What is better than driving your personal means of transportation without ever needing to go to a gas station? Yes, that is exactly what some students in Berkeley are trying for. Impulse – the solar car has been unveiled at Cal Day and is almost ready to participate in this year’s World Solar Challenge, an 1,800-mile road race across Australia. After hours of design execution and fabrication activities at CalSol, a team of 73 odd students have come up with this design. The race would require the teams to drive their vehicle across the Australian continent.
A typical solar car will have the photo voltaic cells on the top, to optimize the conversion of solar power to the required power usage for the car and Impulse is no different. Impulse weighs 500 pounds and is capable of running at 70 mph. It can accommodate only one person in the car at a time. All the typical lightweight and strong composite materials are used in the construction of Impulse.
The vehicle design needs to be made more robust in terms of efficiency and aerodynamics. So, from about 12 members to more than 70 now, CalSol team is steadily growing. The funds required to develop the car are generated with corporate contributions and support from industries. The team members will contribute the expenditure required for the transportation of the members to Australia.
Although the CalSol team doesn’t see their concept as ready for commercialization, cost and the inefficiency of the solar cells being the key detractors, this project has taught them to tackle any problems for which they did not know the solutions – the prerequisite for any engineer I believe.
Via: Innovations
