RVCE Solar Car Team

The RVCE Solar Car Team's first prototype - The Soleblaze

The RVCE Solar Car Team, Bangalore, India is an entirely student-run group that designs and builds solar electric vehicles.[1] The team currently consists of 40 students from R.V. College of Engineering (RVCE) pursuing their bachelor of engineering in various fields: aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, electronics and communication, electrical engineering, computer science, chemical engineering and industrial engineering and management. The team was established in 2013, with an objective to primarily help promote the use of solar technology, as well as inspire younger generations to think green. The team represented India in the World Solar Challenge, 2015 and 2017.

## History

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The RVCE Solar Car team was founded in September 2013, by Vikram R. Nath, a Class of 2016 Mechanical Engineer, along with four of his friends from different departments of RVCE. Guided by Prof. M.S. Krupashankar and Lt. Mahendra Kumar, the 18 member team designed and built their first solar car "Soleblaze" from scratch. The team is now one of the largest and most successful student teams in RVCE. The team made successful collaborations with about 30 leading companies from the industry, including Infosys, TCS, SunEdison, Wipro, SunPower, HHV Solar, Reinforced Plastic Industries, National Instruments, Altair, Weather Analytics, TE Connectivity, SanE, 3M, Mahindra Reva, Tritium, Keysight Technologies, Vicor, Molex, Ikoras Solar, Lapp India, Schneider Electric and many more. The team also received personal guidance from industry veterans, including Chetan Maini, founder of Mahindra REVA and Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Infosys.[2]

The second generation team made further progress with sponsorship from IBM, Wipro, SunPower, HHV Solar, Rhinokore, SanE, Siemens Gamesa, ICP, Anabond, 3M, Honeywell, Bosch, Microsoft Research and many others.

## Projects

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### Soleblaze-1

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Soleblaze-1 is the first prototype of the RVCE Solar Car Team built by the founding team. The project was launched in October 2014[3][4][5][6] The car represented the country in the World Solar Challenge, 2015. It was one of the few teams that cleared static scrutineering in its initial attempt.[7] However, the car failed to start in the race itself.[8]

At the static scrutineering - WSC'15; Team from right to left: Lalit, Shivaraju, Vikram (Team Lead), Gamini, Sohan, Subbu, Lt. Mahendra Kumar, Prof. Krupashankar, Varun, Vaibhav, Akshar, Sharan, Ashray, Nancy, Nivedha, Aditya, Moiz, Gokul, Pramod The team, working on the car before static scrutineering at WSC'15

Specifications:

Length | 4485mm

|

Breadth | 1790mm
Height | 1235mm
Weight | 277 kg
Suspensions | Double wishbone suspension (Aluminium 6060 T6)
Steering | Rack and pinion steering system
Brakes | Dual circuit hydraulic brake system, Regenerative braking
Chassis | Spaceframe Aluminium 6063 T6
Body | Carbon fibre 1.5mm shell
Solar array | 6m2, Monocrystalline Silicon Cells SunPower C60 Cells wired in 3 parallel strings boosted by an MPPT
Drivetrain | Mitsuba 2 kW, Direct Drive in wheel motor.
Batteries | 20 kg Lithium Ion Batteries Energy Capacity Estimate-5kWh
BMS | Tritium battery management system
Telemetry | National instruments- Compact RIO

Due to logistics related issues, the team could not race in the event.

### Arka- 1

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Arka- 1 is the latest car of the RVCE Solar Car Team. The prototype was entirely designed and fabricated by the second generation of the team. It is a much improved version of the first car and was launched in August 2017. The car was India's lone entry to the World Solar Challenge, 2017. The team working on the project consists of 25 students from various departments of RVCE.

Specifications:

Length | 3500mm

|

Breadth | 1600mm
Height | 1200mm
Weight | 273 kg
Suspensions | Double wishbone suspension (Aluminium 6060 T6)
Steering | Rack and pinion steering system
Brakes | Dual circuit hydraulic brake system, Regenerative braking
Chassis | Monocoque, carbon fibre-structural foam sandwich structure
Body | Carbon fibre 1.5mm shell
Solar array | 4m2, Monocrystalline Silicon Cells SunPower Maxeon Gen 2 Cells wired in 2 parallel strings boosted by an MPPT each
Drivetrain | Mitsuba M-2096 D III 2 kW, Direct Drive in wheel motor.
Batteries | 20 kg Lithium Ion Batteries Energy Capacity Estimate-5kWh
BMS | Tritium battery management system

## See also

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* Solar car racing
* Battery electric vehicle
* List of solar car teams
* World Solar Challenge

## References

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1. ^ "RVCE SOLAR CAR TEAM". solarcar-rvce.in. Archived from the original on 17 August 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
2. ^ "Bengaluru's solar car fails in Australia's World Solar Challenge". The Economic Times. 2015-10-26. Retrieved 2016-08-19.
3. ^ "RVCE students in World Solar Car Challenge". The Hindu. 2014-10-25. Retrieved 2016-08-19.
4. ^ "Solar car designed by RVCE students will be India's entry at Australian World Solar Challenge - timesofindia-economictimes". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on August 18, 2015. Retrieved 2016-08-19.
5. ^ "Indian solar powered vehicle Soleblaze to compete in World Solar Challenge 2015 : News". India Today. 2015-07-06. Retrieved 2016-08-19.
6. ^ "RVCE students readying solar car - Times of India". The Times of India. 2014-10-22. Retrieved 2016-08-19.
7. ^ "Courier dashes hopes of Bengaluru students at World Solar Challenge". Deccan Chronicle. 27 October 2015. Retrieved 2016-08-19.
8. ^ "Challenger Class Outright Results" (PDF). Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. 2015-10-26. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-11-22.