Solar Team Twente: Innovating for a Sustainable Future

The Innovation Team

Seven students with one common goal: building the most efficient solar car in the world. That is Solar Team Twente. During the innovation edition, the team innovates over the course of one year on the latest developed solar car. This car is designed to drive more than 3,000 kilometers using only solar energy. Sounds impossible? Not for Solar Team Twente! They show that the impossible is possible.

By participating in various solar races around the world, the team challenges the boundaries of existing technology every year. With the support of over 150 companies from both national and international ground, Solar Team Twente is recognized globally as one of the leading teams in solar racing. Solar Team Twente has participated in worldwide solar challenges on ten different occasions.

In September 2024, the team will compete in the Sasol Solar Challenge in South Africa for the first time. During this race, the car will be put to the test in various conditions and landscapes. The challenge is characterized by the goal of covering as many kilometers as possible within a set time period of eight days. This requires not only technical expertise but also teamwork, strategic planning, and adaptability. In this edition, we make a difference with a focus on innovation, powered by human energy!

Optimizing the Solar Panel

As the focus is on innovation, the team are implementing new technologies and taking more risks this year. For the electronics part of the solar car this is realized in Sabine, the Solar Array Balancing Interface New Edition. The problem Sabine solves is quite simple: solar cells have a varying IV curve. This difference in IV curve means that every cell has a different maximum power point. The maximum power point being held by the MPPT is then limited by the weakest cell in a string. Normally this problem would be solved by bypassing cells that were limiting more than they were contributing, typically the cells in shadow, allowing the MPPT to draw more power. However, in this set up some cells are not contributing, while they still can deliver some energy, for example the cells that aro only partially in shadow. A few years back Elmar Peters and Stefan Halsema thought of a solution, named it Sabine and won the technical innovation award at the world solar challenge in Australia.

This year the electrical engineers of Solar Team Twente could fully focus on redesigning this system entirely. When the design choices were all mapped out the designing started. That is where the typical Solar Team objective came in: efficiency. Sabine is making the solar panel more efficient, but only adding power from cells that would otherwise be turned off. This addition is small compared to our total power output of the solar panel. Not to mention the additional weight of another system hanging below our upper car body. Sabine had to be light weight and highly efficient. After some struggles the team was able to design a system that fit the design goals. Because of the complexity of the system, Eurocircuits was the perfect partner to manufacture this system.