Baśka - solar powered boat by AGH Solar Boat Team

AGH Solar Boat - two years of work, passion and dreams of students from AGH university of Science and Technology in Cracow. We started our project in November 2015, full of ideas and willingness to create a boat which would bring a revolution to marine transportation. Solar-powered, environment-friendly and innovative. We set our goal to take a part in international competition of solar boats - Monaco Solar & Electric Boat Challenge.

It was a hard time however it was definitely a time of gaining an amazing experience in engineering design, developing composite materials, electronics, programming, marketing and the most important - to manage a project, which gathered 46 devoted people.

We did it!

“Baśka” is 6 metres long, made of carbon fibre, fully powered by solar energy. For over a year members of our project have been spending long hours in workshop and shipyard where we manufactured different elements of our boat. 

It is powered with 1000 Watt PV panels and equipped with electric system all designed, prepared and programmed by electrical team.

We have presented our boat in June during the first official water launch at Wawel bank of the Vistula in front of administration of academy and partners of our project.

With our boat, “Baska” we were the only representatives of Poland during competitions in Yacht Club de Monaco in July 2017, where in general classification we reached fifth place.

Today we are taking one step further. We want to achieve more. Being full of experience which we have collected for the previous two years, we want to make our boat better and reach the top of the podium.

We are aware of our goal’s complexity. It will definitely not be an easy task since we are reaching for more, however the same drive that pushed us to create this amazing boat is pushing us now towards striving for perfection.

TECHNICAL DETAILS 

This year we are focusing on modularity, electric systems are divided into 4 modules serving different functions on the boat, communicating with themselves over CAN bus.

Every module has dedicated PCB with STM32 microcontroller as MCU.         

Central board

Central board (hereafter referred to as “CB”) is main control board used in boat. All remaining boards are controlled centrally via a master module (CB). Steering algorithm is implemented to improve boat’s stability and maneuverability. Algorithm uses sensors’ readings to calculate optimal position and throttle. CB consists of following components:

• EEPROM

• CAN transceiver

• Water pump (including sensors and control circuit)

• User control device

• IMU (MPU9250)

• Xbee, LoRa

CB uses STM32F446RE. Data and signals needed for algorithm calculation are provided using CAN transceiver.

XBee module enables communication between boat and team located ashore. LoRa is Xbee’s alternative which can be used interchangeably. Configuration data will be stored in EEPROM. There is also sensor which detects if water gets into boat’s hull and activates water pump.  It prevents from damaging electrical installation. Pilot can easily adjust throttle using potentiometer. Joystick is attached to handlebar and can be used for determining hydrofoils’ inclination.          

Display Board

The main task of this board, as the name suggests, is communication with two graphic LCDs with resolution 320x240 pixels. These displays are FSTN (Film Super Twisted Nematic) type that uses layer of delay of STN LCD’s color compensation. Information transmited to them are determined by MCU – STM32F429ZIT6. Communication occurs by FSMC (flexible static memory controller), which characterized by i.a. high speed of transmission. The next component which is placed on our board is GPS module. Mentioned module allows tracking current position of solar boat. We can store the data acquired from this module on external FLASH memory, like SD card (which is integral part of display board). CAN interface is used for general communication purposes. 6 RGB diodes act as a display panel, which one ultimately will be placed at the front of the boat’s panel. 4-switch keypad is used for launching particular boat’s systems. Moreover, board is equipped with programmer (Mini USB). The whole display board system is powered by 12V. Buck converters lower the voltage to 5V and 3V3 (which is necessary for supplying individual components associated with display board ).         

Front&Back board         

Front&Back Board (FBB) utilizes STM32 Nucleo F446re microcontroller. Similarly to CB, uses the same programmer’s port (Mini USB). Described board measures current flowing through water pump. FBB communicates with other boards through CAN transceiver. One of the most crucial tasks of the following board is constantly monitoring BMS (Battery Management System) which is a safety system tracking voltage and temperature of cells and the charging process. Logic level converters placed on board is capable of raising logic level from 3,3 V to 5 V. It’s necessary to correctly control BLDC motor and servos by PWM. FBB contains a multitude of ports dedicated to sensors listed hereunder:

• Temperature sensors

• Ultrasonic sensors measuring the height of the deck above the water level

• Sensor measuring speed in relation to the water

There will be two boards placed inside at both ends of the deck.

Any help with bringing this project to completion through the fabrication of the PCB would be greatly appreciated by our team. If you are interested in knowing more about our team, our facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/AGHSolarBoatTeam/

Best Regards!