Design Analysis of a Lightweight Solar Powered System for Recreational Marine Craft

Abstract

The design of a lightweight solar powered marine craft is considered in this report. Various design concepts were considered with respect to the hull type, resistance, aesthetics and the operating environment of the vessel. The planning hull-form catamaran was considered for the boat design. The resistance and other hydrodynamic characterization of boat were analyzed using the CAHI and Savitsky method. Detailed algorithm is developed for the sizing of the various components of the solar PV system for the boat. The hull resistance was found to be 740 N corresponding to the boat speed of 5 knot using the above stated methods. The motor power was obtained to be 2.239 kW (3 HP). Torqeedo outboard electric motor of 3 HP was selected for the boat propulsion. The battery bank was seized accordingly and four batteries of 235 AH and 12 V were selected for the storage of electric power for the boat propulsion. Hence, the solar PV module was sized. It was concluded that, due to the limited space for the installation of the PV module, additional source of power (land base) should be made available to completely charge the battery.