Tuesday, May 02, 2017
By Kamal Swami
ISRO Develops the Car To Run on Solar Energy
Going through the concern towards pollution free environment lots of initiatives have been made by the governments of different countries across the world for increasing use of electronic and hybrid cars among the car enthusiasts. In all these endeavors one important factor of energy which in true sense is the bag of energy has not been given attention by the scientists for making its use in transportation facilities. The Sun, which from many years has been used as the source of solar energy for domestic purpose, can it be used for running any vehicle? Till now, nobody had paid attention towards this question, but interestingly this time the scientists working at ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) have developed a car that will run on the energy received from sun. Commenting on this initiative the sources of ISRO said,“Vehicles using fossil fuels persistently bring serious problems to environment and life. In this perspective, Solar and Electrical energy based hybrid vehicles provide the most effective and viable long-term solution by using renewable energy sources for mobility.”
Recently the prototype of the same car was demonstrated at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram, with the help of resources and expertise present in ISRO. The vehicle used for this purpose was Maruti Suzuki Omni. But converting an MPV into the solar vehicle has not been an easy job for the experts, especially the integration of parts like right solar panel to suit the roof top of the car, an integral gearbox for facilitating the Brushless DC (BLDC) motor, super-capacitor to respond the high peak current above 100A level and electronic equipments for battery and solar panel interface for battery and the solar panel to make the car run smoothly. And beyond all these problems the major problem was conversion of internal combustion engine into electronic motor.
The vehicle was empowered with Lithium batteries connected with high power density super capacitors. The batteries deliver the required energy whereas the super capacitors favored the peak power demand while high torque conditions. This helps in enhancing the life of power transmitted by the batteries. The solar panel mounted at the rooftop of the vehicles charges the battery directly through the sun. For converting solar energy to mechanical energy use of efficient power conversion module between energy system and electronic motor was done. The sources of ISRO also stated that “Concerted efforts were made to ensure that the associated safety aspects are not compromised while combining various active subsystems of different behaviour for a focused objective.”
