Microsemi Solar Bypass Diodes Selected In Race Across Australian Outback

Microsemi Corporation , has announced that its technology has again been chosen by the Umicore Belgian Solar Team to help fuel its bid to win the gruelling Veolia World Solar Challenge, an endurance event from Darwin to Adelaide for solar powered cars.

This is the eleventh World Solar Challenge event, which is held in Australia every two years. This year's event takes place between Oct.16 and Oct.23, 2011 and is open to participants who have designed and built cars capable of completing the 3000km distance using only energy sourced from the sun or kinetic recovery.

The Umicore Belgian team's car makes use of solar energy, using an array of solar panels managed by solar bypass diodes supplied by Microsemi. It mimics the diode's use in satellite solar panels, where their performance and reliability in the harshest of operating conditions is critical to mission success. The power-generation panels in the team's car will need to deliver around 50kW hours of energy over the course of the race. 

"Microsemi is pleased to have once again been selected by the Belgian Solar Vehicle Team," said Bertho Simons, director of Microsemi's European solar program. "Although good natured, this is an important event which successfully elevates the profile of alternative energy and its role in a cleaner, greener future." 

This will be the fourth time the Umicore Belgian Solar Team will be competing in the biennial World Solar Challenge, a competition that is generally considered to be the ultimate challenge for solar car builders. The team will be entered in the prestigious Challenge Class race, in which each car must be personally designed"”a rigorous test of professionalism, innovation and ingenuity.  

About the World Solar Challenge

The biennial World Solar Challenge is part of the Global Green Challenge, which is an evolution of the historic and very successful World Solar Challenge that has been staged since 1987. The Global Green Challenge combines the technical brilliance of the Solar Cars with the practical results of low emission vehicles destined to the marketplace and individually tested against the harshness of the Australian Environment. In recent years the event has featured a demonstration of practical technology. The practical technologies aspect has come of age and will be presented as a competition with measurable results as an Eco Challenge for a range of low emission and alternative fuel supply vehicles. The Global Green Challenge is organised by the South Australian Motorsport Board and supported by the South Australian and Northern Territory Governments. Major sponsors are the South Australian Tourism Commission and Internode, one of Australia's foremost Internet Service Providers.  For more information about the World Solar Challenge, go to: http://www.worldsolarchallenge.org.