for which he received the Nobel prize in Physics in 1921. Russell Ohl patented the modern junction semiconductor solar cell in 1946, which was discovered while working on the series of advances that would lead to the transistor.
The modern photovoltaic cell was developed in 1954 at Bell Laboratories. The highly efficient solar cell was first developed by Daryl Chapin, Calvin Souther Fuller and Gerald Pearson in 1954 using a diffused silicon p-n junction. At first, cells were developed for toys and other minor uses, as the cost of the electricity they produced was very high - in relative terms, a cell that produced 1 watt of electrical power in bright sunlight cost about $250, comparing to $2 to $3 for a coal plant.
Solar cells were rescued from obscurity by the suggestion to add them to the Vanguard I satellite. In the original plans, the satellite would be powered only by battery, and last a short time while this ran down. By adding cells to the outside of the fuselage, the mission time could be extended with no major changes to the spacecraft or its power systems. There was some skepticism at first, but in practice the cells proved to be a huge success, and solar cells were quickly designed into many new satellites, notably Bell's own Telstar.
Improvements were slow over the next two decades, and the only widespread use was in space applications where their power-to-weight ratio was higher than any competing technology. However, this success was also the reason for slow progress; space users were willing to pay anything for the best possible cells, there was no reason to invest in lower-cost solutions if this would reduce efficiency. Instead, the price of cells was determined largely by the semiconductor industry; their move to integrated circuits in the 1960s led to the availability of larger boules at lower relative prices. As their price fell, the price of the resulting cells did as well. However these effects were limited, and by 1971 cell costs were estimated to be $100 a watt.