Solar Powered Bike / Trike

[Sunking]

I feel when we come up with more efficient batteries or motors we are going to struggle self powering.

You are not going to find it as batteries and motors are as efficient as they can possible be. LiPo batteries efficiency is 99% and synchronize motors are 95 to 98% efficient. There is nothing more to gain. With 12 volt motors are are extremely limited.

[MakeBCN]

I cant give you any long term emperical info but im very happy with our semi flex lightweight panels on our solar rickshaw project so far. Posted in Solar living section. We are not using it yet as a motor power source but more for 12v acsess. power. I feel when we come up with more effecient batteries or motors we are going to struggle self powering. but i find it fun and ihope you do too and maybe we can help each other. good luck on your project.
make

[Sunny Solar]

For civilian emergency use in calamities 300ft is more than adequate.
For military no matter how high you fly it ,unless you going way up into the stratosphere a casual blast from any jet fighter plane will destroy it. As its stationary and flimsy construction about 1.2 seconds of gunfire will destroy it.

Also I think they now have satellite's in high orbit that already do what you are wanting??

[Sunking]

Why the wing and developing it or similar.? what wrong just using something like big weather balloon. solar cells on top transceiver below and tethered to a truck with about 300ft cable ?

For military? Small arms could bring it down and give away your position.

[Sunking]

Helium would be a better choice.

Not if lift is important as helium is twice as heavy as hydrogen. Since it is unmanned the danger is negated and would be a fairly small amount.

[Sunny Solar]

John based on an earkier post the solar will be stationary using a 360 watt panel.

In post number 1 . he says "
"As my groups senior project we are trying to make a solar powered bike/trike." ??

[Sunny Solar]

Why the wing and developing it or similar.? what wrong just using something like big weather balloon. solar cells on top transceiver below and tethered to a truck with about 300ft cable ? You don't need to go very high to get cell coverage over a city or a rural area,.. It simple to transport to any area needed and cheap.

[russ]

Helium would be a better choice.

[Sunking]

The biggest obstacle would be to get the FAA to allow you to test fly it. That has been a problem for a lot of manufacturers of non piloted flying machines or an sUAV.

Well FWIW the military already has a aircraft very similar to it, it just uses fuel and a turbine engine. It is a big glider. They take it high altitude, cut the engine and let if glide a few hours, restart and climb again. repeat until fuel is exhausted.

NASA built such a craft but it crashed in the Pacific. But I have a slightly different idea.

Build a flying wing with with carbon fiber framing. Stretch thin film across the top of the wing and seal it to the lower skin. Use hydrogen to pressurize the wing and lighten the aircraft. For deployment use a weather balloon to get to high altitude initially and quickly, then orbit the tactical. When the sun rises turn on the electric motor to climb and recharge the battery, then glide at night and the radio equipment runs off battery. It can be done with the tech we have now.

[SunEagle]

Now that I beat you down let me offer a concept that can work and has application in Military and Civil communications. A flying wing pressurized with helium or hydrogen with graphite for the structure support that can carry a communications radio package to high altitude and orbit a strategic area like a city indefinitely. It is possible with tech we have today. Military would love such a product or Civil search and rescue operations where there is not cell phone over 70% of the USA land mass. That you can sell.

That would be a great tool for search and rescue or during natural disasters.

The biggest obstacle would be to get the FAA to allow you to test fly it. That has been a problem for a lot of manufacturers of non piloted flying machines or an sUAV.

[Sunking]

Now that I beat you down let me offer a concept that can work and has application in Military and Civil communications. A flying wing pressurized with helium or hydrogen with graphite for the structure support that can carry a communications radio package to high altitude and orbit a strategic area like a city indefinitely. It is possible with tech we have today. Military would love such a product or Civil search and rescue operations where there is not cell phone over 70% of the USA land mass. That you can sell.

[Sunking]

Like I said physics is going to bite you in the butt, and economics do not work. For any vehicle it has to be as light and aerodynamic as possible which solar will rob you blind. Economically power cost in TX 9 cents per Kwh. A 36 volt 15 AH battery only holds .5 Kwh or 5 cents worth of energy.

How do you intend to keep the panels tracking the sun on a vehicle? How much weight will that be? How much wind resistance will that add? Cross wind, head wind, down wind. Simple physics tells you why no one does it other than an experiment or concept. Commercially it has no market.

[russ]

You can charge batteries in a stationary solar setup and charge your bikes from there. To try to charge on the go is not gonna happen in a successful manner. Only problem with this is efficiencies keep piling up.

Just think of the solar car runs across Australia and other places - a very big surface and a very, very light car.

[sdelgad8]

Yes I am realizing that the more research I do. I am going to an E-bike rental company to get some real data . While I continue my solar panel research. Solar panels are all new to me but Its coming along. I have some ideas but first I need to find some solar panels that are powerful at a reasonable cost,so I can base my design off the solar panel. This seems to be the biggest constraint, so I would like to find the panels and work backwards. We have raised some money already and we are working on getting more funding. Any suggestions on brands ?

[russ]

There are 40% plus cells out there - only a small problem that you can't afford them unless your name is Bill Gates.