Solar Boat Twente in 2022-2023

In September 2022, the sixth team of Solar Boat Twente started, consisting of 21 passionate students who are determined to make a positive impact on the maritime sector. The previous teams left a strong foundation of knowledge and materials. They produced a boat that was able to foil with still water and no wind. The next challenge was to foil stable, even with large waves and wind. That is why the goal of this team is to improve the control system such that the boat can foil stable in Monaco. They try to achieve this goal by adding more sensors to the boat and improving the control software.

The team of 2022-2023 is working on several different electronic components in the boat. They focus on improving the Maximum Power Point Trackers, the motor controller, the solar panels, and the battery. The battery is changed towards a higher voltage battery, which results in less power loss in the cables. Next to this, they use some new components in the battery system that use less energy, meaning that the battery is kept in safe conditions using less power. These changes will result in a more efficient drive train, which makes it possible to travel a longer distance in the same weather conditions. A number of these projects, such as the cooling PCBs, contain PCBs produced by Eurocircuits. The first PCB that is produced this year is currently already installed in the boat. This component manages the cooling system that cools all the electric components in a smart way. Before this component was added, the cooling system was always turned on. This component enables the team to only activate the cooling system when the components get too hot, resulting in less energy used. This energy can be used to sail even further.