On Mar 30, 2015, at 12:19 PM, Cor van de Water via EV <[email protected]> wrote:
> It is simple: measure the surface area of the car and multiply by the > expected PV efficiency, > then you know why a Solar Racer needs full sun overhead most of the day *and* > be an extreme car > to achieve any speed or range. ...and it's worse than even that. The angle from the Sun to the panels matters a great deal. A panel at right angles to the incoming light receives the maximum amount of energy; a panel parallel to the light receives zero energy. You don't have much choice about the angles the panels of a car make with the light. Fixed panels, on the other hand, can either be statically positioned for an optimum annual average production or, if money isn't an object and space is at a premium, you can dynamically tilt the panels to follow the Sun. For the car...well, ideal geometry for the panels is going to be a flat top parallel to the ground, but that's a geometry bordering on the pathological for aerodynamics. b& _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
