Campus

Set sail for the sun

There’s a World Championship coming up and TU Delft is all set to play for victory. From June 28 until July 5 2014, the Netherlands will host the Dong Solar Challenge – a world cup for solar powered boats.

Considered the biggest challenge for solar boats globally, it began in 2006 and over forty teams participate each year.


This year there are fourteen foreign teams from countries such as America, Poland, Finland, Turkey, China, Brazil, Belgium, Indonesia and Germany. Carnegie Mellon, Kymenlaakso University and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro are among some of the universities participating. In the past, TU Delfthas won in the Top Class category twice.


Competition is tough this year but the team is ready. A shining new hull was the centrepiece of their workshop when we met them in March. “The hull and deck are made of a carbon fibre sandwich structureand weighs less than thirty kgs. Weight is critical when it comes to a solar boat,” says Gijsbert van Marrewijk, a third-year student of Aerospace Engineering who is working on optimising the wings of the boat for better speed. He explains that the boat will be able to reach speeds of forty to forty-five kph thanks to two hydrofoils that lift the entire hull out of the water. These wings under the boat decrease the total drag enormously, resulting in an energy efficient race boat. The boat will also have height sensors to measure the height between the boat and the water when the hydrofoils are in use.


The thirty-two team members are from around eight different faculties, including Maritime Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Applied Physics. The different areas of study bring a multidisciplinary approach to design and functionality of the boat. One innovation brought to the table by this approach is the use of bicycle stability in the design. “Together with Arend Schwab from the Bicycle Dynamics Lab from 3mE, we decided to place the rudder in front of the boat, which stabilises the roll of the boat by steering… just like you steer a bike when trying to correct a fall to one side,” said van Marrewijk.Instead of a normal boat, this is more like a combination of an airplane, a bicycle and a race boat.


Besides university teams, there are also teams formed by companies. “Of course they have an advantage,” says van Marrewijk, “as they make the equipment we use. But, on the other hand, we have the entire university. World class equipment and knowledge.”

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