Solar Powered Electric Boat

Project Title

Solar Powered Electric Boat

Project Area of Specialization Electrical/Electronic EngineeringProject Summary

This Summary of this project is to design an efficient Solar powered electric boat the boat will be operated on motor similarly the electrical energy will be provided by the solar panel as well as battery. Mainly on sunny day solar panel will run the motor as a result it will rotate propeller so the boat will go ahead. The solar electric boat cannot be used at night due to no availability of sunlight to produce energy or in some case when the weather is cloudy in such condition rechargeable batteries can supply current to the electric motor of the boat.
Basically, nowadays conventional sources of energy are getting exhausted due to their continuous use so, the key thing is that solar energy should be preferred than any other alternatives due to their availability. Similarly, as compared to generator the solar boat is environment friendly.
In solar boat first thing is mechanical design of boat. The boat will be made from special wood having specified length and width. A solar panel will be placed on the roof of boat. Next thing is to decide a DC motor which will be connected with a propeller with the help of a rod. A controller circuit is placed which will control the speed of motor. A rechargeable battery is placed in the boat which at night time or in cloudy weather will supply power to boat. With the help of steering the direction of boat can be changed. The current from the solar panel will pass through the controller circuit from whom it will rotate the motor and from here speed of motor can also be adjusted. The shaft of motor connected with propeller will start rotation and will push the boat upward. With the help of steering one can change the direction of the boat.

Project Objectives

The objective of this project is to design and implementation of electric boat that can able to operate using electrical energy. Furthermore, it contains the following appliances such as Oars, electric motor (DC), battery, Solar Panel, Propeller, Steering and a controller circuit. an efficient boat which will be powered by permanent magnet DC motor, the motor will be fed by Lithium ion battery and alternatively the battery will be charged from the solar panel installed on the boat. The speed of boat can be varied according to situation/requirement. On sunny day the solar will run the motor during operation, similarly during non-operational period it will charge the battery for night and emergency cases. Installed Oars can also be used in case of emergency. The major characteristics of this boat is the quiet operation and reduction of pollutants introduced to the water and air.

Project Implementation Method

For the implementation of boat first thing was its mechanical design. So our boat is made of wood having length of 14 ft and width of 4.5 ft. The unloaded weight is 600Kg approx. It can seat two persons. A solar panel will be installed on the roof having weight of 4 to 6Kg. Propeller will be used to provide up thrust to boat. Controller circuit and Permanent magnet DC motor is also the essential part of this project whose description is given as ,the reason for selection of PMDC motor is it has high efficiency due to absence of field winding as a result they don’t have copper losses, similarly as compared to other motors like BLDC which require invertors and converters the circuitry of PMDC is very simple and the power losses get reduced in such motors. For selection of motor rating it is required to know the weight of the boat then using formula P = R x V where R is the resistive forces and V is the velocity of boat.
For battery selection on we had chosen lithium ion battery as we can get our desired voltage and current rating easily and its efficiency is also very high as compared to lead acid battery. The rating of our battery is 60V and 30A. Next task is to control the speed of motor so for this we need speed controller circuit with the help of which we control motor speed and hence the boat velocity. For motor speed controller a control circuit was designed and then implemented on Proteus, breadboard and Vero board. The components of the circuitry are diodes, resistors, capacitors,555 timer IC, Power MOSFET and optocoupler. After placing all components in the circuit an input voltage is given as a result the output is achieved using pulse width modulation technique (PWM).
In PWM using potentiometer one changes the PWM by rotating the knob of potentiometer and hence the output voltage get reduces. The output voltage from timer IC is then passed through optocoupler whose function is isolation of power and PWM control circuit. The voltage from optocoupler is then applied on the gate of MOSFET, Since the motor being connected with the drain terminal and the other terminal is given VCC due to this the motor gets operated a power diode is placed in parallel with the motor for controlling back emf.

Benefits of the Project

Every day in any part of the where there is river or lake visitors wishes to go there for enjoyment and refreshment. After reaching the bank of river or lake they hire a boat for round of the whole river or lake and this routine never stops as it is operational through out the year. But here as the visitors start travelling in boat powered by engines instead of enjoyment, they did not get able to enjoy the trip fully as the installed generator in the boat not create too much noise but also releases quite large amount of carbon dioxide. Now adays with the increase of air pollution it has created a lot of problems not only for human but also aquatic life. Currently the main source of energy in automobile are engines which operate on petrol, diesel or CNG. As a result, these release harmful gases such as carbon dioxide badly affect the health of not the human beings but also of the aquatic animals. In order to overcome these issues “Solar powered electric boat” was proposed with the help of this boat it not only overcome the pollution and noise issue but also favor the visitor in term of less payment for trip as compared to generator boat as solar energy require single payment for installation and the rest energy is then taken from Sun so it has much economic benefit too.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

By the end of this project a complete solar powered electric boat will be obtained which will be floating on the surface of water. On sunny day the solar power will be operational will supply power to motor and will move on the surface of water. Similarly, at night time or in cloudy weather the charged battery will be operational and will push the boat forward to perform its desired function accordingly and the steering will also be helpful in this regard when it is required to change direction of boat.

Final Deliverable of the Project HW/SW integrated systemCore Industry Energy Other Industries IT , Transportation Core Technology Clean TechOther Technologies Internet of Things (IoT)Sustainable Development Goals Affordable and Clean EnergyRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	80000
Wooden Boat	Equipment	1	40000	40000
DC Motor	Equipment	1	20000	20000
battery	Equipment	1	10000	10000
Solar panel	Miscellaneous	1	10000	10000