personal-site/content/solar-car.md

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Title: Solar Car
Date: 2013-04-27
Category: Projects
Summary: About my time volunteering with the University of Calgary Solar Car Team, where I designed a maximum power point tracker.
I joined the University of Calgary Solar Car Team in my first semester for a
chance to learn things, gain practical experience, and meet people that share my
interests. The car was the top Canadian team in a 3000 km race from Darwin to
Adelaide, Australia in 2011. We met up at a shop on campus every Saturday
morning to work on the new Generation IV of the solar car.
![the MPPT device, a printed circuit board with components]({static}/images/solar-car/solar1.jpg)
## The Helianthus MPPT
I was in charge of designing and assembling the MPPTs (maximum power point
trackers) for the new generation solar car. An MPPT extracts as much power out
of the solar cells as possible. The solar array operates less efficiently
without them. The Generation IV car, Schulich Delta (pictured below) uses seven
of them: one per section of solar cells with similar lighting conditions. Andrei
and I designed the MPPT above.
![our team of 30 standing behind the solar car which is covered in sponsor logos]({static}/images/solar-car/solar2.jpg)