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Osnovna škola Bartola KašićaVinkovciErasmus+Young citizens of Europe – our future

May 2015

SOLAR POWERED CAR

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Our society and industry rely on large amounts of energy and we are dependant on fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal, etc.). Fossil fuels pollute the environment and we will run out of them soon.It is estimated that the world’s oil reserves will last for 30 to 40 years. Finding cleaner and alternative ways of producing electricity / energy is very important for the future of our planet. Renewable sources of energy occur naturally in the environment. For example, energy from the sun, the wind, movement of the oceans, etc. Solar energy does not cause pollution and will last forever.

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Solar cars have been developed for more than 20 years, they are powered by energy from the sun. They are not widely used at present, but in the future they will play an important role in reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. A solar powered car can only run efficiently when the sun shines, although most vehicles have a battery backup. Electricity is stored in batteries when the sun shines and this power can be used when sunlight is restricted (cloudy weather).

We decided to make a solar powered toy car.

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An old toy car was disassembled into pieces.

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We needed gear transmission , a set of rubber wheels and two electric motors.

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Photovoltaic panels convert sunlight into electricity.

They must be connected to electric motors.

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The car is ready to race.

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Eco-friendlier model made of wood

According to the principles of application of three Rs - Reduce- Reuse- Recyclewe decided not to throw an old printer away, but to take electric motors from it and use it in our solar powered car.Lots of students wanted to take part in disassembling the printer.

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We had to draw the parts and saw them in the janitor’s workshop.

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Despite our efforts, we still had to use some parts made of plastic.

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Wooden carAfter testing it turned out to be too heavy, so we removed solar panel’s wooden frame.

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A final touch to make it recognizable at first glance.

painting

varnishing

16Let’s race!