Abstract
An energy efficient solar power system and electric drive train has been developed with leadership of department of Automotive and Railway Engineering at Szechenyi Istvan University in Gyor. This drive train with only solar power also has successfully driven a vehicle model for urban transport even in race conditions. Under favorable sunny conditions the energy consumption of the electric motors is less than the charge of the photovoltaic system. The system is operating at a positive energy balance. The positive energy balance can be achieved with high-efficiency electric drive, which consists of two BLDC motors from Emoteq (MF 0210050) and an analog motor drive from Advanced Motion Controls (B40A8).
Two key elements of the solar driven system are maximizing solar electricity from the Sun and minimizing the drag coefficient of the vehicle. The main aim of the current research is to find an optimum between these two factors.
The optimum placement of solar panels is the horizontal plane. The solar panels on top of the vehicle are parallel with the road plane. This is neither aesthetically correct nor is optimal from the aerodynamic point of view. The compromise between drag coefficient and radiation conditions can be achieved by an optimization task. We can determine the two-way optimum curvature of the plane radiation and air resistance. The solution is a transparent streamline profile on the horizontal solar plane modules which meets the requirements.
The adequate tests, which the publication provides the detailed report on, will result in the development of the following amendments:
Calculations of planes of different curvature radiation and aerodynamic simulation are performed in order to determine the optimum curved surface.
Solar panels are put on a flat surface; a roof spoiler made of a transparent material is used to make less air resistance.
We perform a comparative analysis on the above-mentioned two solutions.
In addition, a number of practical issues of the solar charging system need to be resolved as a model for carrying out experiments. These problems are the following: thermal expansion of the solar cells, efficiency decreased by warming and choosing carriers and translucent materials.
Keywords: energy of solar cells, energy management, electric vehicle, battery, MPPT