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“Sail with our Solarteam Windesheim and discover your own energy”
The Team
Did you know that...The solarboat can get up to a maximum speed of 25 kilometers per hour?
What do we do? Every year, our goal is to compete with our own solarboat in the national and international solarboat races. A number of our technical studentswork together to develop a high-tech solarboat. Students from Mechanical Engineering work on the hydrofoils (wings of the boat), while the Electrical Engineering students put their efforts into around the battery and the sun deck. The Industrial Product Designing students handle the appearance of the boat. Besides the technical aspects we are also busy with promoting our Solar team and maintaining contact with our sponsors. We regularly attend conventions and open days of Windesheim University. Since 2014 we have our own workplace, the Boathouse, made possible by
Windesheim University. The support they have shown us by providing us with our own workplace is immense. You can find the Boathouse in the T-building of the Windesheim University. We also have our own office there. From here we examine which materials are best to develop our boat, how our solar cells can capture as much solar energy as possible and what the best way is to efficiently transfer this energy to the boat. Besides Windesheim University, we work in conjunction with other different companies. This cooperationgoes from exchanging knowledge to providing materials and using machinery.
Want to join us? Does the challenge to strengthen our team appeal to you? Do you like to work together with different educations, and share new insights? Or do you have an affinity with boats and water? Then we are looking for you! Solarteam Windesheim is a dynamic team, which changes every half-year. This is why we are always looking or new students. Are you curious, or want to sign up, just visit us in our office at T4.08 at the Windesheim University or send us an email.
Who are we?Our team consists of a group of passionate and enthusiastic students of the Windesheim University of Applied Sciences. The composition of the team is very diverse, in that it is a mix of boys and girls of different nationalities and different educations. This has a positive influence on our team, because everybody has an expertise in his or her own discipline. By combining all these qualities in our team, we can utilize our knowledge for different tasks. Among the people in our team are students of Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Product Designing, Technical Business, Logistics and Economics,Communication and Marketing. The assignments that are performed are projects for witch study credits can be earned. Some students also work on the Solarteam in their spare time.
The Boot
Did you know that...The person navigating the boat must weigh exactly 70 kilo? Any participants weighing less will have lead added to their swimming vest.
How does a solarboat work? The boats we use in the races are all driven by solar energy. There are solar cells mounted on the deck of the boat. These cells may capture up to 1750 Watts to be regulated into the solarboat races. The cells capture light and transfer this to electricity. This electricity is then transferred to the battery. The electricity goes to the engine, which gives energy to the propellers, which make us sail on water through solar energy!
We start our race with a full battery, which depletes when we are sailing. The more energy the battery contains, the faster we can sail. This is why it is very important to refill the battery, which is done with solar energy. The battery functions like a buffer, but it can’t go below a certain level of power. If this does happen, the battery may malfunction. To prevent this we have to sail slower when there is little sunlight to refill the battery.
Solarboat races Every year we compete in national and international races. Most of the time, these races take place in a period from May up until July. If you would like to see actual race data you can check our website. There are different categories in the solarboat races. We compete in the T-class, also known as the Top-class. To compete in this category, the team has to develop their own solarboat and they have to purchase or develop their own sun deck. For everything else you are free to do what you want. This brings some risks, but also gives us the freedom to decide over technical aspects of our boat. The race is divided into certain sections. Examples of these are a sprint, slalom racing, and endurance racing (racing over long distances).
Every participant must have a sailing license. Also, every participant is weighed and has to take a swim test.
In the time we have been together as Solarteam Windesheim, we have participated in quite a few races. Below are some examples to indicate how busy we have been over the last years:
• NK Solar Boat Race in Akkrum; • Solar Boat Regatta Werbellinsee; • DONG Energy Solar Challenge in Friesland; • Solar 1 Monte-Carlo in Monaco; • Amsterdam Solar Boat Parade.
