After the fifth challenge day in South Africa, despite a time penalty yesterday, the team finished in provisional second place in the standings. Things are neck-and-neck in the Sasol Solar Challenge. The differences in the top three of the Challenger class are minimal.
Thanks to yesterday's great performance, Solar Team Twente started first this morning at precisely 08:00. Today's route allowed for a smooth driving style and thus an exciting battle followed. Innoptus Solar Team soon caught up with the Twente students and just before the first stop in the town of Pofadder, Brunel Solar Team also caught up with Solar Team Twente. On the road, this meant third place.
Bouncing back from time penalty
Because Solar Team Twente came in a little too late yesterday, the team had to incur another time penalty. Halfway through the first run, the Twente student team met the teams from Delft and Leuven. Both teams were slightly ahead, but the team stayed sharp and kept faith in their strategy.
In total, the Twente team drove six runs today, as many as Brunel Solar Team. Innoptus Solar Team drove two more loops, regaining the lead from Twente. This puts Solar Team Twente in second place in the standings with 2777.3 kilometres driven.
Innovation: SABINE
One of last year's innovations is SABINE (Solar Array Balancing Interphase New Edition). "SABINE balances our solar energy input," explains Roosmarijn Meijers, the team's electrical engineer. "There is always a shadow on the solar panel somewhere, for example by the driver's cabin. The operation of the solar panel itself ensures that when there is shadow somewhere, the cells connected to it also react as if there was shadow. The bypass diodes ensure that the cells in the shadow are turned off, thus cancelling their effect on the other cells. SABINE ensures that the cells no longer interfere with each other, therefore the bypass diodes are no longer needed and no cells need to be switched off."
SABINE actually controls that each cell produces energy at its own optimum. During the race, the team noticed that the performance boost thanks to SABINE was sometimes even greater than expected, contributing significantly to their success.
Heading south tomorrow
Solar Team Twente will spend the night in Springbok tonight. From tomorrow, the team will drive southward instead of westward, which could significantly impact weather conditions and altitude differences. It will be interesting to see which team and car handle these conditions the best.