Altium supports solar car teams

Altium, developer of unified electronic product development solutions, is supporting two student projects from the University of New South Wales and the University of Iowa.

The students are using the company’s unified electronics design solution to design, build and race solar cars in a series of competitions to promote the development of solar energy.

In Australia, the company is supporting the University of New South Wales’ Solar Racing Team, Sunswift. The team is developing a solar-powered racing car that will compete in both the World Solar Challenge in 2009 and the inaugural South Africa Solar Challenge (SASC) in 2010.

Students are using the company’s unified electronic design environment to build a complete suite of electronics, including new driver controls, monitoring systems and a new braking system. These systems will have to endure more than 7000 km of extreme conditions, from the hot, dry desert of Australia to the tough, hilly coast of South Africa.

Altium is also supporting the Iowa State University’s PrISUm solar racing team, which is designing Sol Invictus, its ninth car for competition. This latest car will be featured in the North America Solar Challenge (NASC) 2008, travelling from Dallas, Texas to Calgary, Alberta, Canada — a total of 3861 km.

Altium’s unified electronics design solution is being used on the largest electronics project, a new battery protection system for the car. The new system, which comprises several PCBs, will help protect the car’s lithium-ion batteries by monitoring all 30 battery modules for voltage levels, temperature and current. It also allows the driver to switch off battery modules that can be susceptible to damage from surges in voltage or from excessive temperatures.

Students are also using Altium’s unified electronics design solution to develop a range of custom electronics that will be incorporated into the car’s final design. These include power supplies, a speedometer and power meter displays. A driver interface will display performance data, and a communication link will send data from the car’s battery protection system and motor controller to team members, allowing them to implement features such as cruise control.