Desenvolvimento do sistema de energia solar sustentável para o veleiro autônomo N-Boat

Abstract

Two requirements considered very important in the design of autonomous robotic sailboats are battery autonomy to keep the vessel running and sustainability in recharging it, normally done using a renewable energy source. The N-boat robotic sailboat project of the Natalnet Associate Laboratory from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) adopts solar energy as the main source of electrical energy generation, using an MPPT type charge controller to obtain maximum power to recharge the battery. In this type of solution, it is equally important to know the battery recharge time, in addition to its autonomy time. In order to estimate these two parameters, in this work, we introduce the theoretical framework necessary for understanding the problem in question, as well as showing, for this adopted solution, a series of practical experiments carried out and with the results obtained, regarding the possible effectiveness of the sailboat’s power system. In the experiments, we carried out measurements of the amount of energy supplied in adverse lighting and weather conditions, with the system in an open location, with the possibility of supplying energy practically all day long, as would occur in an open sea navigation situation. From these results, we infer that the system can grant a big autonomy in terms of sustainability in electrical energy, using solar energy (solar panels) as its renewable source.