A few days ago we celebrated the feat of Solar Impulse, the first aircraft powered only by solar energy photovoltaic has been around the world, now a much more modest but very ingenious project has to demonstrate that it is also possible to travel by sea only solar technology.
This is the Seacharger, a small boat almost ridiculous size, only 2.3 x 0.55 meters and a weight of 22.7 kg., Which managed to travel the distance between California and Hawaii, about 3,200 kilometers across the Pacific Ocean, autonomously and only fed with solar energy .
This is a structure or hull made with fiberglass, which incorporates a basic propulsion system, ie, a propeller brushless and two photovoltaic panels 100W Renogy on deck. To continue browsing overnight, he also incorporated a battery bank of 50 cells LiFePo4 installed inside a PVC tube next to the propulsion system. Finally, thanks to an Arduino board with GPS and satellite modem, this small boat could sail without crew but remote control at all times.
During the trip, the device achieved an average speed of 2.11 knots (2.43 mph) and toured around 94 km per day. The wind and currents were on their side, pushing him slightly toward your goal, and after 41.4 days on the water arrived safely to Hawaii last July 22.
The aim of the project was to create an unmanned vehicle that could cross the ocean using solar energy as the only power supply and has successfully feat. Its creator, the young engineer Damon McMillan, says it is the longest journey so far by a boat unmanned and powered by solar energy.
