The Singapore NTU team won the 2nd Safety Award in the Shell Eco-marathon 2009. Powered by a 4.5 sq m array of silicon photovoltaic cells which convert sunlight into energy, the 3.5 m by 1.3 m by 0.9m three-wheeled NTU car achieved 103 km per kWh of energy, producing more energy than it consumed. Kamtex is pleased to be involved in it.
About the race
In the annual Shell Eco-Marathon, eco-friendly cars compete in a circuit and are judged upon the amount of fuel consumed over the distance covered. The competition challenges students around the world to design and build vehicles using energy efficient technologies, thus encouraging innovation and fostering the development of sustainable energy. The 25th Shell Eco-marathon Europe held on 7-9 May at the EuroSpeedway in Lausitz, Germany saw 199 participating teams from 29 countries.
From NTU’s website:
“The Nanyang Venture I, an eco-friendly car designed and built by a team of 25 students from NTU’s School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) and School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE), wowed many at the Shell Eco-marathon Europe 2009 held in Germany, from 7 to 9 May 2009. The NTU eco-car turned in the best results of the Singapore entries on the first day of the two-day race on 8 May 2009. At the end of the final day, according to the results posted on the Shell Eco-Marathon 2009 website, NTU’s was the only car flying the Singapore flag high, coming in 4th in the Prototype (Solar) Category (out of 8 in that category), and clinching second place of the ‘Safety Award’ in the ‘Special Awards’ category.”
To make the solar panel, hundreds of fragile silicon solar cells needed to be electrically connected and encapsulated within protective layers of backing and film. For the high reliability required of the solar array, the process require specialized industrial equipment which the NTU team did not possess. Kamtex Solar was engaged to carry out the encapsulation of the solar modules from the raw high efficiency solar cells provided by NTU.
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Photo credits: NTU