THE FUTURE OF

SOLAR ENERGY

By
Dr. George Felfoldi
© 2021, George F. Felfoldi
THE FUTURE OF
SOLAR ENERGY
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
© 2021, George Felfoldi

Please feel free to distribute this e-Book,

As long as all the information is intact,
And is unchanged.

ALL OTHER COPYRIGHTS

BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTABLE
OWNERS.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page
Copyright Information
Table Of Content

Chapter One
. Solar Energy
. The Potential
. Thermal Energy
. Electricity Production
. Architecture Plus Urban Planning
. Agriculture Plus Horticulture
. Transportation
. Solar Chemical Processes

Chapter Two :Solar Cookers

 . Solar Cooking
. Bit Of History
. The Working Principles
. Similar Operation
. Box & Panel Cookers
. Parabolic Solar Cookers
. Here Are Some Advantages & Disadvantages
. Projects

Chapter Three :Solar Cars

. What Is A Solar Car And How Does It Work?
. Dutch Company Develops Partly Solar Powered Car
. Solar Powered Racing Car
. Photos Of Solar Cars

Chapter Four :Solar Planes

. Electric Aircraft And Solar Planes
. Power Storage And Supplies
 . Propulsion
. A Bit Of Early History
. In Other Applications

Chapter Five
. Solar Powered Boats
. Solar Powered Bikes, And Motorcycles

Dedication
Special Thanks
About The Author
Other Books By The Author
 DEDICATION
I would like to dedicate this e-Book
To my late mother, father and brother
And also to all my readers
And friends.

THIS BOOK IS TO YOU ALL.

 SPECIAL THANKS
I would like to thank all the people,
Companies, Organizations,
Family and friends that made
This e-Book possible.

The Toronto Public Library

Free Photos (Internet)
GettyImages (Internet)
Wikipedia
B.A. Hall
Solar Cooking International (SCI)
SolStar Solutions
Eliza Lobo (CarTrade Blog)
Peter Valdes-Dapena, (CNN Business)
Satellite Signals (Satsig.com)
 Solar Flight Inc.
NASA
Canadian Solar
Solar Impulse Corp.
Erno Yeno Felfoldi
Maxwell Corp.
RaySolar Corp.
DJI Drones
Erno Gaza Felfoldi
WebSolarGuide.com

AND TO ALL THE OTHER PEOPLE THAT

I HAVE FAILED TO MENTION.

Thank you again.

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

George F. Felfoldi

Dr. George Felfoldi is an Independent

Baptist Minister, An Author, Song writer
And Musician who is a native to
Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
George holds several doctors degrees in
Various fields and has written several books,
On different subjects such as:
Occult, Health, Religion, Herbals,
Ships, and also Poetry and Lyrics.
George is also married and
Has four grown children
living in Toronto, Ontario.
 OTHER BOOKS BY
THE AUTHOR

2006
The Healing Powers Of Seaweed And Algae

2007

The Healing Powers Of Blueberries

The Book of Spells :White Magic Vs. Black Magic
The Felfoldi’s :Medical Herbal Encyclopedia
Cooking With Eggs Cookbook
The Healing Powers Of Avocadoes
2008
Hypnosis For Self Betterment And Healing
The Down To Earth Cookbook

2009

The Science of Mind Transformation

The Scottish-Hungarian Cookbook
Cooking With Friends Cookbook
A World Of Food Cookbook

2012
Bed Bugs In The Woodwork

2015

From My Table Cookbook

2017

Kimberley's Famous Recipes

2018

Do Not Stop Cooking

Angels Of The Light
The Angels Connection
Hamster's Simplified
My Scottish Fold Long-Haired Cat (Miss Kitty)
Great Foods Made Easy
The Healing Powers Of Black Pepper
The Healing Powers Of Coffee
The Healing Powers Of Turmeric
The Healing Powers Of Water
Arthritis Simplified
An Invisible Wall In Nature
Bedbugs Simplified

2019

Farmer's Wife Olde And New Tyme Recipes

2021

Cooking Through A Pandemic

Healing Properties Of Garlic
Healing Properties Of Corn
Healing Properties Of Bananas
The Fascinating Facts Of Gnomes
Cherries: A Superfood
Pears: A Supergfood
Plums: A Superfood
Healing Property Of Paprika
Healing Properties Of Turnip
Healing Properties Of Ginger
Everyday Cooking
Pandemic 2 Cookbook
Healing Properties Of Pomegranate
Healing Properties Of Cranberry
The Future Of Solar Energy
CHAPTER
ONE

. SOLAR ENERGY
 SOLAR ENERGY

Sun's Solar Energy.

Solar Energy is radiant light and heat from the sun that is
harnessed using a range of ever evolving technology such as
solar heating, photovoltaic, solar thermal energy, solar
architecture, molten salt power plants, and artificial
photosynthesis.
It is an essential source of renewable energy, and its
technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar
or active solar depending on how they capture and distribute
solar energy converted into solar power. Active solar
technologies include the use of photovoltaic systems,
concentrated solar power, and solar water heating to harness
the energy. Passive solar technologies include orienting a
building to the sun, selecting materials with favourable
thermal mass or light dispersing properties, and designing
spaces that naturally circulate air.

The large magnitude of solar energy that is available makes it

a highly appealing source of electricity. The United Nations
Development Programme, in its 2000 World Energy
Assessment report, has found that the annual potential of
solar energy was 1,575 - 49,837 exajoules (EJ). This is several
times larger than the total world energy consumption, which
was 559.8 EJ in 2012.

In 2011, the International Energy Agency reported that, “the

development of affordable, inexhausting and clean solar
energy technologies will have a huge long term benefits. It
will increase countries' energy security through reliance on an
indigenous inexhaustible, and most important independent
resources, enhance sustainability, reducing pollution, lower
the cost of mitigation global warming, and keep fossil fuel
prices lower that otherwise. These advantages are global.
Hence the additional costs of the incentives for early
development should be considered learning investments; they
must be wisely spent and need to be widely shared”.

Potential Solar Energy.

 THE POTENTIAL

The Earth receives 174 petawatts (PW) of incoming solar

radiation at the upper atmosphere. Approximately 30% is
reflected back into space while the rest is absorbed by the
clouds, oceans and land masses. The spectrum of solar light at
the Earth's surface is mostly spread across the visible and near
infrared range with a little part in the ultraviolet. Most of the
world's population lives in areas with insolation levels of 150
to 300 watts/m2, or 3.5 to 7.0 kWh/m2 per day.
 About half of the incoming solar energy
reaches the Earth's surface the rest
is reflected back into space.

The solar radiation is absorbed by the Earth's land surface,

ocean, which covers about 71% of the world, and atmosphere.
Warm air containing evaporated water from the oceans rises,
causing atmospheric circulation or convection. When this hot
air reaches a high altitude, where the temperature is low,
water vapor condenses into clouds, which rain onto the
Earth's surface, completing the water cycle. The latent heat of
water condensation amplifies convection, producing
atmospheric phenomena such as wind, cyclones and
anticyclones. Sunlight absorbed by the oceans and land
masses keeps the surface at an average temperature of 14
degrees C. By photosynthesis, green plants convert solar
energy into chemically stored energy, which produces food,
wood and the biomass from which fossil fuel are derived.

The total solar energy that is absorbed by the Earth's

atmosphere, ocean and land masses is approximately
3,850,000 exajoules (EJ) per year. In 2002, this was more
energy in one hour than the world used in one year.
Photosynthesis captures approximately 3,000 EJ per year in
biomass.

The amount of solar energy reaching the surface of the planet

is so vast that in one year about twice as much as will ever be
obtained from all of the Earth's non renewable resources of
coal, oil, natural gas, and mined uranium combined.

The potential solar energy that could be used by humans

differ from the amount of solar energy present near the
surface of the planet because factors such as geography, time
variation, cloud cover, and the land available to humans limit
the amount of solar energy that we can acquire.

Geography affects solar energy potential because areas that

are closer to the equator have a higher amount of solar
radiation. However, the use of photovoltaics that can follow
the position of the sun can significantly increase the solar
energy potential in areas that are farther from the equator.

Solar photovoltaic cells.

Variation effects the potential of solar energy because during
the nighttime, there is little solar radiation on the surface of
the Earth for solar panels to absorb. This limits the amount of
energy that solar panels can absorb in one day. Cloud cover
can effect the potential of solar panels because clouds block
out the incoming light from the sun and reduce the light
available for solar cells.

Besides, land availability has a large effect on the available

solar energy because solar panels can only be set up on land
that is otherwise unused and suitable for solar panels. Roofs
are a suitable place for solar panels, and many people have
discovered that they can collect energy direct from their
homes this way. Other areas that are suitable for solar cells
are land that are not being used for businesses where solar
plants can be established.

Black and silver solar panels.

Solar technologies are characterized as either passive or active

depending on the way that they capture, convert, and
distribute sunlight and enable solar energy to be harnessed at
different levels around the world, mostly depending on the
distance from the equator. Although solar energy refers
primarily to the use of solar radiation for practical ends, all
renewable energies, other than Geothermal power and Tidal
power, derive their energy either directly or indirectly from
the sun.

Many new homes in Arizona have solar

panels on the roof.
Active solar techniques use photovoltaics, concentrated solar
power, solar thermal collectors, pumps, and fans to convert
sunlight into useful outputs. Passive solar techniques include
selecting materials for favourable thermal properties,
designing spaces that naturally circulate air, and referencing
the position of a building to the sun.

Active solar technologies increase the supply of energy and

are considered supply side technologies, while passive solar
technologies reduce the need for alternative resources and
are generally considered demand side technologies.
 THERMAL ENERGY

A small simple solar cooker.

Solar thermal technologies can be used for water heating,

space heating, space cooling and process heat generation.

EARLY COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS:

In 1878, at the University Exposition in Paris, France, Augustin

Mouchot successfuly demonstrated a solar steam engine, but
couldn't continue development because of cheap coal and
other factors.

In 1897, Frank Shuman, who was a US inventor, engineer and

solar energy pioneer built a small demonstration solar engine
that worked by reflecting solar energy onto square boxes that
was filled with ether, which has a lower boiling point than
water and were fitted internally with black pipes which in turn
powered a steam engine.

In 1908, Frank Shuman, formed the Sun Power Company with

the intent of building larger solar powered plants, He, along
with his technical advisor A.S.E. Ackermann and British
physicist Sir Charles Veron Boys, developed an improved
system using mirrors to reflect solar energy upon collector
boxes, increasing heating capacity to the extent that water
could now be used instead of ether. Shuman then constructed
a full scale steam engine powered by low pressure water,
enabling him to patent the entire solar engine system by
1912.
In 1912 and 1913, Shuman built the world's first solar thermal
power station in Maadi, Egypt. His plant used parabolic
throughs to power a 45 to 52 kilowatts (60 to 70 hp) engine
that pumped more than 22,000 litres (4,800 imp gal) of water
per minute from the Nile River to adjacent cotton fields.
Although the outbreak of World War 1 and the discovery of
cheap oil in the 1930s discouraged the advancement of solar
energy, Shurman's vision, and basic design were resurrected
in the 1970s with a new wave of interests in solar thermal
energy.

In 1916, Shurman was quoted in the media advocating solar

energy's utilization, saying:

“We have proved the commercial profit of sun power in the

tropics and have more particularly proved that after our
stores of oil and coal are exhausted the human race can
receive unlimited power from rays of the sun.” - Frank
Shuman, New York Times, July 2, 1916.
WATER HEATING:

Solar hot water heaters

facing the sun to maximize gain.

Solar hot water systems use sunlight to heat water, In middle

geographical latitudes, 60 to 70% of domestic hot water use,
with water temperatures up to 60 degrees C. (140 degrees F),
can be provided by solar heating systems. The most common
types of solar water heaters are evauated tube collectors
(44%) and glazed flat plate collectors (34%) generally used for
domestic hot water; and unglazed plastic collectors (21%)
used mainly to heat swimming pools.
As of 2007, the total installed capacity of solar hot water
systems was approximately 154 thermal gigawatt (Gwth).
China is the world leader in their development with 70 (Gwth)
as od 2006 and a long term goal of 210 Gwth by 2020. Israel
and Cyprus are the per capita leaders in the use of solar hot
water systems with over 90% of homes using them. In the
United States, Canada, and Australia, heating swimming pools
is the dominant application for solar hot water with an
installed capacity of 18 Gwth as of 2005.

HEATING, COOLING & VENTILATION:

In the United States, heating, ventilation and air conditioning

(HVAC) systems account for 30% (4.65 EJ/yr) of the energy
used in commercial buildings and nearly 50% (10.1 EJ/yr) of
the energy used in residential buildings.

Solar heating, cooling and ventilation technologies can be

used to offset a portion of this energy.
Thermal mass in any material that can be used to store heat,
heat from the sun in the case of solar energy. Common
thermal mass materials include stone, cement, and water.
Historically they have been used in arid climates or warm
temperate regions to keep buildings cool by absorbing solar
energy during the day and radiating stored heat to the cooler
atmosphere at night.

However, they can be used in cold temperate areas to

maintain warmth as well. The size and placement of thermal
mass depend on several factors such as climate, daylight and
shading conditions. When duly incorporated, thermal mass
maintains space temperatures in a comfortable range and
reduces the need for auxiliary heating and cooling equipment.

A solar chimney (or thermal chimney, in this context) is a

passive solar ventilation system that is composed of a vertical
shaft connecting the interior and exterior of a building. As the
chimney warms, the air inside is heated, causing the updraft
that pulls air through the building. Performance can be
improved by glazing and thermal mass materials in a way that
mimics greenhouses.

A greenhouse.
Deciduous trees and plants have been promoted as a means
of controlling solar heating and cooling. When planted on the
southern side of a building in the northern hemisphere or the
northern side in the southern hemisphere, their leaves
provide shade during winter and summer, while the bare
limbs allow light to pass during the winter. Since bare, leafless
trees shade 1/3 to 1/2 of incident solar radiation, there is a
balance between the benefits of summer shading and the
corresponding loss of winter heating. In climates with
significant heating loads, deciduous trees should not be
planted on the Equator facing side of a building because they
will interfere with winter solar availability. They can,
however, be used on the east and west sides to provide a
degree of summer shading without appreciably affecting
winter solar gain.

COOKING:

Solar cookers use sunlight for cooking, driving, and

pasteurization. They can be grouped into three broad
categories: box cookers, panel cookers, and reflector cookers.
(PLEASE READ, CHAPTER TWO ON COOKERS).
A Cardboard Box Cooker

A Panel Cooker
 A Scheffler Reflector Cooker.

PROCESS HEAT:

Solar concentrating technologies such as parabolic dish,

trough and Scheffler reflectors can provide process heat for
commercial and industrial applications. The first commercial
system was the Solar Total Energy Project (STEP) in
Shenandoah, Georgia, US where a field of 114 parabolic dishes
provided 50% of the process heating, air conditioning and
electrical requirements for a clothing factory.
This grid connected cogeneration system provided 400 kW of
electricity plus thermal energy in the form of 401 kW steam
and 468 kW chilled water, and had a one hour peak load
thermal storage.

Evaporation ponds are shallow pools that concentrate

dissolved solids through evaporation. The use of evaporation
ponds to obtain salt from seawater is one of the oldest
applications of solar energy. Modern uses include
concentrating brine solutions used in leach mining and
removing dissolved solids from waste streams. Clothes lines,
clotheshorses, and clothes racks dry clothes through
evaporation by wing and sunlight without consuming
electricity or gas. In some States of the United States
legislation protects the “Right to Dry” clothes. Unglazed
tranpired collectors (UTC) are perforated sun facing walls used
for preheating ventilation air. UTCs can raise the incoming air
temperature up to 22 degrees C (40 degrees F) and deliver
outlet temperatures of 45 to 60 degrees C (113 to 140 degrees
F).

The short payback period of transpired collectors (3 to 12

years) making them a more cost effective alternative than
glaqzed collection systems. As of 2003, over 80 systems with a
combined collector area of 35,000 square metres (380,000 sq
ft) had been installed around the world, including an 860 m2
(9,300 sq ft) collector in Cost Rica used for drying coffee beans
ans a 1,300 m2 (14,000 sq ft) collector in Coimbatore, India,
used to dry marigolds.

FOR WATER TREATMENT:

Solar distillation can be used to make saline or brackisg water

portable. The first recorded instance of this was by 16 th
century Arab alchemists. A large scale solar distillation project
was first constructed in 1873 in the Chilean mining town of
Las Salinas.

Solar Water Distillation #1

Solar Water Distillation #2

Solar Water Distillation #3

Solar Water Distillation #4

 Large Scale Solar Water Distillation

The plant, which had solar collection areas of 4,700 m2

(51,000 sq ft), could produce up to 22,700 L (5,000 imp; 6,000
US gal) per day and operate for 40 years. Individual still
designs include:

. single slope,
. double slope (greenhouse type),
. vertical, conical, inverted absorber,
. multi-wick,
. and multiple effect.

These stills can operate in passive, active, or hybrid modes.

Double slope stills are the most economical for decentralized
domestic purposes, while active multiple effect units are more
suitable for large scale operations.

Solar water disinfection (SODIS) involves exploring water filled

plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles to sunlight for
several hours. Exposure times vary depending on weather and
climate from a minimum of 6 hours to two days during full
overcast conditions. It is recommended by the World Health
Organization (WHO) as a viable method for household water
treatment and safe storage. Over 2 million people in
developing countries use this method for their daily drinking
water.

Solar energy may be used in a water stabilization pond to

treat waste without chemicals or electricity. A further
environmental advantage is that algae grow in such ponds and
consume carbon dioxide in photosynthesis, although algae
may produce toxic chemicals that make the water unusable.

MOLTEN SALT TECHNOLOGY:

Molten salt can be employed as a thermal energy storage

method to retain thermal energy that is collected by a solar
tower or solar trough of a concentrated solar plant so that it
can be used to generate electricity in bad weather or at night.
It was demonstrated in the Solar Two project from 1995 to
1999. The system is predicted to have an annual efficiency of
99%, a reference to the energy that is retained by storing heat
before turning it into electricity, versus converting heat
directly into electricity. The molten salt mixtures vary.

The most extended mixture contains sodium nitrate,

potassium nitrate and calcium nitrate. It is non flammable and
also non toxic, and it has already been used in the chemical
and metal industries as a heat transport fluid. Hence,
experience with such systems exists in non solar applications.
The salt melts at 131 degrees C (268 degrees F). It is kept
liquid at 288 degrees C (or 550 degrees F) in an insulated
“Cold” storage tank. The liquid salt is pumped through panels
in a solar collector where the focused irradiance heats it to
566 degrees C (1,051 degrees F). It is then sent to a hot
storage tank. This is so well insulated that the thermal energy
can be usefully stored for up to one week.

When electricity is needed, the hot salt is pumped to a

conventional steam generator to produce superheated steam
for a turbine generator as used in many conventional coal, oil,
or nuclear plants. A 100 megawatt turbine would need a tank
about 9.1 metres (30 feet) the small 24 metres (79 feet) in
diameter to drive it for four hours by this design.

Several parabolic trough power plants in Spain and solar

tower developer SolarReserve use this thermal energy storage
concept. The Solana Generating Station in the United States
has six hours of storage by molten salt. The Maria Elena plant
is a 400 MW thermal solar complex in the northern Chilean
region of Antofagasta emploring molten salt technology.
 ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION

Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity,

either directly using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly using
concentrated solar power (CSP). CSP systems use lenses or
mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight
into a small beam. PV converts light into electric current using
the photoelectric effect.

Solar power is anticipated to become the world's largest

source of electricity by 2050, with solar photovoltaic and
concentrated solar power contributing 16 and 11% of the
global overall consumption, respectively. In 2016, after
another year of rapid growth, solar generated 1.3% of global
power.

One of the world's largest solar

power station: Invapah (CSP).

Commercial concentrated solar power plants were first

developed in the 1980s. The 392 MW Ivanpah Solar Power
Facility, in the Mojave Desert of California, United States, is
the largest solar power plant in the world. Other large
concentrated solar power plants include The:
. 150 MW Solnova Solar Power Station,

and the,

. 100 MW Andasol solar power station,

which are both in Spain.

The 250 MW Agua Caliente Solar Project, in the United States,

and the 221 MW Charanka Solar Park in India,

are the world's largest photovoltaic plants. Solar projects

exceeding 1 GW are being developed, but most of the
deployed photovoltaics are in small rooftops, arrays of less
than 5kW, which are connected to the grid using net metering
or a feed in tariff.
PHOTOVOLTAICS:

In the last 20 years, photovoltaic (PV), also known as solar PV,

has evolved from a pure niche market of small scale
applications towards becoming a mainstream electricity
source. A solar cell is a device that converts light directly into
electricity using the photoelectric effect. The first solar cell
was constructed by Charles Fritts in the 1880s. In 1931 a
German engineer, Dr. Bruno Lange, developed a photo cell
using silver selenide in place of copper oxide.
Although the phototype selenium cells converted less than 1%
of incident light into electricity, both Ernest Werner von
Siemens and James Clark Maxwell recognized the importance
of this discovery. Following the works of Russell Ohl in the
1940s, researchers Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller and Daryl
Chapin created the crystalline silicon solar cell in 1954. These
early solar cells cost US$286/watt and reached efficiencies of
4.5 to 6%. By 2012 available efficiencies exceeded 20%, and
the maximum efficiency of research photovoltaics was in
excess of 40%.

CONCENTRATED SOLAR POWER:

Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) systems use lenses of mirrors

and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a
small beam. The concentrated heat is then used as a heat
source for a conventional power plant. A wide range of
concentrating technologies exist;

. the most developed are the parabolic trough,

. the concentrating linear fresnel reflector,
. the Stirling dish,
. the solar power tower.

Various technologies are used to track the sun and focus light.
In all of these different systems a working fluid is heated by
the concentrated sunlight, and is then used for power
generation or energy storage.
Designs need to account for the risk of a dust storm, hail, or
other extreme weather events that can damage the fine glass
surfaces of solar power plants.

Metal grills would allow a high percentage of sunlight to enter

the mirrors and solar panels will also preventing most
damage.

Rooftop solar panels.

 ARCHITECTURE PLUS
URBAN PLANNING

A Solar Aktivehouse.
Sunlight has really influenced building design since the
beginning of architectural history. Advanced solar architecture
and urban planning methods were first employed by the
Greek and Chinese, who oriented their buildings towards the
south to provide light and warmth.

The common features of passive solar architecture are

orientation relative to the sun, compact proportion (a low
surface area to volume ratio), selective shading (overhangs)
and thermal mass.

A solar Decathlon House.

When these features are tailored to the local climate and the
environment, they can produce well lit spaces that stay in a
comfortable temperature range. Socrates' Megaron House is a
clasic example of passive solar design. The most recent
approaches to solar design use computer modeling tying
together solar lighting, heating, and ventilation systems in a
integrated solar design package.
Active solar equipment such as pumps, fans, and switchable
windows can complement passive design and can also inprove
system performance.

Urban heat islands (UHI) are metropolitan areas with high

temperatures than that of the surrounding environment. The
higher temperatures result from increased absorption of solar
energy by urban materials such as asphalt and concrete, which
have lower albedos and high heat capacities than those in the
natural environment.

A straightforward method of counteracting the UHI effect is

to paint buildings and roads white and to plant trees in the
area. Using this method, a hypothetical “Cool Communities”
program in Los Angeles has projected that urban
temperatures could be reduced by approximately 3 degrees C
at an estimated cost of US$ 1 billion, giving estimated total
annual benefits of US$ 530 million from reduced air
conditioning cost and other healthcare savings.

Added solar panels.

 AGRICULTURE
PLUS HORTICULTURE

A Greenhouse

Both Agriculture and Horticulture seek to optimize the

capture of solar energy to optimize the productivity of plants.
Techniques such as timed planting cycles, tailored row
orientation, staggered heights between rows and the mixing
of plants varieties can greatly improve crop yields. While
sunlight is generally considered a plentiful resource, the
exceptions highlight the importance of solar energy to
agriculture. During the short growing seasons of the Little Ice
Age, English and French farmers employed fruit walls to
maximize the collection of solar energy. These walls acted as
thermal masses and accelerated ripening by keeping plants
warm. Early fruit walls were built perpendicular to the ground
and facing south, but over time, sloping walls were developed
to make better use of sunlight. Nicolas Fatio de Duillier in
1699, suggested using a tracking mechanism which could pivot
to follow the sun. Applications of solar energy in agriculture
aside from growing crops included pumping water, drying
crops, brooding chicks, and drying chicken manure. More
recently the technology has been embraced by vintners, who
use energy that is generated by solar panels to power grape
presses.

GREENHOUSES:

Greenhouses convert solar light to heat, enabling year round

production and the growth, (in enclosed environments) of
specialty crops and other plants not naturally suited to the
local environment and climate.

Growing of specialty crops and other plants.

Primitive greenhouses were first used during Roman times to

produce cucumbers year round for the Roman emperor
Tiberius.

The first modern greenhouses were built in Europe in the 16 th

century to keep exotic plants brought back from explorations
abroad. Greenhouses remain an important part of horticulture
today. Plastic transparent materials have also been used to
similar effect in polytunnels and row covers.
Here are some different greenhouses, some are attached to
homes, while others are stand alone.

Greenhouse and home.

Greenhouse #1
 Greenhouse #2

Greenhouse Plant Production

 A stand alone greenhouse.

Outside green house for flower production

 Greenhouse #3

Plants growing in the greenhouse.

 TRANSPORTATION

The Helios a solar car (Honk Kong).

Development of solar powered cars have been an engineering

goal since the 1980. Some vehicles use solar panels for
auxiliary power, such as for air conditioning, to keep the
inside of the car cool, thus reducing fuel consumption.

In 1975, the first practical solar powered boat was constructed

in England. By 1995, passengers boats incorporated PV panels
began appearing and are now used extensively.
In 1996, Kenichi Horie made the first solar powered crossing
of the Pacific Ocean, and the Sun21 catamaran made the first
solar powered crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in the winter of
2006 – 2007. There was no plans to circumnavigate the globe
in 2010.

“Solar Sailor”, shuttles passengers in

Sydney harbour, in Australia.
A TIME LINE:

. In 1974, the unmanned “AstroFlight Sunrise”, airplane made

the first solar flight.

. In 1979, the “Solar Riser”, made the first flight in a solar

powered, fully controlled, man carring flying machine,
reaching an altitude of 40 feet.

. In 1980, the “Gossamer Penquin”, made the first piloted

flights powered solely by photovoltaics.

. In 1981, the “Solar Challenger”, which crossed the English

Channel.

. In 1990, Eric Scott Raymond in “21 Hops”, flew from

California to North Carolina using solar power.
. In 1997, the “Pathfinder (UAV)”, Developments turned back
to the unmanned aerial vehicles.

. In 2001, The “Helios”, set the altitude record for a non

rocket propelled aircraft at 29,524 meters.

. In 2007, The “Zephyr”, that was developed by BAE Systems,

is the latest in a line of record breaking solar aircraft, making a
54 hour flight, month long flights were envisioned by 2010 .

. In 2016, “Solar Impulse”, an electric aircraft, is currently

circumnavigating the globe. It is a single seat plane that is
powered by solar cells and is capable of taking off under its
own power. The design allows this aircraft to remain airborne
for several days.
A “Solar Balloon”, is a black balloon that is filled with regular
air. As the sunlight shines on the balloon, the air inside is
heated and expands, causing an upward buoyancy force,
much like an artificial air balloon.

Sunrise Solar Powered Airship.

 SOLAR CHEMICAL
PROCESSES

The solar chemical processes use solar energy to drive

chemical reactions. These processes offset energy that would
otherwise come from a fossil fuel source and can also convert
solar energy into storable and transportable fuel. Solar
induced chemical reactions can be divided into
thermachemical or photochemical. A variety of fuels can be
produced by artificial photosynthesis.

The multielectron catalytic chemistry involved in making

carbon based fuel (such as methanol) from reduction of
carbon dioxide is challenging; a feasible alternative is
hyrdogen production from protons, though use of water as
the source of electrons (as plants do) require mastering the
multielecton oxidation of two different water molecules to
molecular oxygen. Some scientists have envisioned working
solar fuel plants in coastal metropolitan areas by the year
2050, the splitting of seawater by providing hydrogen to be
run through adjacent fuel cell electric powered plants and the
pure water by product going directly into the municipal water
system. Another future vision involves all human structures
covering the Earth's surface (example, roads, vehicles and
buildings), doing photosynthesis more efficiently than plants.

Hydrogen production technologies have been a major area of

solar chemical research since the 1970s. Aside from
electrolysis driven by photovoltaic or photochemical cells,
several thermochemical processes have also been explored.
One such route used concentrators to split water into oxygen
and hydrogen at high temperatures (2,300 to 2,600 degrees C
or 4,200 to 4,700 degrees F).

Another approach uses the heat from solar concentrators to

drive steam reformation of natural gas thereby increasing the
overall hydrogen yield compared to conventional reforming
methods. Thermochemical cycles characterized by
decomposition and regeneration of reactants present another
avenue for hydrogen production.
CHAPTER
TWO

SOLAR COOKING
 SOLAR COOKING

Hot Pot Solar Cooker

WHAT IS A SOLAR COOKER?

A solar cooker is a device which used the energy of direct

sunlight to heat, cook or pasteurize drink and other food
materials. Many solar cookers that are currently in use are
relatively inexpensive, and they are a low tech devices,
although some are as powerful or as expensive as traditional
stoves, and some are very advanced, large scale solar cookers
can cook for hundreds of people.
Because they use no fuel and cost almost nothing to operate,
many nonprofit organizations are promoting their use world
wide in order to help reduce fuel cost and and also to reduce
air pollution, and also to help slow down deforestation and
desertification.

Hot dogs are being cooked with

this solar funnel cooker.
 BIT OF HISTORY

A Small Solar Cooker.

The first academic description of the principles of a solar

cooker is by the Swiss geologist, meteorologist, physicist,
mountaineer and Alpine explorer Horace Benedict de
Saussure, in 1767.

The principle of cooking meals from the sun largely developed

in the French Foreign Legion, in the 1870s.
 THE WORKING
PRINCIPLES

Solar Cooking In India.

# 1, Concentrating Sunlight:

A mirrored surface with high specular reflection is used to

concentrate light from the sun into a small cooking area.
Depending on the geometry of the surface, sunlight could
be concentrated by several orders of magnitude providing
temperatures high enough to melt salt and metal. For most
households solar cooking applications, such as high
temperatures are not required. Solar cooking products are
typically designed to achieve temperatures of 65 degree C
(150 degrees F) (baking temperature) to 400 degrees C (750
degrees F) searing temperatures) on a sunny day.

A solar cooker.
# 2, Converting Light Energy To Heat Energy:

Solar cookers concentrate sunlight onto a receiver such as a

cooking pan. The interaction between the light energy and the
receiver material converts light to heat and this is called,
“Conduction”. This conversion is maximized by using materials
that conduct and retain heat. Pots and pans used on solar
cookers should be matte black in colour to maximize the
absorption of heat.

Pot Should be a matte black.

# 3, Trapping Heat Energy:

It is very important to reduce convection by isolating the air

inside the cooker from the air that is outside the cooker.
Simply using a glass lid on your pot enhances light absorption
from the top of the pan and provides a greenhouse effect that
improves heat retention and minimizes convection loss. This
“glazing” transmits incoming visible sunlight but is opaque to
escaping infrared thermal radiation.

In resource contained setting, a high temperature plastic bag

can serve a similar function, trapping air inside and making it
possible to reach temperatures on cold and windy days similar
to those possible on hot days.

Below is the basic science for solar box cookers and for solar
panel cookers. Another style of solar cooker is a parabolic
solar cooker. They typically require more frequent
reorientation to the sun, but will cook more quickly at higher
temperatures, and can also fry foods.
Evacuated tube solar cookers use a highly insulated double
wall glass tube for the cooking chamber, and do not require
large reflectors.

Solar Panel Cooker.

Parabolic Solar Cooker.

Glass Tube Solar Cooker.
 SIMILAR OPERATION

This is a solar oven.

There is different kinds of solar cookers, there are more than

300 different models of solar cookers that we know of so far,
they use somewhat different methods of cooking, but most of
them follow the same basic principles.

Food is prepared as if for an oven or stove top. However,

because food cooks faster when it is in smaller pieces, food or
placed inside a solar cooker is usually cut into smaller portions
than it might otherwise be. For example, potatoes are usually
cut into bite size portions rather than roasted whole. For very
simple cooking, such as melting butter or cheese, a lid may
not be needed and the food may be placed on a uncovered
tray or in a bowl. If several foods are to be cooked separately,
then they are placed in different containers.

The container of food is placed inside the solar cooker, which

can be elevated on a brick, rock, metal trivet, or other heat
sink, and the solar cooker is placed in direct sunlight. Foods
that cook quickly may be added to the solar cooker later on.
Rice for a mid-day meal might be started early in the morning,
with vegetables, cheese, or soup added to the solar cooker in
the middle of the morning. Depending on the size of the solar
cooker and the number of quantity of cooked foods, a family
may use one or more solar cookers.

A solar oven is turned towards the sun and left until the food
is cooked. Unlike cooking on a stove or over a fire, which may
require more than an hour of constant supervision, food in a
solar oven is generally not stirred or turned over, both
because it is unnecessary and because opening the solar oven
allows the trapped heat to escape and thereby slows the
cooking process.

A solar oven in use.

If wanted, the solar oven may be checked every one to two

hours, to turn the oven to face the sun more precisely and to
ensure that shadows from nearby buildings or plants have not
blocked the sunlight. If the food is to be left untended for
many hours during the day, then the solar oven is often
turned to face the point where the sun will be when it is
highest in the sky, instead of towards its current position.

A solar oven that is in use.

The cooking time depends primarily on the equipment that is

being used, the amount of sunlight at the time, and the
quantity of food that needs to be cooked. Air temperature,
wind, and latitude also affects the performance. Food cooks
faster in the two hours before and after the local solar noon
than it does in either the early morning or the late afternoon.

Large quantities of food, and food in large pieces, take much

longer time to cook. As a result, only general figures can be
given for cooking time. With a small solar panel cooker, it

A small solar cooker.

Might be possible to melt butter in 15 minutes, to bake

cookies in two hours, and to cook rice for four to six people in
4 hours. With a high performing parabolic solar cooker, you
might be able to grill a steak in minutes. However, depending
on the local conditions and the solar cooker type, these
projects could take half as long or as twice as long.

It is very difficult to burn food in a solar cooker, but on rear

occasions it does happen. Food that has been cooked even an
hour longer than necessary is usually indistinguishable from
minimally cooked food. The exception to this rule is that some
green vegetables, which quickly change from a perfectly
cooked bright green to olive drab, while still retaining the
desirable texture.

For most foods, such as rice, the typical person would be

unable to tell how it was cooked from looking at the final
product. However there are some differences: Bread and
cakes brown on the tops instead of on the bottom. Compared
to cooking over the fire, the food does not have a smoky
flavour and taste.
 BOX & PANEL COOKERS

HotPot solar cooker with panels.

A box cooker has a transparent glass or plastic top, and it may

have additional reflectors to concentrate the sunlight into the
box. The top can usually be removed to allow dark pots
containing food to be placed inside. One or more reflectors of
shiny metal or foil lined material may be positioned to bounce
extra light into the interior of the oven chamber.

Cooking containers and the inside bottom of the cooker

should be dark coloured or black. Inside walls should be
reflective to reduce radiative heat loss and bounce the light
towards the pots and the dark bottom, which is in contact
with the pots. The box should have insulated sides. Thermal
insulation for the solar box cooker must be able to withstand
temperatures up to 150 degrees C (300 degrees F) without
melting or out-gassing. Crumpled newspaper, rags, wood, dry
grass, sheets of cardboard, and so on, can be used to insulate
the walls of the cooker.

A solar oven that is made of cardboard

and newspapers with reflective tape.
Metal pots and / or bottom trays can be darkened either with
flat black spray paint, (one that is non toxic when warmed),
black tempera paint, or soot from a fire. The solar box cooker
typically reaches a temperature of 150 degrees C (300 degrees
F). This is not as hot as a standard oven, but still it is hot
enough to cook food over a somewhat longer period of time.

Panel solar cookers are inexpensive solar cookers that use

reflective panels to direct the sunlight to a cooking pot that is
enclosed in a clear plastic bag.

Solar Oven science experiments are regularly done as projects

in high schools and colleges. These projects prove that it is
possible to both achieve high temperatures, as well as predict
the high temperatures using mathematical models.
 PARABOLIC SOLAR
COOKERS

A solar tea kettle in Tibet.

Parabolic solar cookers concentrate the sunlight to a single

spot or point. When this point is focused on the bottom of a
pot, it can heat the pot quickly to very high temperatures that
can often be compared with the temperatures that are
achieved in gas and charcoal grills. These kinds of solar
cookers are widely used in several regions of the globe, most
notably in China and India, where hundreds of thousands of
families currently use parabolic solar cookers for preparing
food and to heat water. In China, some parabolic solar cooker
projects abate between 1 to 4 tons of carbon dioxide per year
and receive carbon credits through the Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM).

Some parabolic solar cookers incorporate cutting edge

materials and designs which lead to solar energy efficiencies
>90%. Others are large enough to feed thousands of people
per day, such as the solar bowl at Auroville In India, which
makes 2 meals per day for 1,000 people.

If a reflector is axially symmetrical and shaped so its cross

section is parabola, it has the property of bringing parallel rays
of light, (such as sunlight) to a point focus. If the axis is
symmetry is aimed at the sun, any object that is located at the
focus point receives highly concentrated sunlight, and
therefore becomes very hot. This is the basis for the use of
this type of reflector for solar cooking.
 Solar cooking in India and China.

Paraboloids are compounds curves, which are more difficult to

make with simple equipment than single curves.

Although parabolioidal solar cookers can cook as well as or

better than a conventional stove, they are difficult to
construct by hand. Frequently, these reflectors are made using
many small segments that are all single curves which together
approximate compound curves.
 A parabolic solar cooker that has a
segmented construction.

Although paraboloids are difficult to make from flat sheets of

solid materials, they can be made quite simply by rotating
open topped containers which hold liquids. The top surface of
a liquid which is being rotated at constant speed around a
vertical axis naturally takes the form of a paraboloid.

Centrifugal force causes materials to move outwards from the

axis of rotation until a deep enough depression is formed in
the surface for the force to be balanced by the levelling effect
of gravity. It turns out that the depression is an exact
paraboloid.
If the material solidifies while it is rotating, the paraboloidal
shape is maintained after the rotation has stopped, and can
be used to make a reflector. This rotation technique is
sometimes used to make paraboloidal mirrors for
astronomical telescopes, and has also been used for solar
cookers.

A Scheffler cooker. This cooker has an area

of 16 m2 (170 sq ft), and concentrates
3 kW of heat.

Devices for constructing such paraboloids are known as

rotating furnaces.
These paraboloidal reflectors generate high temperatures and
cook very quickly, but they require frequent adjustment and
supervision for a safe operation. Several hundred thousand
exist, they are mainly in China. They are especially used for
industrial households and large scale institutional cooking.

A Scheffler cooker, which was named after its inventor,

Wolfgang Scheffler, uses a large ideally paraboloidal reflector
which is rotated around a axis that is parallel with the earth's
using a mechanical mechanism, turning at 15 degrees per gour
to compensate for the earth's rotation. The axis passes
through the reflector's centre of mass, allowing the reflector
to be turned easily. The cooking vessel is located at the focus
which is on the axis of rotation, so the mirror concentrates the
sunlight onto it all day.

The mirror has to be occasionally tilted about a perpendicular

axis to compensate for the seasonal variation in the sun's
declination. This perpendicular axis does not pass through the
cooking vessel. Therefore, if the reflector were a rigid
paraboloid, its focus would not remain stationary at the
cooking vessel as the reflector tilts. To keep the focus
stationary, the reflector's shape has to vary. It remains
paraboloidal, but its focal length and other parameters change
as it tilts. The Scheffler reflector is therefore flexible, and can
be bent to adjust its shape. It is often made up of a large
number of small plane sections, such as glass mirrors, that is
joined together by a flexible plastic.

The framework that supports the reflector includes a

mechanism that can be used to tilt it and also bend it
appropriately. The mirror is never exactly paraboloidal, but it
is always close enough for cooking purposes.

Sometimes the rotating reflector is located outdoors and the

reflected sunlight passes through an opening in a wall into an
indoor kitchen, often a large communal one, where all the
cooking is done.

Paraboloidal reflectors that have their centres of mass

coincident with their focal points are useful. They can be
easily turned to follow the sun's motion in the sky, rotating
about any axis that passes through the focus. Two
perpendicular axes can be used, intersecting at the focus, to
follow both the sun's daily motion and its seasonal one. The
cooking pot stays stationary at the focus. If the paraboloidal
reflector is axially symmetrical and is made of material of
uniform thickness, its centre of mass coincides with its focus if
the depth of the reflector, measured along its axis of
symmetry from the vertex to the plane of the rim, is 1.8478
times its focal length. The radius of the rim of the reflector is
2.7178 times the focal length. The angular radius of the rim, as
seen from the focal point, is 72.68 degrees.

An oblique projection of a
focal-balanced parabolic reflector.
Parabolic Troughs:

Parabolic troughs are used to concentrate sunlight for solar

energy purposes. Some solar cookers have been built that use
them in the same way. Generally, the trough is aligned with
its focal line horizontal and east-west. The food that is to be
cooked is arranged along this line. The trough is pointed so its
axis of symmetry aims at the sun at noon. This requires the
trough to be tilted up and down as the seasons progress. At
the equinoxes, no movement of the trough is needed during
the day to track the sun.

At other times of the year, there is a period of several hours

around noon each day when no tracking is needed. Usually,
the cooker is used only during this period, so no automatic
sun tracking is incorporated into it.

This simplicity makes the design attractive, compared with

using a paraboloid. Also being a single curve, the trough
reflector is simpler to construct. However, it suffers from
lower efficiency.
It is possible to use two parabolic troughs, curved in
perpendicular directions, to bring sunlight to a point of focus
as does a paraboloidal reflector. The incoming sunlight strikes
one of the troughs, which sends it toward a line focus. The
second trough intercepts the converging light and focuses it to
a point.

Compared with a single paraboloid, using two partial troughs

has important advantages. Each trough is a single curve, that
can be made by bending a flat sheet of metal. Also, the light
that reaches the targeted cooking pot is directed
approximately downward, which reduces the danger of
damage to the eyes of anyone nearby. On the other hand,
there are also some disadvantages. More mirror material is
needed, which increases the cost, and the light is reflected by
two surfaces instead of just one, which inevitably increases
the amount that it lost.

The two troughs are held in a fixed orientation relative to

each other by being both fixed to a frame. The whole
assembly of frame and troughs has to be moved to track the
movement of the sun as it moves in the sky. Commercially
made cookers that use this method are available. In practical
applications, (like in car headlights), concave mirrors are of
parabolic shape.

Some Spherical Reflectors:

Spherical reflectors operate much in the same way as

paraboloidal reflectors do, such that the axis of symmetry is
pointed towards the sun so that the light is concentrated to a
focus. The focus of a spherical reflector will not be a point of
focus because it suffers from a phenomenon that is known as,
“Sphirical Aberration”.

Some concentrating dishes, such as “Satellite Dishes”, that do

not require a precise focus opt for a spherical curvature over a
paraboloid. If the radius of the rim of spherical reflector is
small compared with the radius of curvature of its surface, the
radius of the sphere of witch the reflector is a part, the
reflector approximates a paraboloidal one with focal length
equal to half of the radius of curvature.
 The Solar Bowl Cooker that is used
in Auroville, India.

The Vacuum Tube Technology:

Evacuated tube solar cooker are essentially vacuum sealed

This is a solar vacuum tube cooker.

Between two layers of glass. The vacuum allows the tube to
act both as a, “super” greenhouse and an insulator. The
central cooking tube is made from borosilicate glass, which is
resistant to thermal shock, and has a vacuum beneath the
surface to insulate the interior.

The inside of the tube is lined with copper, stainless steel, and
aluminum nitrile to better absorb and conduct heat from the
sun's rays.

The sun giving off energy.

 HERE ARE SOME
ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES

ADVANTAGES:

. High performance parabolic solar cookers and vacuum tube

cookers can attain temperatures above 290 degrees C (550
degrees F). They can be used to grill meats, stir-fry vegetables,
make soup, bake bread, and boil water in minutes. Vacuum
tube type cookers can heat up even in the clouds and freezing
cold.
. Conventional solar box cookers attain temperatures up to
165 degrees C (325 degrees F). They can sterilize water or
prepare most foods that can be made in a conventional oven
or stoves, including bread, vegetables, and meat over a period
of hours.
. Solar cookers use no fuel. This saves cost as well as reducing
environmental damage that is caused by fuel use. Since 2.5
billion people cook on open fires using biomass fuels, solar
cookers could have large economic and environmental
benefits by reducing deforestation.
. When solar cookers are used outside, they do not contribute
inside heat, potentially saving fuel costs for cooling as well.
Any type of cooking may evaporate grease, oil, and other
materials into the air, and also there may be less to clean up.
. Reduces your carbon footprint by cooking without the use of
carbon based fuels or grid electricity from traditional sources.

DISADVANTAGES:

Sollar cookers are less useful at night, in cloudy weather and

near the poles, where the sun is low in the sky, so an
alternative cooking source is still required in these above
conditions. Solar cooking advocates suggest three devices for
an intergrated cooking solution:
1, a solar cooker;
2, a fuel efficient cookstove;
3, an insulated storage container such as a basket filled with
straw to store heated food. Very hot food may continue to
cook for hours in a well insulated container. With this three
part solution, fuel use is minimized while still providing hot
meals at any hour.
. Some solar cookers, especially solar ovens, take longer to

A Solar Oven.

Cook food than a conventional stove or oven. Using solar

cookers may require food preparation start hours before the
meal. However, it requires less hands on time during the
cooking process, so this is often considered a resonable trade
off.
. Cooks may need to learn special cooking techniques to fry
common foods, such as fried eggs or flatbreads such as
chapatis and tortillas. It may not be possible to safely or
completely cook some thick foods, such as large roasts, loaves
of bread, or pots of soup, particularly in small panel cookers;
the cook may need to divide these into smaller portions
before cooking them.
. Some solar cookers designs are affected by strong winds,
which can slow down the cooking process, cool the food due
to convective losses, and disturb the reflector. It may be
necessary to anchor the reflector, such as with strings and
weighted objects like bricks.
 PROJECTS

Two students doing an experiment, using a

solar cooker that is made out of an umbrella.

Cardboard, aluminum foil, and plastic bags for well over

10,000 solar cookers have been donated to the Iridimi refugee
camp and Touloum refugee camps in Chad by the combined
efforts of the Jewish World Watch, the Dutch foundation
KoZon, and Solar Cookers International.
The refugees constructed the cookers themselves, using the
donated supplies and locally purchased Arabic gum.

It has also significantly reduced the amount of time that

women spend tending open fires each day, with the results
that they are healthier and they have more time to grow
vegetables for their families and make handicrafts for export.

By 2007, the Jewish World Watch had trained 4,500 women

and had provided 10,000 solar cookers to refugees. The
project has also reduced the number of foraging trips by as
much as 70%, thus reducing the number of attacks.
CHAPTER
THREE

SOLAR CARS
WHAT IS A SOLAR CAR AND HOW DOES IT WORK?
By Eliza Lobo
(Monday 14th July 2014, 08:00 AM)
Green

We all are aware of the solar-powered vehicles, which utilize

the sun's energy to run the automobile. A solar car is just like
any other 4-wheeler except the powertrain of the former uses
sunlight to power the electric motor, unlike in the case of
latter, which solely depends on liquid fuel. As such vehicles
make use of sun's energy, they are much more clean and mild
in terms of emission and are not hazardous to the
environment. Such eco-friendly cars are being designed and
put into production by several auto giants of the world.
Almost all the major auto brands have recognised the need to
produce a green car, which not only provides zero emissions
but also scores high on millage scale. However, most of the
general public is still unaware as how a solar car works and
what are the procedures involved in it.
 Solar Car.

1, These eco-friendly cars have solar panels mounted on their

roof or exterior and these panels help in gathering the
sunlight. The basic solar panel is made up of numerous
Photovoltaic Cells (PVC), which effectively transform the solar
energy into electric energy.

2, The elements used in the making of PVC are most

commonly Silicon, alloys of Nitrogen, Gallium and Indium. All
of these elements have the capacity to retain light and then
release it in the form of rapidly moving electrons, which help
in generating flow of energy.

3, This electricity is then stored in the batteries of a green car

that are made up of several materials, such as lithium-ion,
nickel-cadmium and nickel-metal hydride. All of these
elements help the battery in storing more amount of charge
then the other conventional battery types.

4, When these eco-friendly cars are accelerated, the battery

sends energy to drive the electric motor and in turn help the
vehicle move. A solar car has the capacity to generally operate
in voltage range of 80 to 170 V and can have a driving range of
about 50 to 100 km.

5, When a green car is parked under sunlight, the PVC attract

the sun's energy and convert them to electric energy, which is
then stored in the battery for future use.
However, most of such cars are not suitable for driving long
distances, therefore, these cars are being fitted with a

standard engine under the hood. This engine comes to play

when all the energy is drained from the battery and the driver
has a considerable range to cover. While these cars run on the
normal engine type, the solar cells help in retaining sunlight
and use it to power the electric devices inside, such as radio,
power windows and instrument cluster. Such type of clean
and green vehicle are much needed in the modern world so as
to conserve the pending non-renewable energy resources for
future generation.

The only concern with the making of these solar vehicles is

that they require great amount of initial lump-sum and are
not that impressive in terms of practicality. However,
researchers believe that in the coming time, new and better
ways to utilize sun's energy will be available for the common
man. In such a time, the fuel efficient cars in India and abroad
are going to be most certainly the ideal choice for prospective
buyers. Just like the present generation, people will be
spotted purchasing new and used green cars in the upcoming
time.

DUTCH COMPANY DEVELOPS PARTLY SOLAR POWERED CAR.

By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN Business
CNN

(CNN Business) – The Lightyear One is a car with solar panels

stretching across its roof to charge the electric vehicle's
batteries. But whether it's really a “solar powered car”,
depends on how you drive it.

The car, created by Dutch startup Lightyear One's batteries at

the rate of about 7.5 miles of charge every hour. That's slow
compared to plugging it in. Sill, if you park it outside your
office on a sunny day, it could soak up enough power to drive
60 miles, which is most than most people drive on a typical
day.
“In the summer in the Netherlands, you probably won't have
to charge for about two months,” said Lightyear CEO Lex
Hoefsloot, “and that's with average driving.”

The company was founded in 2016 by several members of

Eindhoven University of Technology's team that won the
Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, a competition for solar
powered cars. It it reaches production, Lightyear One will be
the company's first car.

The batteries hold enough energy for 450 miles of drive, the
company says. The solar panels will work even when the car is
moving, meaning that as you're going down the highway,
power you're using.

On a long drive, help from the sun could add as much as 50

miles to a fully charged battery.
The car has five square meters of solar panels to catch the
sunlight. The major advances in the car has to do with its
sloping shape and covered wheels. Each of the wheels are
powered by its own electric motor that increases efficiency.
The car's batteries can store enough power or energy for
about 450 miles. The car can also recharge slightly from the
sun as it drives.

One of the advantages of using the sun for supplemental

power, said Hoefsloot will be easy of parking. While other
electric car divers are battling to get space near electric
chargers and others are looking for a spot in the shade,
Lightyear One drivers will happily park in the sunny spaces.
The car's air conditioner can be turned on remotely before it's
time to start driving so it's comfortable inside.

SOLAR POWERED RACING CAR:

Solar powered drag strip racing car.

3.51 seconds for 20 ft.
This section is all about our entry in the dragster solar
powered model racing car Grand Prix held at the Design
Engineering Exhibition, 5-7 Dec. 1978, at the National
Exhibition Centre Birmingham.

The Design Engineering magazine, together with the

exhibition organizers, organized the competition to stimulate

creativity and ingenuity amongst the readers of the magazine.

The challenge was to build a car that would race along a 20

foot long track, underneath a row of light bulbs. Each car had
to use a standard size solar cell supplied by Ferranti or Lucas
and small DC motor supplied by Maxon or Portescap. The first
40 motors were provided free of charge.

We applied by telex message (those were the days!), and on

letter headed notepaper (by Post), promising to return the
solar cell and motor if we failed to turn up. Only the first 40
entries would get free cell and motor.
TEAM:

Several of us in Post Office Satellite Communications

Development Divisions (TD3/10/13) got together and decided
to compete. We were Margaret Hammock, Eric Johnston.

John Baldwin and Rod Kirby.

The four of us.

THE CARS:
Each car had maximum dimensions of 10 inches long and 3.5
inches wide, with the solar cell 3 inches max height above the
track. The solar cell supplied was 2.25 inches in diameter. Our
cell gave its maximum output power at 354 mV and 59mA into
a 6 ohm load. This gave about 20 mW of useful power out.

THE COURSE:

The track was 24 feet long overall and about 8 inches wide,
with a 2 feet start and finish area at the ends. Down about the
middle was a row of 100 Watt clear light bulbs with the
filaments 9 inches above the centre line of the course.

There were two sets of guides, so that 2 cars would race, side
by side, in typical drag racing matter. The guide track for each
car consisted of two strips 1 inches wide and 1/8 inch thick,
with a gap 3/8 inch between.

OUR SOLAR POWER RACE CAR DESIGN:

We considered the following:

. Transfer of the fixed maximum power from the solar cell to

the wheels at all times.
. Maximizing the output of the solar cell.
. Low mass.
. Low air resistance.

The transfer of power to the wheels proved challenging. From

the start we realized that some form of variable gearing was
needed so that the motor could run so that it looked like a 6
ohm resistor all the time. In fact the motor behaved as a 3
ohm resister when stalled and much higher than 6 ohms when
free running, in both cases with zero power output.

To implement a gear system we decided to use a variable

outer diameter pulleys on the motor and rear axle with a tape
between them which would wind off and on, thus vatying
both the diameters simultaneously.

The diameter of the rear wheels was 3 cm and this limited the
maximum diameter of the rear pulley to 3 cm.

We worked near on 24 hours a day and used a computer using

7 resister memories for numbers and 50 memory locations for
machine code instructions to simulate the run. Also vast
amounts of graph paper.
An example of one early take design was:

The motor pulley started at 2 mm diameter and the ended at

13.6 diameter. The rear axle tape started at 18 mm diameter
ended at 12 mm diameter.

This gave a track time of about 7,7 seconds with 650 rpm and
unbroken solar cell.
We used balsa wood as it was light and easy to cut, alter and
mend. The suspension was tiny phosphor bronze springs,
glued into the balsa wood, with tiny brass nuts soldered to the
other ends with solder inside, drilled to make oiled bearings
for steel needle axles.
 The steering probe at the front end.

Guidance involved a low level probe out front, in the 3/8 inch
groove between the guide rails.

The first day was time trials and it was a bit of an eye opener
seeing all the other cars. Many competitors were far more
“engineered” than ours, think carbon-fibre and laser cut
filigree metal parts. One attractive model had fine metal
wheels all beautifully made with holes for lightness. Maybe
the design team included a watchmaker. Our “Fred
Flintstone”, balsa wood wheels looked prehistoric by
comparison. Our wheels at least had been sandpapered round
and were probably lighter.

More significantly others had broken their solar cells and

connected the two halves in series, where cooling the solar
cells using freezer spray, or had added reflecting mirrors
above the solar cell to gather more light.

The lengths of triple play recording tape with plastic card

white self adhesive strips added to progressively alter the
diameter of the motor pulley.

Frantic overnight redesign ensued. We snapped our solar cell

in half and rewired it. We took out the old standard play tape
“gear” drive and replaced it with a new thinner triple play
tape with variable thickness implemented by attaching tiny
self adhesive 1 mm x 1/4 inch strips of plastic card at intervals
along the tape to set the required diameter ratios at each
distance along the track. The programmed tape worked well
and we got consistent 3.6 seconds along out test track.
We tried other ideas that never came to anything.

We had a spare cell cut into about 8 strips and intended these
to be located in two lines underneath reflective mirrors so as
to gather light from an area of 10 inches long by 3.5 inches
wide. Would have needed 4 flat mirrors, each 2 inches x 10
inches. Failed due to construction, stability, air resistance and
lack of time.

We considered pulling a film over the cell with dry air inside
and using liquid carbon dioxide. The idea was to stop the cell
getting white frosted up with condensation ice and losing
power. Lack of time. We used freezer spray and wiped the
surface clear just before the start.

We tried a simple small reflector but it caused air drag and

fluttered. It looked good though but was not used in the race.

THE RACE PROGRAM:

On the day before the time trials the Industry Minister Eric
Varley turned up to watch. Fortunately there were a couple of
cars around to demonstrate. An amusing “Bionic Bathchair”
from a team from the “The Engineer” produced respectable 15
seconds but Ina Bearing's car was more serious, achieving a
respectable 6 seconds.

TIME TRIALS DAY:

The first proper day of the races was the time trials day. It was
bad weather outside, with freezing fog and people were
converging from all over the country. We got there and
managed a time of 5.4 seconds. At the end of the day, after
some extra time, 60 cars had run. The qualifying time was set
at 9.4 seconds and we breathed a sigh of relief as we qualified
into the top 32, ready to compete again the next day.

The 32 qualifiers were: Rolls-Royce, Pye Dynamics, Ferranti

(Dalkeith), Locas SGRD, Post Office TD-10, Tekron, Ina
Bearings, Thorn Lighting, Satchwell, RHP Stonehouse, Avdel,
Penny & Gilles, Lanason, RHP, Smiths, Kontak, Royal Ordance,
Drallim, Wilkinson Match, Metco, Hickman, GEC (Leicester),
Gaylor, ICL, Ferranti (Edinburgh), Lucas (Elec), Marconi, Pye
(TVT), James Neill, Sira, ICI (Welwin), and Cossor (Harlow).

The TV people came from BBC PebbleMill and amused

themselves with the thrill and spills of drag racing. Afterwards
it was back to London for very late night modifications.

PRELIMINARY ROUNDS DAY:

Races were run with the 32 cars and this day narrowed the
competitors to 8 for the final. Again, back to London for late
modifications.

THE GRAND PRIX; FINAL DAY:

This was desperate stuff; The remaining 8 companies were:

Rolls-Royce, Ina Bearings, Ferranti, Post Office TD3/10/13,
Lucas, Tekron and Pye Dynamics.
We had quarter finals and semi finals then the final.

We were up against Rolls-Royce in the final four races. Rolls

won the first race by 1 inch, we were dead heat in race two
and Rolls won the third and fourth races by 2 inches and 1
inch, with times of 3.5 and 3.51s.

Our car weighed 31.4g total, of which 24g was the Maxon
motor.

I think we really won 1 race, were dead heat in 2 races and

lost the 3rd race, as our nose stuck out 1 inch in front of the car
and as it was only 1 mm above the track surface and in the
groove and so did not trigger the end of the course sensor.

We won the 2nd prize of $100.00.

Rolls-Royce used cotton threads to couple their rear pulley to

their motor pulley. It appeared that their real pulley was large
diameter and of virtually constant diameter. Their motor
pulley was sort of V or U shaped with curved sides to the V so
that the build up of cotton thread in the grove caused the
diameter to increase. I presume the shape of the curved sides
was programmed to create the appropriate diameters as the
car accelerated down the track. I wondered if the filling up of
the groove might be prove uncertain.

Just think what could be done if we all pulled together ...

Page created 13 Sept 2018, amended 30 July 2020 EJC (c)

2018.
PHOTOS OF
SOLAR CARS
CHAPTER
FOUR

SOLAR PLANES
 ELECTRIC AIRCRAFT AND
SOLAR PLANES

This is the Velis Electro which became

the first type certificated manned electric
aircraft on June 10th. 2020.

Electrically powered model aircraft had been flown since the

1970s or even possibly earlier. They have since developed in
to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones, which in the
twenty-first century have become widely used for many
different purposes.
Although manned flights in an electrically powered tethered
helicopter goes back to the 1917s and in airships to the
previous century, the first manned free flight by an electrically
powered aeroplane, the MB-E1, was not made until October
1973 and most manned electric aircraft today are still only
experimental prototypes. Between 2015 and 2016, Solar
Impulse 2, completed a circumnavigation of the Earth using
solar power.

Solar Impulse 2 – A solar powered plane.

More recently, interests in electric passenger aircraft has

grown, for both commercial airlines and personal air vehicles.
 POWER STORAGE AND
SUPPLIES

Almost all electric aircraft to date have been powered by

electric motors driving thrust generating propellers or lift
generating rotors. Some of the propeller driven types had
been airships.

CO2 emissions, through their effect on climate change, have

recently become a major driving force for the development of
electric aircrafts, with a zero emissions electric powertrain
being the goal for some development teams. Aviation
accounts for 2.4% of all fossil fuel derived CO2 emissions, and
its share of the total increased by 32% between 2013 and
2018. Another benefit is the potential for noise reduction, in
an industry with a severe noise pollution and abatement
problem. Electric motors also do not lose power with altitude,
unlike internal combustion engines, avoiding the need for
complex and costly measures used to prevent this, such as the
use of turbochargers.
THE MECHANISM FOR STORING and supplying the necessary
electricity vary considerably, each has a distinct advantages
and disadvantages.

The mechanisms used include:

. SOLAR CELLS convert sunlight directly into electricity using

photovoltaic materials.
. BATTERIES which use a chemical reaction to generate
electricity which is reserved when recharged.
. FUEL CELLS consume fuel and an oxidizer in a chemical
reaction to generate electricity, which needs to be refueled,
typically with hydrogen.
. ULTRACAPACITORS and a battery/capacitor hybrid that
releases stored energy in an electro-chemical reaction, and
can be recharged very quickly.
. MICROWAVE ENERGY that is beamed from a remote
transmitter.
. POWER CABLES connected to a ground based electric supply.
SOLAR CELLS

A solar cell converts sunlight directly into electricity, either for

direct power or temporary storage. The power output of solar
cells is low and require that many be connected together,
which limits their use.

Typical solar panels running at 15 to 20% produce about 150

to 200 W/M2 (0.019 to 0.025 hp/sq ft) in direct sunlight.
Usable areas are further limited as output from a poorly
performing panel impacts the output of all the panels on its
circuit, meaning they all require similar conditions, including
being at a similar angle to the sun, and not being masked by
shadow.
Between 2010 and 2020, solar power modules have declined
in cost by 90% and continue to drop by 13 to 15% per year.
Solar cell efficiency has also risen substantially, from 2% in
1955 to 20% in 1985, and some experimental systems now
exceed 44%.

The free availability of sunlight makes solar power attractive

for high altitude, long endurance applications, where the cold
and reduced atmospheric interference makes them
significantly more environmental lapse rate (ELR), averages
6.49 degrees C/km (memorized in pilot training as 1.98
degrees C/1000 ft (11,000 m) will be substantially lower than
at ground level.

Night flying, such for endurance flights and with aircraft

providing 24 hour coverage over an area typically require a
back up storage system, which is charged during the day from
surplus power, and supplies power during the hours of
darkness.
BATTERIES

Batteries are the most common onboard energy storage

component of an electric aircraft, due to there relatively high
storage capacity.

Battery Rolls S12

Battery Rolls S-290

Batteries first powered airships in the 19 th century but the
lead acid batteries were very heavy and it was not until the
arrival of other chemistries, such as nickel cadmium (NiCd)
later in the 20th century, the batteries became practical for
heavier than air aircraft. Modern batteries are mostly
rechargeable types that is based on lithium technologies.

In 2017 the power available from batteries was estimated at

around 170 Wh/kg, 145 Wh/kg at the shaft including the
system efficiency, where the gas turbine extracted 6,545
Wh/kg of shaft power from a 11,900 Wh/kg fuel. In 2018
Lithium-ion batteries including packaging and accessories
were estimated to give 160 Wh/kg while aviation fuel gave
12,500 Wh/kg.

The potential of all electric propulsion remains limited for

general aviation, as in 2018 the specific energy of electricity
stored was still only 2% of aviation fuel. This 1.50 ratio makes
electric propulsion impractical for long range aircraft, at a 500
nmi (930 km) mission for all electric, 12 passenger aircraft
would require a six fold increase in battery power density.
As of 2019, the best Li-ion batteries achieved 250 to 300
Wh/kg, significant for a small aircraft, while a regional airline
would have needed a 500 Wh/kg battery pack and an Airbus
A320 sized single aisle would need 2 kWh/kg.

Trojan T105
Such batteries can reduce the overall operating cost for some
short ranged flights. For example the 300 kWh battery pack
that is used in the Harbour Air Beavers cost them around
$30.00 Canadian to charge compared to $160.00 to run the
Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior petrol engine for one
hour, when it burns 91 l; 24 US gal (20 imp gal).

ULTRACAPACITORS

An ultracapacitor is a hybrid electrochemical energy storage

system bridging batteries and capacitors, which has some
advantages over batteries in being able to charge and
discharge much faster and higher peak currents, while not
being as limited in the number of charge discharge cycles, as
the reaction is just not chemical but also electrical.

Their energy density, typically around 5 Wh/kg, is however

well below that of batteries, and they are considerably more

expensive, even when their longer lifespan is factored in.

Maxwell Capacitors
FUEL CELLS

A fuel cell uses the reaction between to chemicals such as

hydrogen and oxygen to create electricity, much like a liquid
propellant rocket motor, but generating electricity in a
controlled chemical reaction, instead of thrust.

Solid oxide fuel cell diagram on

how the process works.
While the aircraft must carry the hydrogen (or a similar fuel),
with its own complications and risks, the oxygen can be
obtained from the atmosphere.

A fuel cell block diagram.

A Diamond Hk36 Super Dimona motor-glider modified by

Boeing as a fuel cell demonstrator airplane made piloted test
flights in 2008 with a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel
cell lithium-ion battery hybrid system, and they have been
used in several NASA vehicles including satellites and space
capsules, although these must also carry an oxidizer.

However, further research and development work is required

before they are competitive in aircraft, as they are more than
ten times as expensive as normal batteries.

MICROWAVES

Power beaming of electromagnetic energy such as

microwaves relies on a ground based power source. However,
compared to using a power cable, power beaming allows the
aircraft to move laterally and carries a much lower weight
penalty, particularly as altitude increases. The technology has
only been demonstrated on small models and awaits practical
development at larger scale.

EXTERNAL POWER CABLES

For powered vehicles replacing tethered aerstats, an electrical

power cable can be connected to a ground based supply, such
as an electric generator or the local power grid. At low
altitudes this avoids having to lift batteries, and was used by
experimental Petroczy-Zurovec-PKZ1 observation vehicle in
1917. However the higher it flies, the heavier the length of
cable it lifts becomes.
 PROPULSION

ELECTRIC MOTORS

While the batteries weigh more that the equivalent in fuel,

electric motors weigh less than their piston engine
counterparts an in smaller aircraft used for shorter flights, can
improve the disparity between electric and gasoline energy
densities. The MagniX Magni500 electric motor that is used in
the Harbour Air electric de Havilland Canada Beaver weighs
135 kg (297 lbs) dry and develops 560 kW (750 shp) compared
to the Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior with a dry weight
of 290 kg (640 lbs), producing 300 kW (400 bhp) it is replacing.
Other motors being developed, such as the Siemens provide
an even better power to weight ratio.

On the Cessna 208 Caravan, the Pratt & Whitney Canada

PT6A-114A outputs 503 kW (675 shp) and weighs 160 kg (360
lbs) dry.
Siemens has a 260 kW (350 hp) electric motor that weighs
only 50 kg (110 lbs), that is specifically designed for aircraft
use. The comparable Continental IO-550-A reciprocating
engine outputs 220 kW (300 hp) and it has a dry weight of
195.38 kg (430.72 lbs). Besides the motor itself, an electric
propulsion system also includes a power inverter and must
account for the fuel reserve equivalent, while the gasoline
engines have generators, oil coolers, fuel lines, pumps and
other equipment that needs to be fully factored into any
comparison that are not all included in the dry weight.

Additionally, it increases in power, combined with

Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) modifications can offset
the weight of the batteries by increasing the airplane's gross
operating weights, including crucially, the landing weight.
Aircraft that use fossil fuels are lighter when they land, which
allows the structure that needs to absorb the impact to be
lighter. With the battery powered aircraft, the weight remains
the same, and so may require reinforcement.

HYBRID POWER
A hybrid electric aircraft is an aircraft with a hybrid electric
powertrain. It typically takes off and lands under clean and
quiet electric power, and cruises under conventional piston or
jet engine power. This makes long flights practical, while
reducing their carbon footprint.

By May 2018, there were over 30 projects, and short haul

hybrid electric airliners were envisioned from 2032. The most
advanced are the:

. Zunum Aero a 10 seater,

. the Airbus E-Fan X demonstrator,
. the VoltAero Cassio,
. UTC is modifying a Bombardier Dash 8,

while an Ampaire prototype first flew on 6 June, 2019.

MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
In November 2019, MIT engineers achieved the first free flight
with a model aircraft having no moving parts, the EAD Aircraft
Version 2.

It is propelled by creating an ion wind using

magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). MHD has been used to
achieve vertical lift in the past, but only by cabling up the
MHD ion generator system to an external power supply.

The sun is an MHD system that

is NOT WELL understood.
MHD simulation of the Solar Wind.
 A BIT OF
EARLY HISTORY

PIONEERS

1883 -
The use of electricity for aircraft propulsion was first
experinented with during the development of the airship in
the tatter part of the 19th century. On October 8, 1883, Gaston
Tissandier flew the first electrically powered airship.

1884 -
On 1884, Charles Renard and Arthur Krebs flew La France with
a more powerful motor. Even with the lifting capacity of an
airship, the heavy accumulators needed to store the electricity
severely limited the speed and range of such early airships.
1917 -
For a tethered device such as an air observation platform, it is
possible to run the power up the tether. In an attempt to
create a more practical solution the clumsy balloons then in
use, the Austro-Hungarian Petroczy-Karman-Zurovec PKZ-1
electric powered helicopter was flown in 1917.

An Electric Powered Helicopter.

It had a specially designed 190 hp (140 kW) continuous rated

electric more that was made by Austro-Diamler and received
its power up a cable from a ground based DC generator.
However the electric motor were not yet powerful enough for
such applications and the motor burned out after only a few
flights.

1909 -

In 1909, an electric free flight model was claimed to have been

flown eight minutes, but this claim has been disputed by the
builder of the first recorded electric Radio-Controlled model
aircraft flight in 1957. Power density for electric flight was
problematic even for small models.

1964 -

In 1964, William C. Brown at Raytheon flew a model

helicopter that received all of the power needed for flight by
microwave power transmission. Success in a full size
aeroplane would not be achieved until Nickel-cadium (NiCad)
batteries were developed, having a much higher energy
storage to weight ratio than lead-acid batteries.
1973 -

In 1973, Fred Militky and Heino Brditschka converted a

Brdischka HB-3 motor glider to an electric aircraft, the Militky
MB-E1. On October 21, it flew for 14 minutes to become the
first electric aircraft to fly under its own power with a person
on board.

1974 -

Developed almost in parallel with NiCad technology, solar

cells were also slowly becoming a practicable power source.
Following a successful model test in 1974.

1979 -
The world's first official flight in a solar powered, person
carrying aircraft took place on April 29 1979. The Mauro Solar
Riser used photovoltaic cells to deliver 350 W (0.47 hp) at 30
volts. These charged a small battery, which in turn powered
the motor. The battery alone was capable of powering the
motor for 3 to 5 minutes, following a 1.5 hour charge,
enabling it to reach a gliding altitude.

Under the direction of Freddie To, an architect and a member

of the Kremer prize committee, the Solar One was designed by
David Williams and produced by Solar-Powered Aircraft
Developments. A motor glider type aircraft originally was built
as a pedal powered aircraft to attempt the Channel crossing,
the airplane proved too heavy to be successfully powered by
human power and was then converted to solar power, using
an electric motor driven by batteries that were charged before
flight by a solar cell array on the wings. The maiden flight of
Solar One took place at Lasham Airfield, Hampshire, on June
13, 1979.

1980s -

Following successful human powered flight, a relaunched

Kremer prize allowed the crew to store energy before takeoff.
In the 1980s several such designs stored electricity that was
generated by the pedalling, including the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology Monarch and the Aerovironment
Bionic Bat.

1983 -

The human piloted Solair 1, developed by Gunther Rochelt,

flew in 1983 with a notable improved performance. It
employed 2499 wing mounted solar cells.

1996 -

The German solar powered aircraft “Icare II”, was designed

and built by the institute of aircraft design (Institut Fur
Flugzeugbau) of the University of Stuttgart in 1996. The leader
of the project and often pilot of the aircraft is Rudolf Voit-
Nitschmann, the head of the institute. The design wan the
Berblinger prize in 1996, the EAA Special Achievement Award
in Oshkosh, the Golden Daidalos Medal of the German
Aeroclub and the OSTIV-Prize in France in 1997.
UNMANNED AERIAL VEHIVLES (UAVs)

This is NASA's Pathfinder Plus an electrical

powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

NASA's Pathfinder, Pathfinder Plus, Centurion, and Helios

were a series of solar and fuel cell system powered unmanned
aerial vehicles also known as “UAVs” that was developed by
AeroVironment Inc. From 1983 until 2003 under NASA's
Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology
program. On September 11, 1995, Pathfinder set an unofficial
altitude record for solar powered aircraft to 50,000 feet or
(15,000 meters) during a 12 hour flight from NASA Dryden.
After further modifications, the aircraft was moved to the U.S.
Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility, (PMRF) on the Hawaiian
island of Kauai. On July 7, 1997, Pathfinder raised the altitude
record for solar powered aircraft to 71,530 feet or 21,800
meters, which was also the record for propeller driven
aircraft.

On August 6, 1998, the Pathfinder Plus raised the national

altitude record to 80,201 feet (24,445 meters) for solar
powered and propeller driven aircraft.

On August 14, 2001 Helios set an altitude record of 96,863

feet (29,524 meters), the record for FAI class U
(experimental/new technologies), and FAI class U-1.d
(remotely controlled UAV with a mass between 500 and 2,500
kg (1,100 and 5,500 lbs) as well as the altitude record for
propeller driven aircraft. On June 26, 2003, the Helios
prototype broke up and fell into the Pacific Ocean off Hawaii
after the aircraft encountered some turbulence, which ended
the program.
The QinetiQ Zephyr is a lightweight solar powered unmanned
aerial vehicle (UAV). As of July 23, 2010 it holds the endurance
record for an unmanned aerial vehicle of over 2 weeks. It is of
carbon fiber reinforced polymer construction, the 2010
version weighing 50 kg (110 lbs), (the 2008 version weighed 30
kg (66 lbs) with a span of 22.5 m (74 feet), (the 2008 version
had a 18 m (59 feet) wingspan). During the day it used sunlight
to charge the lithium sulphur batteries, which powered the
aircraft during the night. In July 2010 a Zephyr made a world
record UAV endurance flight of 336 hours, 22 minutes and 8
seconds (more than two weeks) and set an alitude record of
70,742 feet (21,562 m) for FAI class U-1.c (remotely controlled
UAV with a weight between 50 and 500 kg (110 and 1,100
lbs)).

LIGHT AIRCRAFT

The first commercially available, non certified production

electric aircraft, the Alisport Silent Club self launching glider,
flew in 1977. It is optionally driven by a 13 kW (17 hp) DC
electric motor running on 40 kg (88 lbs) of batteries that can
store 1.4 kWh (5.0 MJ) of energy.
The first certified of airworthiness for an electric powered
aircraft was granted to the Lange Antares 20E in 2003, Also an
electric self launching 20 meter (66 feet) glider/sailplane, with
a 42 kW (56 hp) DC/DC brushless motor and lithium ion
batteries, it can climb up to 3,00 meters or (9,800 feet), with
fully charged cells. The first flight was in 2003. In 2011 the
aircraft won the 2011 Berblinger competition.

In 2005, Alan Cocconi of AC Propulsion flew, with the

assistance of several other pilots, an unmanned airplane
called the “SoLong” for 48 hours non stop, propelled entirely
by solar energy. This was the first such around the clock flight,
on energy that was stored in the batteries that was mounted
on an aircraft.

In 2007, the non profit CAFE Foundation held the first Electric
Aircraft Symposium in San Francisco.

The Boeing-led FCD (fuel cell demonstrator) project used a

Diamond HK-36 Super Dimona motor glider as a research test
bed for a hydrogen fuel cell powered light airplane. The
successful flights took place in February and March 2008.

The Boeing Fuel Cell

Demonstrator (2008).

The first NASA Green Flight Challenge took place in 2011 and it
was won by a Pipistrel Taurus G4 on October 3, 2011.

In 2013 Chip Yates demonstrated that the world's fastest

electric airplane, a Long ESA, a modified Rutan Long-EZ, could
outperform a gasoline powered Cessna and other aircraft in a
series of trials verified by the Federation Aeronautique
Internationale. The Long ESA was found to be less expensive,
have a higher maximum speed, and higher rate of climb,
which is partly due to the ability of the aircraft to maintain
performance at altitude as low air density does not impair
engine performance.

In 2017, Siemens used a modified Extra EA-300 Acrobatic

airplane, the 330LE, to set two new records: on March 23 at
the Dinslaken Schwarze Heide airfield in Germany, the aircraft
reached a top speed of around 340 km/h (210 mph) over 3 km
(1.9 mi) and the next day, it became the first glider towing
electric aircraft.

SOLAR IMPULSE CIRCUMNAVIGATION

Solar Impulse 2 is powered by four electric motors. Energy

from solar cells on the wings and horizontal stabilizers is
stored in lithium polymer batteries and used to drive
propellers. In 2012 the first Solar Impulse made the first
international flight by a solar aircraft, flying from Madrid,
Spain to Rabat, Morocco.

In 2016, the Solar Impulse 2 was the first

solar powered aircraft to
complete a circumnavigation.

Completed in 2014, the Solar Impulse 2 carried more solar

cells and more powerful motors, among other improvements.
In 2015, the aircraft took off on the first stage of a planned
round the world trip, flying eastwards from Abu Dhabi, United
Arab Emirates. Due to battery damage, the aircraft halted at
Hawaii, where its batteries were replaced. It resumed the
circumnavigation in April 2016 and it reached Seville, Spain in
June 2016. The following month it returned to Abu Dhabi,
completing its circumnavigation of the world.

RESEARCH PROJECTS

The NASA Puffin was a concept, that was proposed in 2010,

for an electric powered, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL),
personal vehicle.

The Sikorsky Firefly S-300 was a project to flight test an

electric rotorcraft, but the project was put on hold due to
battery limitations. The world's first large scale all electric tilt
rotor was the AgustaWestland Project Zero unmanned aerial
vehicle technology demonstrator, which performed
unmanned tethered flights on ground power in June 2011, less
than 6 months after the company gave the official go-ahead.

The European Commission has financed many low TRL

projects for innovative electric or hybrid propulsion aircraft.
The ENFICA-FC is a project of the European Commission, to
study and demonstrate an all electric aircraft with fuel cells as
the main or auxiliary power system. During the three year
project, a fuel cell based power system was designed and
flown in a Rapid 200FC ultralight aircraft.

The NASA Electric Aircraft Testbed (NEAT) is a NASA

reconfigurable testbed in Plum Brook Station, Ohio, used to

NASA Electric Aircraft Testbed.

Design, develop, assemble the test electric aircraft power
systems, from a small, one to two person aircraft up to 20MW
(27,000 hp) airliners. NASA research agreement (NRA) are
granted to develop electric propulsion components. They will
be completed in 2019 and the internal NASA work by 2020,
then they will be assembled in a megawatt scale drive system
to be tested in the narrowbody sized NEAT.

NASA has developed the X-57 Maxwell

from a Tecnam P2006T.
NASA developed the X-57 Maxwell to demonstrate technology
to reduce fuel use, emissions, and noise. Modified from a
Tecnam P2006T, the X-57 will have 14 electric motors driving
propellers mounted on the wing leading edges.

In July 2017, Scaled Composites is modifying a first P2006T by

replacing the piston engines with electric motors, to fly early
in 2018, then will move the motors to the wingtips to increase
propulsive efficiency and finally will install the high aspect
ratio wing with 12 smaller propellers.
 IN OTHER APPLICATIONS

A News 4 Drone

Drones:

By far the majority of electric aircraft are unmanned drones.

They vary from palm size to being comparable with a small
manned type and are used in a wide variety of different
applications. From smaller size drones, which are
manufactured in the greatest numbers around the world, the
vertical takeoff quadcopter configuration is very common.
However, “Ingenuity”, the drown which flew on Mars in 2021
to become the first extraterrestrial aircraft, has a single pair of
coaxial rotors.
Drones are used in a wide variety of general, commercial and
military applications and their use is expanding very rapidly.

Different Types Of Drones:

Fix Wing Aircraft:

Currently, battery powered manned electric aircraft have

much more limited payload, range and endurance than those
powered by conventional engines. Electric power is only
suitable for small aircraft while for larger passenger aircraft,
an improvement of the energy density by a factor of 20
compared to li-ion batteries would be required.

However, pilot training emphasizes short flights. Several

companies make, or have demonstrated, light aircraft suitable
for initial flight training. The Airbus E-Fan was aimed at flight
training but the project was cancelled. Pipistrel makes light
sport electric aircraft such as the Pipistrel WATTsUP, which is
a prototype of the Pipistrel Alpha Electro. The advantage of
electric aircraft for flight training is the lowest cost of electric
energy compared to aviation fuel. Noise and exhaust
emissions are also reduced compared with combustion
engines.

An increasingly common application is as a sustaining motor

or even a self launching motor for gliders. The most common
system is the front electric sustainer, which is used in over 240
different gliders. The short range is not a problem as the
motor is used only briefly, either to launch or to avoid an
outlanding. The advantage of an electric motor in this case
comes from the certainty that it will start and the rapidity of
developing compared with reciprocating engines.

Rotocraft:

Although the Austro-Hungarian Petroczy-Karman-Zurovec

team flew an experimental tethered military observation
helicopter in 1917 on electric power, they soon switched to
using a gasoline engine and the use of electric power for rotor
borne flight was not explored any further until just recently.

The first free flying electric helicopter was the Solution

F/Chretien Helicopter, which was developed by Pascal
Chretien in Vanelles, France. It went from computer aided
design concept on September 10, 2010 to first flight in August
2011, in under a year.

The Solution F/Chretien Helicopter.

In February of 2016, Philippe Antoine, AQUINEA and ENAC,

Ecole Nationale Superieure de I'Aviation Civile, successfully
flew the first full electric hovering flight in December 2016.
The helicopter is powered by two 40 kW (54 hp) permanent
magnet synchronous motors that run from a 22 kWh (79 MJ)
Lithium battery.

Volta is officially registered by DGAC, the France

Airworthiness Authority, and is authorized for flying in France
civilian airspace.

In September 2016, Martine Rothblatt and Tiere Engineering

successfully tested an electric powered helicopter. The five
minute flight reached an altitude of 400 feet with a peak
speed of 80 knots. The Robinson R44 helicopter was modified
with two three phase permanent magnet synchronous YASA
Motors, weighing 45 kg (100 lbs), plus 11 Lithium polymer
battries from Brammo weighing 500 kg (1,100 lbs).

It later flew for 20 minutes in 2016. On December 7, 2018, Tier

1 Engineering flew an electric, battery powered R44 over 30
nmi (56 km) at 80 kn (150 km/h) and an altitude of 800 feet
(240 meters), setting a Guinness World Record for the longest
distance.
 CHAPTER
FIVE

SOLAR POWERED BOATS,

BIKES AND MOTORCYCLES
 SOLAR POWERED BOATS

The SB Collinda crossed the English

Channel on solar power.

Here below is a list of solar powered boats which is a list of

boats that are powered by the sun, typically using solar panels
which provides electrical power to the motors.

. SOLARIS which was built by the Hudson River Maritime

Museum's restoration crew, this vessel is the only solar
powered boat in operation on the Hudson River.
. ECOCAT which is from the EcoBoat series by MetaltecNaval.
That was launched in 2018 has a zero emission commercial
passenger boat achieving speeds of up to 9 kn. Currently
operating in Santander Bay taking up to 120 passengers on
zero emission tours.

. ADITYA (Boat) which is India's first solar Ferry, a 75

passenger boat is operating in Vaikon, Kerala, India. It is the
largest solar boat in India, and transports about 500,000
passengers every year.

. ALSTERSONNE is a passenger ferry that carries 100

passengers, in Hamburg, Germany. As of 2000 it was the
largest solar powered ship in the world.

. DE:MOBICAT, is a passenger catamaran for 150 passengers in

Sweden, which is used on Lake Biel since 2001.

. SOLARCAT SOLAR-ELECTRIC CATAMARANS, These boats are

for industrial use or for rental operations. FunCat has been
rebranded as SolarCat an individual catamaran powered by
both solar panels.

. SB COLLINDA was the first solar powered vessel to cross the

English Channel.

. SEAZEN, is a Suncy SolarBoat that is operated in Monaco.

This motor catamaran is the first 100% solar powered boat
rental.

. SOLARSAILOR, is a solar boat that shuttles passengers in

Sydney, Australia.

The SolarSailor.
. SUN21, sailed the Atlantic from Seville to Miami, and from
there across the Atlantic powered only by solar.

. The FIREFLY, lar boat.

. SUN CRZ9, Compact solar boat in Eranakulam, Kerala, India.

. SUN CRZ30, Cruise boat for 20 passengers operating on

Bathinda Lake, Punjab, India, India.

. SUNRIDER, Which is a cruise boat, carrying 10 passengers

that operates in Kerala, India.

. MS TURANOR PLANETSOLAR, the first vehicle to

circumnavigate the globe on solar power in 2010 to 2012),
first crossing powered by solar energy on the Indian Ocean,
the biggest solar boat in the world and the first crossing of the
red sea powered by solar energy.
. SILENT YACHTS, a series of luxury solar powered boats. “
SILENT YACHTS presents the first and only oceangoing
production yachts in the world that are fully solar sustainable
and is powered on solar energy. In 2018 the Solar Wave 62
was the first production solar boat to successfully complete a
transatlantic crossing.

. SWE'PEA, a 13 feet dinghy, travelled 120 nmi to 40 nmi on a

sunny mid-summer day in the Pacific Northwest. Her system
uses commercially available components; a standard EP Carry
outboard system, a solar controller and a 200 W of crystalline
flex cells.

. SOLAR SAL is a 27 feet solar cruiser capable of 6.5 kn and

cruises an average of 4 to 5 kn on solar energy alone.

The SunRider, doing some trials.

 SOLAR POWERED BIKES
AND MOTORCYCLES

A solar vehicle is one of the most eco-friendly innovations in

the world. With fossil fuels and oil being considered as non
renewable, sourcing energy from a non depleting source can
really drive sustainability.

These sun powered vehicles run on solar energy but can be

supplemented by a battery to allow it to run even on the
absence of sunlight. The technologies, use to produce there
solar wonders, are combining aerospace, bicycle, alternative,
and automotive science.

It's good news that cars enthusiasts are not the only ones who
will get to enjoy this technology. Motorcycle riders also get to
enjoy this solar gift through solar motorcycle units. However,
do these vehicles actually exist? If so, how much do they cost?
Where can they be bought and how efficient can they be? Will
the investment for moving into this transportation alternative
provide reasonable savings? This article will answere these
questions to guide you in case you'd like to switch to this eco-
loving alternative.
WHAT ARE SOLAR POWERED MOTORCYCLES?
(this article is by Websolarguide except all the pictures)

What is a solar powered motorcycle and does it exist? Like a

solar car, a motorcycle of this type also combines electricity
and solar energy to supple power to the vehicle. Therefore,
the most plausible solar motorcycle will also be electric. The
way it works for solar vehicles is that they have a built-in solar
array that has photovoltaic cells.
These cells convert sunlight to the energy needed to power up
the battery of the vehicle. The powering up happens when
photons hit the photovoltaic cells and excite the electrons to
allow them to flow through and produce an electric current.

Made by Daytek.

To answer the question as to whether it exists, it definitely

does. Some solar motorcycle brands are already sold in some
countries. For example, the Sweden made “Cake Kalk” is sold
exclusively in Sweden for $14,000. It can run for 15 kilowatts
per Newton meter at a top speed of 80 kilometers per hour.
There are also battery powered solar bikes. Solar electric bikes
capture the sun's photons thanks to the solar panels in their
wheels. Through induction, the panels send power to the
battery, charging it fully within 4 to 6 hours on a sunny day.

An example of such bicycle is the Dutch Solar Cycle, which is

said to be effective in cutting down more carbon emissions.

FASTEST SOLAR MOTORCYCLE:

At this point, we already know that a motorcycle works on

solar energy does exist. However, how fast can it go? Most
motorcycle riders crave for speed. Will a solar powered
version reduce acceleration and distance? You'll be surprised
because the fastest electric solar motorcycle is considered the
fastest in the world in 2013 with its highest speed at 218 miles
per hour.

This ecofriendly and overly fast vehicle is called the, “Lightning

Superbike 218”, made by a company called Lightning. This
awesome vehicle can cover an average distance of 100 miles.
It has a 200 horsepower and 10,500 rpm. This wonder can be
charged in 30 minutes on a DC fast charger and in 120 minutes
on a level 2 charger. Indeed, speed doesn't have to burn too
much fossil fuel. The fastest solar powered motorcycle just
proved that.

CAN YOU CHARGE MOTORCYCLE WITH A SOLAR PANEL?

You just brought an electric motorcycle, and you are not

planning to buy a solar powered one anytime soon. Can you
still use the sun's power to charge your vehicle's battery? You
definitely can. You don't need to have a solar cycle to take
advantage of the sun's benefits.

Solar chargers have different capacities. Small ones around 1.5

kilowatts, and with such capacity, they have to be positioned
perfectly to work at their best. There are also larger ones with
4 to 6 watts of capacity. They have better quality than the
small ones, but weather resistance can still be an issue if
powering up vehicles like a motorcycle working on solar
energy.

Another bike that is made by Daytek.

The ideal power for motorcycle charging is about 10 to 12
watts. These, however, require a charge controller to prevent
your vehicle's battery from overcharging.

Several brands of solar chargers already exist for your vehicle.

For example, POWOXXI's 3.3 watt solar charger can power up
your ride with its 15 by 8.5 inches solar panel made of
amorphous silicon solar cells. Since they are waterproof, you
also don't have to worry about damaging them so easily.

They are also portable with only 2.2 pounds and less than an
inch thick. With prices ranging from $29 to $35 depending on
where you are buying it from, you've got a solar alternative to
give power to your vehicle's battery. Since it's relatively low
powered, it doesn't require a controller.

MY OVERALL CONCLUSION FOR THIS BOOK:

Solar energy is growing more and more each year, and it is a

good thing for the planet and its inhabitants. With this
advanced, yet environmental loving alternative, individuals
can save on fuel, time and energy. People can also breath
cleaner air and improve their overall health.

With the new developments in this field, riders who aim for
speed and power will not be disappointed as these sun
powered vehicles can achieve both while reducing one's
carbon footprint. With more and more companies coming up
with better ideas on how these transportation modes can
improve to cover long distances, the future is indeed exciting.

Regardless of whether you opt for a solar powered

motorcycle, bicycle, car, boat, plane, you are making the right
choice for yourself and the future generation by helping to
improve the environment through solar driven alternatives.

I HOPE that all the information that is collected in this e-book

will help you along with your discovery of the future of SOLAR
ENERGY.
HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS of motorcycles and bikes and more:
THIS IS A FREE
E-BOOK

ENJOY!