IXYS UK Provides Solar Cells for Oxford University Eco-Vehicle at the 2013 Shell Eco-Marathon in Rotterdam

The vehicle features a reconfigurable PV array, using the IXYS SolarMD modules SLMD121H09L that manoeuvres the maximum power point of the solar panel to coincide with the battery terminal voltage.

“IXYS has a history of innovation in the renewable energy field and we are proud to support the efforts of the Oxford EPG team in realising this bold and revolutionary design. Our congratulations go out to the entire team for their hard work and dedication and we are looking forward to more cooperation for future projects,” comments Nicholas Tarling, Product Engineer at IXYS UK.

Not only did the team manage a 50% increase in vehicle range, 564km/kWh, from their 2012 effort, they were also awarded the overall technical innovation prize out of a pool of over 200 teams from across Europe.

“We would like to take the opportunity to thank IXYS for their support in supplying the PV cells for the 2013 vehicle. We wired up 130 IXYS cells into a re-configurable solar array, controlled by a matrix of MOSFET switches. This was a bit of an experiment that demanded high performance, consistency and reliability from the cells to be effective. In the end, the IXYS cells produced 20% of the vehicle's propulsion requirements and we believe exceeded the output of all other competing PV systems in our class,” comments Pete Armstrong, team technical manager.