The success of any competition depends of the effort the participants put in. By this, we mean the preparation, the actual competition, and the way that they behave towards each other and the audience. The secret sauce, or the x-factor if you like, is the effort put in at the front end. Gauging the caliber of Solar Splash entrants is simple because of the excellent technical reports they produce.
Grab Sample of the Caliber of Solar Splash Entrants
To be fair, we avoided dipping into what the overall 2016 winners had to say. Instead, we chose an entrant at random and came up with the College of New Jersey. In case you were not previously aware of it, this is a public, coeducational university appearing in the 2017 100 Best Values at Public Colleges. If you would like to read the report in detail, please follow this link to the sixty-two page document. We simply append details of the solar system design as reported to illustrate the caliber of anticipated of 2017 Solar Splash entrants.
Specification for College Solar Array
The solar system array consists of two unmodified SCHOTT 240 Watt solar panels. The solar panels will be fixed to the hull with one near the bow and one behind the driver. Each of the 2 solar panels weigh 41.4 lbs for a total solar array weight of 82.8 lbs. and will be positioned such that the weight of the solar panels will offset the weight of the surface drive and drivetrain to make the boat level with the waterline during the endurance event.
In past competitions, TCNJ has created a frame out of 80-20 aluminum rails to hold the solar panels between events that allows for easy repositioning of the panels for battery charging. The frame is on wheels, which allows the panels to be easily repositioned on the ground, and can be rotated up or down to align with the sun. The team will be reusing this framework from last year’s boat to quickly charge the batteries between events.
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