Drawing on expertise from the spectrum of engineering, such as Materials
Science, Mechanics, Structural Design, Aerodynamics and Electronics, solar
racing involves many challenges. Generally, these vehicles are designed
and built by student-led teams from some of the world’s leading universities,
using the expertise of faculty and industry to aid them. Currently,
the two major races are the Panasonic World Solar Challenge in Australia
and the North American Solar Challenge, which are held in alternating years.
These races are cross country marathons on public roads; solar cars are
capable of travelling at or above the speed limit, and have been known
to pick up speeding fines!
Vehicles must be light and aerodynamic, while meeting the stringent
safety requirements of both the race rules and local authorities.
They must be robust enough to cover several thousand miles over roads
which are not always in good condition, and do so entirely on power derived
from the sun.
Solar array area is limited by race rules to 6m2.
Space-grade arrays of this size, made from rejected satellite solar
cells, have around 1.5kW peak output power, at 100V, with an efficiency
approaching 30%. Terrestial silicon cells, while cheaper, have an
efficiency of roughly half that.
