DE8532154U1 - Motor vehicle with device for using solar energy - Google Patents

Description

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Motor vehicle with device for using solar energy

The innovation concerns a motor vehicle according to the generic term of claim 1.

The use of solar energy for motor vehicles is currently a subject of general interest and naturally occupies the minds of numerous inventors. However, many of the resulting proposals are far from the physical and technical possibilities or the market economy requirements. For example, one must always bear in mind that, particularly in passenger cars, the area available for the arrangement of solar cells is very limited. There is a test vehicle from Volkswagen (see VDI News No. 46 / November 13, 1981, p. 40) which has solar cells arranged like a roof rack with a

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The solar cell has an area of at least 2 m, but such a solution is not practical for aerodynamic and aesthetic reasons alone. Conventional solar cells made of crystalline silicon can hardly be bent, so that more curved body surfaces are not required as supports. Solar cells can be arranged, for example, on a trunk lid or under a glass sunroof or on a steel sunroof. The electrical (direct current) power output is in the order of about 30 W in full sunlight in Central Europe. This can be used, for example, to drive a fan that supplies the interior of the parked vehicle with fresh air in summer. This application example is implemented in the Saab test vehicle EV-I (cf. mot 19/85, p. 132). DE-OS 29 52 080 suggests using the

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In addition to the fan drive, it is proposed to operate the pump of an absorption refrigeration system for a vehicle with solar power, whereby the boiler of the refrigeration system is heated directly by the sun. It has also been proposed to use the solar power to charge a battery in the vehicle, which can be identical to the on-board battery or be present in addition to it.

In all these cases, the solar cells are on the

Sunlight facing side with a transparent j

Cover made of glass or plastic. Cover j

made of normal glass are relatively heavy and inflexible |

because they provide sufficient mechanical I

strength must be made quite thick. f

Those made of plastic are light and flexible, \

but their optical properties deteriorate j

over time relatively strongly due to scratching of the I surface, aging and weathering of the plastic material.

riales, water absorption, etc.;

The innovation is based on the task of enabling a robust, lightweight and visually flawless design of the solar cell panel in a motor vehicle with a device for using solar energy.

This object is achieved by the features characterized in claim 1.

Subclaim 2 contains an advantageous embodiment of the device of the motor vehicle according to claim 1.

The cover made of chemically hardened thin glass enables

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light, to reduce the glass thickness and accordingly the panel thickness and thus reduce the panel weight without loss of impact resistance and breaking strength. Furthermore, due to its flexibility it allows adaptation to moderately curved surfaces, e.g. trunk lids, and also meets all requirements in terms of optical properties in the long term.

An advantageous application of the innovation is explained below using the embodiment shown in the drawing.

The figure shows a schematic representation of all the essential elements of a device for using solar energy in a car.

In the upper part of the figure, two solar cell fields 2 and 3 can be seen, each of which is made up of an equal number of solar cells 4 and together forms the solar cell panel 1. The solar cells 4 of the solar cell fields 2 and 3 are provided with an innovative cover made of chemically hardened thin glass in order to achieve optimal mechanical and optical properties. The solar cell fields 2 and 3 are connected in series to charge a battery 6 and in parallel (half voltage) to operate a fan 5. The electrical symbols for the motor of the fan 5 and the rechargeable battery 6 are shown in the lower part of the figure. The specified voltage value of 6 V for the fan 5 refers to solar operation when the vehicle is parked. When driving, the fan 5 is powered by the battery 6 via the step switch 8 shown at the top right of the figure, with the full battery voltage of 12 V being applied to the step switch 8, which is connected to the voltage shown.

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The

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can be gradually reduced by means of three fixed resistors in order to vary the fan speed. The free cable end shown to the right of the three resistors also leads to the fan 5. Below the step switch 8, the ignition 7 is shown as an open switch and below that another closed switch, which is opened or closed depending on the interior temperature ^ in the passenger compartment of the vehicle at the front of the fan. The value of the interior temperature _ that triggers the switching process is between 30 and 35 ⁰ C.

The "brain" of the arrangement, so to speak, is the switching and control device 11, which is shown as a large rectangle. This can be divided into the logic 12, shown in dashed lines, and the switching elements 15, shown in curved lines, with the logic 12 preferably being largely electronic.

The logic 12 consists on the one hand of a part 13, which is responsible for the change between ventilation / charging, parallel / series connection and is connected to the battery 6 via the ignition 7 and the switch of the temperature sensor 9, whereby this connection is simply shown as a free cable end. On the other hand, the logic 12 consists of the charging control 14, which is intended in particular to prevent the battery 6 from being overcharged. For this purpose, the charging control is connected to the temperature sensor 10, which registers the outside temperature j. Depending on this, the charging control 14 specifies a maximum permissible battery voltage, if this is exceeded, the so-

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I lary charging current is switched off. Only after power

1 removal from the battery and falling below the permissible

When the voltage is released the charging process starts again.

Claims (2)

■ * &agr;.&Mgr;.!. .:.*..· '.2'.1O1Q'. 1986, 1013&Agr; Pf/Zg 9825 GM G 85 32 154.0 ^'Motor vehicle with device for the use of solar energy y Protection claims 1. Motor vehicle with a device for using solar energy, the device comprising a solar cell panel firmly connected to the outside of the body or the structure for the photovoltaic generation of direct current, characterized in that the solar cells (4) of the solar cell panel (1) are covered with a flexible, largely break-proof, transparent cover made of chemically hardened thin glass, which is glued to the solar cells (4). 2. Power tool according to claim 1, characterized in that the cover made of chemically hardened thin glass has a thickness of less than two millimeters.