Hybrid Solar Vehicles
G.Rizzo (*)
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(*) DIMEC, University
of Salerno
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Summary
Hybrid Solar Vehicle comes up by integrating the hybrid car concept with
Photo-Voltaic panels. This solution can enhance the benefits of Hybrid
Electric vehicles thanks to the recourse to solar energy, free and largely
diffused. Some prototypes recently developed are presented in the following.
Prototypes of HSV
Viking 23
Viking 23 was one of many solar vehicles built (August 1994) at Vehicle
Research Institute - Western Washington University.
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Viking 23
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Vehicle body
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The features of this vehicle are:
- BODY:Carbon fiber with solar array upper panels.
- CHASSIS:Carbon fiber monocoque with aluminum or steel reinforcements
at mounting points.
- BATTERIES:11 kW hours of SAFT NiCad batteries charged by either the
solar cells or household current.
- I.C. ENGINE:Daihatsu, 993cc, 3 cylinder fuel injected single overhead
cam, fueled by reformulated gasoline.
- ELECTRIC MOTOR:Two Unique Mobility brushless D.C. motors driving the
front wheels through a gearbox.
- RANGE:70 miles in zero emission mode at city speeds and approximately
400 miles at highway speeds.
http://vri.etec.wwu.edu/viking_23.htm
Solar Prius
A photovoltaic kit will be commercialized by an American company to be
installed on the Toyota Prius, the car symbol of the ecologists.
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A prototype of "Solar" Prius
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According to Solatec, cars equipped with solar panels, increase their
authonomy of 10% ca. After testing it on a prototype driven with different
weather conditions, the kit was sold at 2.195 dollars. The 30 watt panels
are fixed on the top with sticky tape and recharge the batteries of the
hybrid system by means of a special power supplier switching the sun rays
while driving or simply parking.
http://www.repubblica.it/2005/l/motori/dicembre05/superprius/superprius.html
Oxiana
A prototype of hybrid solar car (Oxiana), built by the italian company
Veicoli within an educational project, run for about 3000 km in Central
Asia in 1997.
http://www.veicoli.org/oxiana2.html
Prototype at Tokyo Institute of Technology
A prototype of electric hybrid car with PV panels has been developed
at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. Further PV panels were
installed on the top of a building to recharge batteries. Car weight increased
of 350 Kg. Gasoline engine was used when speed was over 20 km/h, while
electric driving was adopted when speed become less than 15 Km/h.
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Scheme of the Hybrid Solar Car developed at Tokyo
Institute of Technology
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Vehicle management during a driving cycle
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Ultra Commuter
A very advanced prototype of HSV (Ultra Commuter) has been recently developed
at the Queensland University, adopting a hybrid series structure.
The car is equipped with 2.5 square metres of solar panels with 375 Watts.
In sunny weather the Ultra Commuter can travel up to 60 km a day on solar
power alone. A 360V Li-Ion battery pack extends this to 200 km. A compressed
natural gas powers a 10 kW generator to feed batteries, producing a total
range of 500 km. The car is propelled by two 75 kW motors that sit inside
the rear wheels.
Link
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005/04/solar_electric_.html
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005/08/solarpoweraugme.html
http://www.veicoli.org/oxiana2.html
http://vri.etec.wwu.edu/viking_23.htm
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