Solar car

Abstract

One of the front runners in the area of renewable energy resources today is solar power. Photovoltaic cells are used to convert solar energy in to useful electrical energy. The objective of this paper is to construct an efficient solar car, for the daily office commuters of Dhaka city so that they can travel a fixed distance that they need to commute everyday on a reliable and economical car that essentially runs on free renewable solar energy. All calculations would be made bearing in mind the maximum distance travelled by Dhaka office commuter i.e. from Uttara to Motijheel since overcoming this distance would be the primary objective of the solar car to be built. The paper illustrates how the charge generated by an array of solar panels is received and its flow in and out of a battery pack is to be controlled using a microcontroller based charge controller to ensure efficient storing of charge in a battery pack. The stored energy would be divulged to a DC motor which would run the car. The design of a motor controller to control the car’s speed and forward/reverse direction of motion is shown. The mechanical construction from scratch of the chassis along with all necessary mechanical systems is illustrated. Finally the wiring of the electrical system onto the mechanical body is demonstrated.