Let's take a closer look at the case of UniBoAT, an educational and research project of the University of Bologna. It allows students and PhD students to apply their knowledge developing solutions aimed at sustainable mobility. The single-seat racing catamaran "Futura" takes energy from different sources: high pressure hydrogen converted into electricity via a fuel cell, latest generation lithium batteries and high efficiency solar panels.

The team participates in the Monaco Solar & Energy Boat Challenge (MCSEBC), an international competition open to the public, which welcomes students and professionals from all over the world to compete in three different classes: Energy, Solar and Open Sea Class

Boat & Propulsion Characteristics:

• All boats use the same base hulls
• No combustion propulsion
• Maximum energy onboard 10 kWh
• Maximum solar surface 3 m²
• Fuel Cell and Li-Ion Battery pack
• Commercial Torqeedo cruise 4.0 RL electric motor

Challenge:

• Endurance race (duration: 1.5hrs): the boat is “energy limited”, impossible to go above 4kW.
• Other races (duration: 2min max): the team needs to extract as much as possible from the battery pack to maximize the performance of the catamaran. (no power limitation).
• Electric motor: commercial Torqeedo cruise 4.0 RL and there are no other suitable electric outboard motors on the market.

UniBoAT needed to boost the electric motor reaching state-of-the-art performance.

Solution:

Alma Automotive designed a completely new inverter that controls the electric motor in order to extract the highest possible power.

The Company involved its own group of engineers dedicated to the development of electrification solutions in order to design the new power and control electronics, that guarantee greater performance without affecting the reliability of the Electric Boat Drive.

Starting from the original device, we have completely redesigned the electronic board. It was possible to double the native power, remaining within the geometries originally envisaged for the commercial inverter. The result does not affect the reliability and it ensures the maximum efficiency.

The system is based on a STM32F4 family microcontroller, it has a CAN interface used for control and a USB interface for configuration.