Top Dutch Solar Racing in 2023

Top Dutch Solar Racing is collaborating with Eurocircuits once again in their venture to the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge 2023: a five-day race in which the most prestigious teams compete for the world champion title. The 25 team members of Team 2023 are striving for a podium position in the forthcoming edition after their 4th place in 2019 and 2021, in both Australia and Morocco. This year in October, we will be challenging our brand-new solar car on the hot and windy roads of the Australian territory.

TDSR knows that having reliable electronics is essential for their solar car: it is what makes the car drive, collects energy, and allows the driver and team to control and monitor it for maximum efficiency. That is why we rely on Eurocircuits to manufacture high-quality PCBs and ensure top performance and short-period time delivery. The TDSR team designs them, and Eurocircuits brings them to life with their advanced manufacturing techniques. These PCBs are used for the steering wheel, the battery management system, the MPPT switch or the motor controller, among others.

Steering wheel

The 2023 steering wheel presents optimised features with respect to the previous year’s designs, as it is engineered to provide a more efficient and comfortable driving experience. To achieve this, we’ve created a smaller, handmade-shaped printed circuit board that makes the steering wheel lighter, more ergonomic, and easier to manoeuvre. This new design also offers more functionalities than previous versions.

In this edition, we aimed for a more user-friendly operation with adaptive cruise control, faster computing speed and enhanced human-machine interface. The latter is a key component, as it works as the brain of the car, providing control and monitoring of critical functions, such as the display or selection of the car features. To ensure speed and power, we made sure to use a good microcontroller that can handle complex tasks both quickly and efficiently. Furthermore, with the help of pattern-oriented software architecture, we achieve a power consumption reduction that helps us to save energy.