Solar Team implements solution for energy supply - copy

Self-sufficient tent camp

The engineering students will start the Sasol Solar Challenge in less than two weeks. During the eight-day challenge, the students will drive their solar car, the Infinite, from Johannesburg to Cape Town. During the challenge, the students will spend the night in tents. To best prepare the solar car and the team for the next day of competition, there are a lot of activities at night: going over routes, working on the solar car, charging laptops for the next day ... To meet the energy demands of these activities, the students designed and implemented an innovative solar panel system on the roof of the container that transports the equipment during the competition. This innovative setup ensures that the team has access to renewable energy at night.

“Together with our partners, we are not only going for the win this year but we are also trying to optimize the way we work. This year we implemented solar panels and a battery pack on and in our container. These resources allow us to use renewable energy at our camp site to carry out our work.”
Julien Vandecasteele (22, Aalter), Logistics Manager at the Innoptus Solar Team

Load shedding

The energy system consists of eight panels that charge a battery during the day. They can use the energy from that battery at night. The system is designed to keep functioning even while the truck is running, so that renewable energy is continuously available. In South Africa, power supply is not always secure due to a shortage of available energy on the grid. As a result, power is switched off in a controlled manner in certain parts of the country. This is called load shedding. When this happens, the students can also use the renewable energy from the solar panel system during the four weeks of on-site preparation.

Technical challenge

The development of the solar panel system began with the design of a mechanical system to securely attach the solar panels to the container. This system must be reliable and able to withstand the harsh conditions during the competition. A clever design and thoughtful choice of materials allow for easy installation and removal of the panels.

“It was important to create a light, stable and reliable solution so that the solar panels could be easily placed on the container but also easily removed.”
Jasper Gutschoven (22, Grimbergen), Mechanical Engineer at the Innoptus Solar Team