CHAPTER 1

SOLAR MINI CAR

INTRODUCTION
The quests for a constant, safe, clean, environmental-friendly fuel is never-ending. Carbon-based
fuels, such as fossil fuels are unsustainable and hazardous to our environment. Some of the
alternatives are renewable energy sources which include all fuel types and energy carriers,
different from the fossil ones, such as the sun, wind, tides, hydropower and biomass. Amongst
these elements, solar energy is preferred since it could provide the cleanest sustainable energy
for the longest duration of time – the next few billion years. Photovoltaic production becomes
double every two years, increasing by an average of 48 percent each year since 2002. Due to its
innumerable benefits in environmental, economic and social aspects PV systems have becomes
the world’s fastest growing energy technology. It can arguably be said that the only limitation to
solar power as an energy source is our understanding of developing efficient and cost effective
technology which can implement it.

Nothing on earth is free of cost, but what if we could find a way to implement free rides. Indeed
it would be wonderful if our cars could continue to run without us having to spend billions on
fossil fuels every year and to deal with natural hazards that their combustion leave behind. If we
could drive a solar-powered car, that auto dream would come true. Solar cars would harness
energy from the sun via solar panels. A solar panel is a packaged, connected assembly of solar
cells, also called photovoltaic cells which are solid state devices that can convert solar energy
directly into electrical energy through quantum mechanical transitions. They are noiseless and
pollution-free with no rotating parts and need minimum maintenance. The electricity thus
generated would then fuel the battery that would run the car's motors. Therefore we would obtain
an electrically driven vehicle that would travel on “free” energy with no harmful emissions, that
can utilize its full power at all speeds, and would have very little maintenance cost.
HISTORY OF SOLAR CAR

The first solar car invented was a tiny 15-inch vehicle created by William G. Cobb of General
Motors. Called the Sun mobile, Cobb showcased the first solar car at the Chicago Powerama
convention on August 31, 1955. The solar car was made up 12 selenium photovoltaic cells and a
small Pooley electric motor turning a pulley which in turn rotated the rear wheel shaft. The first
solar car in history was obviously too small to drive.

In 1962, when the first solar car a person could drive was demonstrated to the public. The
International Rectifier Company converted a vintage model 1912 Baker electric car (pictured
above) to run on photovoltaic energy in 1958, but they didn't show it until 4 years later. Around
10,640 individual solar cells were mounted to the rooftop of the Baker to help propel it.

In 1977, Alabama University professor Ed Passereni built the Bluebird solar car, which was a
prototype full scale vehicle. The Bluebird was supposed to move from power created by the
photovoltaic cells only without the use of a battery. The Bluebird was exhibited in the Knoxville,
TN 1982 World's Fair.

At the engineering department at Tel Aviv University in Israel, Arye Braunstein and his
colleagues created a solar car in 1980 (pictured below). The solar car had a solar panel on the
hood and on the roof of the Citicar comprised of 432 cells creating 400 watts of peak power. The
solar car used 8 batteries of 6 volts each to store the photovoltaic energy.

In 1981 Hans Tholstrup and Larry Perkins built a solar powered racecar. In 1982, the pair
became the first to cross a continent in a solar car, from Perth to Sydney, Australia. Tholstrup is
the creator of the World Solar Challenge in Australia.

In 1984, Greg Johanson and Joel Davidson invented the Sunrunner solar race car. The Sun
runner set the official Guinness world record in Bellflower, California of 24.7 mph. In the
Mojave Desert of California and final top speed of 41 mph was officially recorded for a "Solely
Solar Powered Vehicle" (did not use a battery). The 1986 Guinness Book of World Records
publicized these official records.
The GM Sunraycer in 1987 completed a 1,866 mile trip with an average speed of 42 mph. Since
this time there have been many solar cars invented at universities for competitions such as the
Shell Eco Marathon. There is also a commercially available solar car called the Venturi Astrolab.
Time will only tell how far the solar car makes it with today's and tomorrow's technology.

In 1979 Englishman Alain Freeman invented a solar car (pictured right). He road registered the
same vehicle in 1980. The Freeman solar car was a 3-wheeler with a solar panel on the roof.
The 1,320 pound solar Citicar is said by the engineering department to have been able to reach
up to 40 mph with a maximum range of 50 miles
 CHAPTER 2

SOLAR ENERGY

INTRODUCTION

Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of ever-
evolving technologies such as solar heating, photovoltaic, solar thermal energy, solar
architecture, molten salt power plants and artificial photosynthesis. It is an important source
of renewable energy and its technologies are broadly characterized as either passive
solar or active solar depending on how they capture and distribute solar energy or convert it
into solar power. Active solar techniques include the use of photovoltaic systems, concentrated
solar power and solar water heating to harness the energy. Passive solar techniques include
orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with favorable thermal mass or light-
dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally circulate air.

The large magnitude of solar energy available makes it a highly appealing source of electricity.
The United Nations Development Program its 2000 World Energy Assessment found that the
annual potential of solar energy was 1,575–49,837 exajoules (EJ). This is several times larger
than the total world energy consumption, which was 559.8 EJ in 2012. In 2011, the International
Energy Agency said that "The development of affordable, inexhaustible and clean solar energy
technologies will have huge longer-term benefits. It will increase countries’ energy security
through reliance on an inexhaustible and mostly import-independent resource,
enhance sustainability, reduce pollution, lower the costs of mitigating global warming, and
keep fossil fuel prices lower than otherwise. These advantages are global. Hence the additional
costs of the incentives for early deployment should be considered learning investments; they
must be wisely spent and need to be widely shared”
The Earth receives 174 pet watts (PW) of incoming solar radiation (insolation) at the
upper atmosphere. Approximately 30% is reflected back to space while the rest is absorbed by
clouds, oceans and land masses. The spectrum of solar light at the Earth's surface is mostly
spread across the visible and near-infrared ranges with a small part in the near-ultraviolet. Most
of the world's population lives in areas with insolation levels of 150–300 watts/m², or 3.5–
7.0 kwh/m² per day.

Solar radiation is absorbed by the Earth's land surface, oceans – which cover about 71% of the
globe – and atmosphere. Warm air containing evaporated water from the oceans rises,
causing atmospheric circulation or convection. When the air reaches a high altitude, where the
temperature is low, water vapor condenses into clouds, which rain onto the Earth's surface,
completing the water cycle. The latent heat of water condensation amplifies convection,
producing atmospheric phenomena such as wind, cyclones and anti-cyclones. Sunlight absorbed
by the oceans and land masses keeps the surface at an average temperature of
14 °C. By photosynthesis, green plants convert solar energy into chemically stored energy,
which produces food, wood and the biomass from which fossil fuels are derived. The total solar
energy absorbed by Earth's atmosphere, oceans and land masses is approximately
3,850,000 exajoules (EJ) per year. In 2002, this was more energy in one hour than the world used
in one year. Photosynthesis captures approximately 3,000 EJ per year in biomass. The amount of
solar energy reaching the surface of the planet is so vast that in one year it is about twice as much
as will ever be obtained from all of the Earth's non-renewable resources of coal, oil, natural gas,
and mined uranium combined.
 Yearly solar fluxes & human consumption

Solar 3,850,000

Wind 2,250

Biomass potential ~200

Primary energy use2 539

Electricity2 ~67

1 Energy given in Exajoules (EJ) = 1018 J = 278 TWH

2Consumption as of year 2010

The potential solar energy that could be used by humans differs from the amount of solar energy
present near the surface of the planet because factors such as geography, time variation, cloud
cover, and the land available to humans limit the amount of solar energy that we can acquire.

Geography affects solar energy potential because areas that are closer to the equator have a
greater amount of solar radiation. However, the use of photovoltaic that can follow the position
of the Sun can significantly increase the solar energy potential in areas that are farther from the
equator.[4] Time variation effects the potential of solar energy because during the nighttime there
is little solar radiation on the surface of the Earth for solar panels to absorb. This limits the
amount of energy that solar panels can absorb in one day. Cloud cover can affect the potential of
solar panels because clouds block incoming light from the Sun and reduce the light available for
solar cells.
In addition, land availability has a large effect on the available solar energy because solar panels
can only be set up on land that is otherwise unused and suitable for solar panels. Roofs have been
found to be a suitable place for solar cells, as many people have discovered that they can collect
energy directly from their homes this way. Other areas that are suitable for solar cells are lands
that are not being used for businesses where solar plants can be established. Solar technologies
are characterized as either passive or active depending on the way they capture, convert and
distribute sunlight and enable solar energy to be harnessed at different levels around the world,
mostly depending on distance from the equator. Although solar energy refers primarily to the use
of solar radiation for practical ends, all renewable energies, other than geothermal
power and Tidal power, derive their energy either directly or indirectly from the Sun.

Active solar techniques use photovoltaic, concentrated solar power, solar thermal collectors,
pumps, and fans to convert sunlight into useful outputs. Passive solar techniques include
selecting materials with favorable thermal properties, designing spaces that naturally circulate
air, and referencing the position of a building to the Sun. Active solar technologies increase the

Supply of energy and are considered supply side technologies, while passive solar technologies
reduce the need for alternate resources and are generally considered demand side technologies.

In 2000, The United Nations Development Program, UN Department of Economic and Social
Affairs, and World Energy Council published an estimate of the potential solar energy that could
be used by humans each year that took into account factors such as insolation, cloud cover, and
the land that is usable by humans. The estimate found that solar energy has a global potential of
1,575–49,837 EJ per year
BACKGROUND

Though solar energy has found a dynamic and established role in today’s clean energy economy,
there’s a long history behind photovoltaic (PV) that brought the concept of solar energy to
fruition. With the way the cost of solar has plummeted in the past decade, it’s easy to forget that
going solar had a completely different meaning even just 15 years ago. Few centuries ago the
origins of solar PV and explore the history of solar energy and silicon solar technology.

In theory, solar energy was used by humans as early as 7th century B.C. when history tells us
that humans used sunlight to light fires with magnifying glass materials. Later, in 3rd century
B.C., the Greeks and Romans were known to harness solar power with mirrors to light torches
for religious ceremonies. These mirrors became a normalized tool referred to as “burning
mirrors.” Chinese civilization documented the use of mirrors for the same purpose later in 20
A.D.

Another early use for solar energy that is still popular today was the concept of “sunrooms” in
buildings. These sunrooms used massive windows to direct sunlight into one concentrated
area.Some of the iconic Roman bathhouses, typically those situated on the south-facing side of
buildings, were sunrooms. Later in the 1200s A.D., ancestors to the Pueblo Native Americans
known as the Anasazi situated themselves in south-facing abodes on cliffs to capture the sun’s
warmth during cold winter months.

In the late 1700s and 1800s, researchers and scientists had success using sunlight to power ovens
for long voyages. They also harnessed the power of the sun to produce solar-powered
steamboats. Ultimately, it’s clear that even thousands of years before the era of solar panels, the
concept of manipulating the power of the sun was a common practice.