Type Small car Engine Electric motor:
2.5 kW | Model years 2013 | |
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The PowerCore SunCruiser is a solar-powered road vehicle of the Bochum University of applied Sciences, which was built to compete at the World Solar Challenge in 2013. The PowerCore SunCruiser is the fifth vehicle built by the University of Bochum and categorized as an EC vehicle class L7e, which includes full road approval . The car was presented to the public at the 25th of July 2013, and offers space for three persons, can reach a top speed of over 100 km/h, and is driven by two wheel-hub motors in the back of the wheels, whose maximum power is 8.5 kW. The vehicle's empty weight is around 340 kg, of which the batteries are taking around 63 kg. The range on a full battery in the absence of sunlight is 700 km when driven at a uniform speed of 65 km/h. The solar cells used are multi-layer solar cells with an efficiency of 29.7%. The performance of the 3 square meter solar cells on the roof is 833 W. (See also Technical data sheet)
Contents
Batteries
The accumulators make us of 1316 Panasonic NCR 18650B lithium-ion batteries. For the model driven at the World Solar Challenge in 2013, the battery had a total weight of 63 kg and was able to store 15.9 kWh of energy, achieving a nominal voltage of 100.8 V.
Solar cells
In the case of the solar cells are Tandem solar cells consisting of Gallium-arsenide. On the roof of 944 cells, which can deliver a voltage of 2.28 V and a current of 0.47 A. The maximum efficiency of a cell is 29,7 %. This degree of efficiency to achieve, in the vehicle, nine different MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracker) is used. The overall electrical performance of the array is at approx. 833W.
Engine
The engine is a development of the Bochum University of applied Sciences. The permanently excited synchronous machine develops a maximum torque of 110 Nm and a nominal torque of 16 Nm.
World Solar Challenge
The vehicle was specially built for the World Solar Challenge 2013 (WSC 2013), 6. October 2013 took place in Australia. It started in the so-called "Cruiser-class", which, according to a progenitor model from Bochum - BOcruiser - named. This class wants vehicles in the aspect of practicality in the development of Solar in the focus. For the first time reached a solar car from Bochum without a glitch the goal after about 3,000 km through the Australian Outback, and was at the end of the world Vice-champion [7]. The University of Bochum reported in a journal the race participation at the WSC 2013.
The European Solar Challenge
From 10 till 12 Oct, 2014 took the PowerCore SunCruiser - together with the previous model and "Weltumrundler" SolarWorld GT at the European Solar Challenge (ESC) [10] part.This took place in Zolder, Belgium, on the former formula 1 race track. There reached the SunCruiser the first place and became European champion in 2014 [11]. In the case of the four individual categories, the car won the endurance race in about 9 hours and reached the second-fastest lap.Diary entries, pictures, galleries and Videos by ESC 2014 on the solar car web sites of the University of Bochum.
The Team
During the race, the Team made up of around 30 students, also for the construction of the vehicle. In a Team individual work groups with the electrics, the Mechanics, the strategy and the organization of the competition.