Manipal Institute of Technology students design solar car

In what could be a classic example of academia-industry collaboration, Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT), Manipal University, and Tata Power Solar, India’s largest integrated solar player, unveiled the India’s first and only four-seater passenger solar car designed exclusively by the students of MIT who made up the SolarMobil team.

This is their third car. The main features of the car is that it can run for a distance of 180 km and attain a top speed of 80 km/hr. The customised solar panels provided by Tata Power Solar are made of high efficiency monocrystalline solar cells encapsulated with an aluminum back sheet and a poly carbonate front sheet.

These light weight and highly efficient solar panels are placed along the curved surface of the car’s roof, ensuring that the aerodynamics is not compromised. The solar panels also help increase the range of the car, which is crucial in ensuring speed and mobility. It comprises of the element 14 sponsored all the DAQ components.

The car’s Energy Density Li-ion Battery pack allows a speed of 180 km on a full charge. This high-end Battery Management System monitors the individual strings of the battery pack, ensuring proper health and safety. It is also fitted with a CAN-bus protocol to ensure fast, efficient and error-free communication.

The car’s data acquisition system uses the Rasberry-Pi; this central unit acquires data from the Battery Management System, Maximum Power Point Tracker and various others sensors to ensure proper functioning of all the systems. This data is later is used to analysis the vehicle’s performance.

SolarMobil team works on the four-wheeled prototype and was started in 2011. The team has built two prototypes in past, namely –FREYR 1 and solar car called SERVe (Solar Electric Road Vehicle).