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By Richard King
U.S. Department of Energy |
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BURLINGTON, WIS., July 10, 2003 - Today we are at the MGA vehicle test track about four miles south of Burlington, Wis. It's a very rural area just north of the Illinois-Wisconsin border and a quiet, peaceful setting. The location seems fitting for qualifying quiet, environmental friendly, solar-powered electric vehicles.
EDS is here timing the vehicles, counting laps and recording speed. Mike White, our EDS representative, brings sensors that are placed in each solar car. Yesterday, he placed a signal wire across the track at the start/finish line. As a car crosses the line, a signal sends information to Mike's computer that automatically records the lap count and speed. We are so thankful for the EDS sponsorship.
Since I help manage the Department of Energy's photovoltaic (solar) cell research program, I should comment on the solar arrays I've seen so far. I'm very impressed with the quality of work from the college students. Each of the solar arrays on the cars has been built cell by cell from scratch. Some of the larger arrays (12 square meters) have more than 10,000 small cells the size of a driver's license.
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| Photo contributed by Richard King |
| Western Michigan University's solar car, Sunseeker 03, flies by the checkered flag as it qualifies for the American Solar Challenge on July 10. |
The students spend hours and hours carefully connecting the cells and attaching them to the surface of the car.
The object is to generate the most electricity possible from the sunlight that strikes the cells. In the open class, which has no limits on the type or cost of the cells, the best arrays I've seen are made of triple-junction and double-junction gallium arsenide material. Emcore, out of Albuquerque, N.M., which makes these cells for the space industry, provides these cells at a special discount to the solar car teams. The cells have an efficiency rating close to 20 percent. Steve Rummel from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has measured all the arrays, and the power output is indeed pushing 20 percent. The best arrays for a car with 8 square meters (single person) are 1,550 watts, and the best arrays for the two-person cars (12 square meters) are more than 1,900 watts. One car (I won't say who just now, for competitive reasons) has a 1,980-watt array, a world record for a solar car.
In the stock class, teams must purchase commercial cells that any homeowner can buy on the open market. These cells cost $3 to $5 apiece and are 14 percent to 17 percent efficient. Even though they are slightly less efficient, some teams have built impressive arrays that are 900 to 1,300 watts in total power. BP Solar supplies many of the teams with these commercial cells. One primary reason for holding the solar car race is to demonstrate that solar energy really works. If a car can be powered at highway speeds across the country, then solar cells can certainly power a home as well as meet many other power needs.
At the end of the first day at the track, the following 10 teams qualified to race in the 2003 ASC:
- Kansas State University
- University of Minnesota
- University of Missouri-Rolla
- CalSol (Berkeley)
- North Dakota State University
- Auburn University
- Purdue University
- University of Waterloo
- University of Missouri-Columbia
- Western Michigan University
Five teams have not finished scrutineering yet: The University of Michigan, Yale University, McMaster University, École Polytechnique de Montreal, and the University of Ontario. If they can't fix their steering, braking or structural problems by a.m. tomorrow, they won't be able to qualify.
Several teams, however, are on the edge and have more to do tomorrow before their cars pass. Toronto, École Polytechnique de Montreal, and McMaster from Canada, and Kentucky, Michigan and Yale from the U.S. all still must pass the dynamics station before going any further. All these teams require better braking or steering or both.
It rained a good deal of the afternoon again. We were conducting figure eights and brake tests in the rain. We had to in order to get though all the teams. I hope the weather is better tomorrow when the cars have to do laps all day.
The qualifiers are here in Burlington at a former test track for one of the car companies. It took me longer than an hour and a half to get here from Northwestern University, hence the late evening.
REPORTS FROM THE ROAD
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