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Hello Eurocircuits community!

We are Solar Boat Twente 21-22, the fifth generation of this student team. We aim to build a high-performance solar racing boat which will participate in the world cup in Monaco. We use this world cup as a platform to promote a more sustainable maritime sector. This year we consist of 18 enthusiastic students that spend a full-time year building this boat. We want to produce a boat that is as light as possible, that has an efficient conversion of the solar power to the motor and most importantly: we want to produce a boat that can foil. This foiling is done by three wings that let the hull of the boat take off at a certain speed. The boat has less water resistance since the wings are the only part that is submerged.  This year’s main goal is modularity. All parts are designed so they can also be used in following years or be easily swapped by a new part.

Our foiling is done with an electrical system that consists of sensors that measure the height and angle of the boat and convert that to a change in lift generated by the wings. This electrical system gives us the freedom to change the behaviour of the foiling by just rewriting code.

One of this year’s goals of the electronics sub team is to make a Formula 1 like steering wheel with a lot of in- and outputs for the pilot. This enables the pilot to adapt the boat at any time and the technical team to debug the electronic system. The challenge of this project is to make a waterproof steering wheel that fits all electronics in a rather small formfactor. For this we will make a compact PCB at Eurocircuits which fits all chips, buttons, and other components.  Modularity is also integrated in the design of the steering wheel. The steering wheel is connected to the boat with a quick connector used in the automotive industry so that the steering wheel could be easily swapped. On the PCB there are extra IO pins available so that coming teams can add extra IO if they want.

And maybe you are wondering, why we take on this challenge for a full year. The identity of our group is a group of ambitious students that want to develop themselves outside our curriculum. We want to take a step further to learn how to work together in a multidisciplinary team, work on cutting edge technology and most importantly: make the maritime industry more sustainable.

Solar Boat Team Twente Group Photo 1Solar Boat Team Twente Group Photo 2

Solar Boat Twente Logo

Are you as enthusiastic as we are? Visit the website of Solar Boat Twente to learn more!

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