The University of Johannesburg (UJ) will participate in the Sasol Solar Challenge 2014 with its latest solar car, the Ilanga II.

Ilanga is the isiZulu word for the sun.

The eight-day, biennial solar car race, with vehicles powered solely by the sun, will start in September.

UJ has also entered the Ilanga II into the World Solar Challenge in Australia next year, says UJ mechanical engineering science lecturer and UJ Energy Movement programme manager Nickey Janse van Rensburg.

“We are the first South African team to enter this race, although we are still working on securing the funding for the team to go to Australia.”

Janse van Rensburg regards the building of the Ilanga as a “wonderful challenge”.

“Participating in the Solar Challenge has given us a vehicle to show kids that engineering is an amazing profession, that maths and science are their keys into this field, and that South Africa and the world are waiting on them to make a difference.

“The official answer is that the purpose of the programme is to promote the study of alternative energy solutions, energy management and sustainable engineering design,” she adds.

“It aims to deliver engineering graduates who are equipped with the necessary skills to deal with real-world engineering challenges.

“The project also creates an environment where we can connect research with industry. Working on a project like this, in such a competitive environment, means you have to push to be state of the art in every little thing you do.”

The 2014 Solar Challenge will be UJ’s second solar race.

UJ first participated in the Adventure Class of the then called South African Solar Challenge in 2010.

A team of electrical engineers designed and built a semi-autonomous hybrid electric vehicle and took pole position in their class (which did not include solar-powered vehicles).

“This gave us a bit of momentum and we gathered a multidisciplinary team of undergraduate students to design and build our first prototype vehicle, Ilanga I, in 2011,” explains Janse van Rensburg.

“We had no real budget to start with, but by involving the mechanical and electrical engineering departments and the industrial design department at UJ, we came up with a design that we could take to industry.

“We partnered with Eskom, MTN and Siemens to build a second prototype, Ilanga I.I, that we raced in 2012, with the support of the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), which sponsored the South African teams participating in the race.

“We came second in the Olympia class of the 5 000 km race, and UJ was also awarded the 2012 Sasol Solar Challenge Innovation prize.”

In 2013, in collaboration with Resolution Circle, UJ secured the involvement of Eskom, Siemens and RS Components to design and build Ilanga II, which will race in September, again supported by the TIA.

Resolution Circle is a UJ-owned, specialised technology research and development centre where academia and industry converge.

“Ilanga II is light and fast. Since the race is on public roads, we are limited to 120 km/h and a 1.2 m height,” says Janse van Rensburg.

“We have some very special solar cells to power our 98% efficient electric motors in a lightweight, small composite solar racer.”

The solar cells – gallium arsenide technology – are commercial cells used for space-grade applications, and cover 3 m2 on the vehicle.

The array was imported from Germany. However, the encapsulation and the layout of the cells have been custom-designed for the vehicle by the students at UJ.

The mechanical systems are also custom designed, using lightweight composite materials.

The high-power electronics – although designed for solar car racing – were purchased off the shelf from various manufacturers, while most of the low-power electronics were designed in-house.

More than 400 individual cells make up the battery.

The car has been designed and built by a core team of mostly postgraduate students at UJ, with nearly all of them racing in the 2012 event.

They have access to the expertise of UJ’s industry partners, the team at Resolution Circle, as well as academic and support staff at the university.

“But, most of the hard labour and late nights are put in by the postgraduate and undergraduate student team,” says Janse van Rensburg.

Industry partners and sponsors include Eskom, Siemens, RS Components SA, Aerotherm, Epsilon Engineering, Product One, TIA, Map IT, TomTom, Tracker Fleet, Technopol, BST Blackstone TEK, Milled Shapes and Profiles, CEF Brake Hoses/Power brake, 3M, CBI Group, HellermannTyton, LAPP, P24 Interconnect and Weiland.

Janse van Rensburg does not want to say what the price tag is on the Ilanga II.

“It’s not cheap to build lightweight, solar-powered electric vehicles, but the return on investment makes it worthwhile for the University of Johannesburg to invest in this project, and ultimately the UJ Energy Movement.”

The UJ team participating in the Sasol Solar Challenge will comprise eight engineers, three drivers, a marketing and logistics team, and academic and industry experts supporting the team.

“It’s difficult to single out the biggest challenge for 2014. The race is becoming more competitive with more international teams coming to South Africa,” notes Janse van Rensburg.

The 2010 and 2012 Solar Challenges were won by a university team from Japan.

“Our goal is to be light, fast and efficient, that’s the challenge,” believes Janse van Rensburg.

“It is not a race for speed; it’s all about the kilometres clocked at the end of the day and the charge available for the next leg of the race. The race strategy is predefined based on several criteria and this strategy determines speed and distance, and influences the choices made during the race.

“You drive the car according to the amount of energy available from the sun, not according to a fuel gauge or speed limit.”

Janse van Rensburg says UJ has built one of the smallest solar cars in the world, with some of the best solar technology available.

“We have taken some radical approaches inside the car in our electrical and mechanical designs. We used a lot of ultra-lightweight parts in the construction of the suspension and the battery pack. We are also employing some technologies inside our battery pack that have not been extensively used by solar teams before.

“At least one provisional patent has been filed on several applications for a type of three-dimensional printed part.”