2018 Competitions


 NEWSLETTER December 2018 TSB main purpose is to build a sustainable boat to participate in worldwide university competitions organized by Solar Sport One, such as Monaco Solar & Electric Boat Challenge. In this paper we will present our achievements and all the challenges in two years of international competitions. These competitions consist of speed, endurance, time trials and maneuverability races to test the boat's performance but at the same time having the goal of evaluating the technological advances in the area, field in which our team excelled in 2018. 2018 1 week before competitions Our two motor controllers had a system failure problem and we had to buy two electric skateboard motor controllers. And these controllers only work at 20% of our maximum powertrain (10 Kw). Our hydrofoils which allow us to lift the boat above the water also had a mechanical problem due to a control failure during testing. This couldn’t be solved in time so we decided to participate in the following stages without them.



Monaco Solar & Electric Boat Challenge [11th-14th of July] – Monaco Back to the most expected competition of the year at the Yacht Club de Monaco. The team used those spare days in between competitions to implement the long awaited Dual Motor, which provided a significant improve in our boat´s performance. We managed to work around our dual motor system and were able to use both controllers to fully use our two motors, but still, at 40% of our maximum full powertrain. This year one of the main adjustments to the Solar & Energy Boat Challenge was the creation of the Tech Talks, where every team had a chance to present its ideas and breakthroughs to the other teams, as well as the organization, companies and entrepreneurs present at the event. Our boat and its innovative ideas were very well received by the attendants. On 13th July TSB raced on the first stage of the competition, the Fleet Race, which consists of doing the most amount of laps in 2 hours, where we achieved the 
 6th place out of 11 teams. In the Speed Record we achieved a cruise speed of 18,6km/h and a maximum speed of 23,7km/h. This performance showed a huge improvement of our top speed in The Netherlands, which was only 10,3km/h. This improvement was only possible because our dual motor system. In this race we came in 4th out of 11 teams. In the last stage, the Slalom, our steering system had a problem in the last corner of the track and we couldn’t get a finish time. So we were disqualified. We finished the competition in the 9th place overall, in a total of 11 teams. The team's potential, our boat and the innovations presented were recognized during the competitions. Worth noting was our Tech Talk, which was considered to be one of the best, having has focus point the Dual Motor system acclaimed by the audience. The team finally returned to Portugal and came back even more excited to work for next year competitions.



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