KTH excels in Shell Eco Marathon with CIGS PV
The Swedish Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) set a new Swedish fuel efficiency record with 181.5 km/kWh in the Shell Eco Marathon competition, a race in which European universities compete with innovative solutions for how far a vehicle can travel with the energy equivalent to a litre of fuel. KTH competed with thin solar cells made by Midsummer, a supplier of production lines for cost effective manufacturing of flexible thin film solar cells, CIGS.
Shell Eco Marathon is a competition for universities that compete in how far they can make a vehicle travel on the energy equivalent to 1 litre of fuel. Participants in the contest must come up with innovative solutions to create fuel-efficient vehicles. KTH participated with the car "Elba" and finished in fifth place.
In the contest, which was held in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the new improved "Elba" was able to set a new Swedish record of 181.5 km/kWh, which can be compared to a car that drives a distance of 158 kilometres for a total cost of around 1 Swedish Krona (0.11 EUR or USD 0.15).
"The solar cells needed to be integrated into the car's design," said Alex Witt, Production Manager at Midsummer. "The only possible solar solution that would integrate in Elba's aerodynamic shape was Midsummer's flexible thin film solar cells on stainless steel, which could easily follow the curved body of the vehicle without cracking. This solution would have been impossible with silicon solar cells as they crack easily."
"In this year's competition KTH used last year's car "Elba", which was rebuilt. The custom-made flexible solar cell modules were placed strategically on the vehicle to optimize the exposure of the sun and thereafter connected in series to generate as high voltage as possible into the system," Alex Witt further explained.
