DESERT ROSE NORTHERN TERRITORY SOLAR CAR TEAM

HOME     INDEX    CAR MANUFACTURERS     BLUEBIRD ELECTRIC     ELECTRIC CARS     E. CYCLES     SOLAR CARS

 

 

Fuji, a company famous for its film, digital cameras and other photographic products, entered the vehicle below in the Darwin to Adelaide race.  The Rose is reputed to have a 98.2% efficient electric motor and to have cost several million pounds to develop.  This car won the World Solar Challenge (WSC) in 1996.  This same development figure would have built and equipped the Solar Navigator catamaran.

 

 

 

Fuji Xerox - Desert Rose

 

 

Why not visit the webpage opposite for more information: Fuji Desert Rose Solar car

Entrants in the cross Australia race, from Darwin to Adelaide, use solar panels to power a lightweight car over 2,000 miles at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour. Clearly, solar power can deliver enough energy to drive a vehicle considerable distance given the right conditions.

 

 


 

Fuji Xerox is the principal sponsor of the Fuji Xerox Desert Rose solar car. The team has recently received sponsorship deals from APG Electrical, Paspaley Pearl Group and Quality Plumbing. The Desert Rose team wishes to thank these businesses for their support.  If you are a local business and wish to support the Fuji Xerox Desert Rose solar car, please see the contact given below.

 

(May/June 2001) Sponsorship

 

Motorola, Holden, Faculty Of Technology and Industrial Education, Colin Ross NT KTM Racing and the NTU's VC's office have recently sponsored the Desert Rose and the team wishes to thank these businesses for their support.

 

(30/05/2001) Website update

 

The specifications page is now complete. Please email the webmaster on matters of corrections and the like.

 

(13/10/99) Whirlpool Sunrace 2000

 

For the latest information on how the Fuji Xerox Desert Rose is going in the Whirlpool Sunrace 2000, check out the link at the Northern Territory University website. For more mature information visit the 2000 History page.

 

 

 

Fuji Xerox - Team

 

 

History Links - 2001 - 2000 - 1999 - 1998 - 1996 - 1995 - 1993 - 1990 - 1987



The Fuji Xerox Desert Rose has been racing for over a decade now. With this sort of experience, you would rightly expect that she would be a good performer. And she is!

 

Since her conception, prior to the very first 1987 World Solar Challenge (WSC), the Desert Rose has received numerous awards particularly in the area of technical excellence. Most recently, the Fuji Xerox Desert Rose was announced by the International Solar Racing Federation as the fastest solar car averaged over 100 kms. Averaging 107.78 kmh in the 'Hay 100', a feature of the Whirlpool Sunrace 2000, the Desert Rose achieved one of the highest accolades in solar car racing.

 

In 1999, the Desert Rose managed 4th place in the WSC for that year, only 1 hour behind the leader in the 3010 km race. This performance was her best to date in any WSC with 7th place in 1996, 7th place in 1993, 12th place in 1990 and 5th place in 1987.

 

The travels of the Desert Rose are not just limited to Australia however, she has also been twice to Akita in Japan. After a surprise phone call in 1995, the Desert Rose participated in her first overseas race, the 1995 World Solar Rallye. This was the first of two attempts to win, the second being held in 1998. Both races had good results, but better still provided important lessons on reliability and strategy.


 

 The Desert Rose - glistening

 

 

 

Body

Monohull with integral solar panel. Construction: fibreglass, Kevlar, carbon fibre. Coefficient of aerodynamic drag Cd<0.13. Overall dimensions: 5,800 x 2,000 x 700mm at a point of minimum depth.

Suspension

Front: McPherson strut utilising Fournales oleo-pneumatic suspension units. Rear: Swinging arm with Fournales oleo-pneumatic suspension units.

Running Gear

Front: Two 20inch wheels fitted with disk brakes. Rear: One 26inch drive wheel. Michellin tyres.

Final Drive

Wheel-mounted 10kW axial-flux, Nd-Fe-B permanent magnet, brushless DC motor; 96% efficiency at 1kW, 72kph; mass 16kg. Northern Territory University design and construction.

Steering

Chain and sprocket operated cross shaft.

Total Vehicle Mass

195kg

Electrical

48-volt motor and control system, designed and manufactured by the Northern Territory University.

Solar Array

Continuously curved array for optimum aerodynamic / crosswind performance; 4,000 x 2,000mm projected area and utilising special heat transfer techniques to minimise panel temperature. Cells manufactured by UNSW Centre for Photovoltaic Devices and Systems - efficiency 17-19%; total output 1,350watts at 25°C, at 1kW/m2 insulation. Array divided into 27 sub-areas; variation of angle of normal from mean within each sub-area ±3°. String length 30 to 60 cells. 13 sub-areas have two strings in parallel. 26 power point trackers, Northern Territory University designed, 99% efficient, are mounted, distributed on the array, feeding an aluminium bus bar system.

Batteries

28 cells; 1.5V, 115Ah; weight 32kg. Manufactured by Eagle-Picher.

 

 

 

For general information and enquiries about the Fuji Xerox Desert Rose, please contact:

 

 

Associate Professor Dean Patterson
Director
NT Centre for Energy Research
Email: d_patterson@banks.ntu.edu.au
Ph:  +61 8 8946 6389
Fax: +61 8 8946 6993

 

 


 

The 1996 World Solar Challenge, 3010 km

Race Results
Placing Team Car Origin Time Speed
1st Honda R & D Dream Japan 33:32 h:m 89.76 km/h
2nd United High Schools of Biel sCHooler (*) Switzerland 35:00 h:m 86.00 km/h
3rd Aisin Seiki Co Ltd Aisol III Japan 37:18 h:m 80.70 km/h
4th Mitsubishi Materials Corporation Sun Challenger Japan 45:07 h:m 66.72 km/h
5th University of Queensland Sunshark Australia 46:24 h:m 64.87 km/h
6th Waseda University Sky Blue Waseda II Japan 46:38 h:m 64.55 km/h
7th Northern Territory University Fuji Xerox Desert Rose Australia 48:02 h:m 62.66 km/h
9th University of New South Wales Sunswift (*) Australia 56:32 h:m 53.24 km/h
16th Lake Tuggeranong College Spirit of Canberra (*) Australia 67:15 h:m 44.76 km/h
DNF Aurora Aurora 101 Australia Did not finish, owing to accident on day 1 while running 4th

 

 


 

 

 

Solar powered car racing events continue to gain in popularity the world over judging from the number of world class teams listed below.  They say racing improves the breed and this is no exception.  Most of the development of solar racers is undertaken by university teams.  It seems this is a young engineers sport and that the cars of the future are for the most part being developed by educational institutions with sponsorship from local business and government environmental initiatives.

 

 

ORGANISATION A-Z

CAR'S NAME

TEAM NAME

Aristotle Uni of Thessaloniki, Helios

Helios

Faculty of Engineering

Arizona Solar Racing Team - USA

Arizona Solar Racing Team

Auburn University

Sol of Auburn

Sol of Auburn

Aurora Team, Australia

Aurora

Aurora Vehicle Association

Bochum Solar Car Team

Das SolarCar der Fachhochschule

California Poly S University

SLO Burn  Sidewinder

San Luis Obispo

Clarkson Uni Solar Car Team, USA

The Solar Knights

Delft University - Holland

NUNA I & II 2003

Dell Winston School

The Hunter

Solar Car Challenge

Desert Rose, Northern Territory Uni

FUJI DESERT ROSE

Drexel SunDragon Home Page

École de technologie supérieure Quebec

Eclipse V (5)

Éclipse Vehicular Solaire 

École Polytechnique de Montréal

Esteban

Eko-Auto  Poland

Eko-Auto

Electron Analytic Corporation

Dark Horse

EAC Skunkworks

George Washington University

George Washington Uni Solar Car

Georgia Institute of Technology

Solar Jackets

Solar Jackets

Heliodet, Germany

Heliodet

Heliodet, Solar Car Team

Helios - Lille, France

Hélios IV

Hautes Etudes d'Ingénieur

Honda Car Company

Honda

Illinois State University

Surya, Ratha, Mercury

Illinois State University Team

Iowa State University

Fusion

Team PrISUm

Jonasun  Japan

Orbit

Solar Car Paviion

Kansas State University

Paragon

Solar Car Racing Team

Los Altos Academy of Engineering

Los Altos Solar Car Team

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tesseract

MIT

McGill University Monteal, Canada

iSun

Team iSun

McMaster University

Phoenix

McMaster Uni Solar Car Project

Messiah College Grantham, Penns

Genesis II

Genesis II Solar Racing Team

Michigan State University

 

Solar Racing Team

Michigan Technological University

Solar Car Team

Minnesota S Uni-Mankato/Winona S Uni

Minnesota Solar Car Team

North Dakota State University

The Double Deuce

Sunsetters - Solar Race Team

Northwestern University

N'Uvation

Northwestern University

Nuon Solar Team, Netherlands

Nuon 3

Het Nuon Solar Team

Osaka Sangyo University, Japan

OSU model S

Solar Car Team

Prairie View A&M University

Solaris

Sun Panthers

Principia College

RA 6

Principia College Solar Car Team

Purdue University

SPOT 2

Purdue University Solar Racing

Queen's University Canada

Radiance  Gemini

Queen's Solar Vehicle Team

Red River College 

Red River Raycer

Red River College Solar Car Team

Rice University

Rice University

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Rose-Hulman Solar Car Team

Southern Illinois Uni Edwardsville

Cougar Cruiser

Southern Illinois University

South Bank University, UK

Mad Dog

South Bank Mad Dog Team

South Dakota School Mines & Tech

Solar Motion

South Dakota Solar Motion Team

Southern Taiwan University Tech

Southern Taiwan Solar Team

Stanford University

Solstice

Stanford Solar Car Project

Tamagawa University - Japan

Tamagawa Solar Challenge Project

Team Futura, Italy

FUTURA 2

Team Futura

Team SunLake - Japan

Phaethon model

Team SunLake TOYOBO

Texas A&M University

Columbia Sunraycer

Texas A&M Motorsports Team

The Power of One  - Toronto

Xof1

The Xof1 solar car team

Tufts University

ANNE E. B. II

Nerd Girls

University of Alberta

University of Alberta Team

University of Arizona

Drifter

Solar Racing Team

University of Calgary

 

UC Calgary Solar Car Team

University of California-Berkeley

CalSol 

California Calsol Team

University of Kansas

Solution, CATalyst

KSU Solar Car Racing Team

University of Kentucky

Gato del Sol II

Solar Car Team

University of Massachusetts 

Spirit of Mass 413

Lowell Solar Racing Team

University of Michigan

Momentum

University of Michigan

University of Minnesota

Borealis III

U of M Solar Vehicle Project

University of Missouri Columbia

Suntiger VI

The Mizzou Solar Car Project

University of Missouri Rolla

Solar Miner V

Solar Minor Car Team 

University of North Dakota

Subzero 3

Team SubZero

University of Ontario Institute of Tech

UOI Solar Vehicle Team

Uni of New South Wales SCR Team

UNSW Sunswift III

New South Wales SCR Team

University of Patras, Hermes

Solar Car Team

University of Pennsylvania

Keystone

Penn Solar Racing

University of Queensland

Sunshark

Queensland Solar Team

University of South Australia

Ned  KELLY

SA Solar Car Consortium

University of Texas at Austin

Solar Steer

Solar Vehicles Team

University of Texas at El Paso

 

Solraycers

University of Toronto

Blue Sky

Blue Sky Solar Racing

University of Toulouse

Heliotrope

Heliotrope Solar Car Team

University of Utah 

 

Vehicle Design Team Utah

University of Virginia

 

UVa Solar Car Team

University of Waterloo

Midnight Sun VIII

Midnight Sun Solar Race Team

University of Western Ontario

Sunstang

Sunstang USP Solar Car Team

USP Solar Car Team

USP Solar Car Team

Western Michigan University

Sunseeker 05

W Michigan Solar Car Team

Yale University

The John Lee

Team Lux

 

 

 

IF YOUR TEAM OR EVENT IS NOT LISTED HERE,  PLEASE CONTACT US.

 

 

 

 

SOLAR CAR EVENTS

 

 

American Solar Challenge

American Tour de Sol

American World Solar Challenge - Formula Sun          

Australian World Solar Challenge

Canadian Solar Discovery Challenge

Dream Cup Solar Car Race Suzuka 2003 - Japan

Japanese World Solar Car Rallye

North American Solar Challenge

Phaethon 2004

Solar Express - Solar Bike Race

Sunrayce

SunRace 2003 - Australia

World Solar Car Rally - Japan

World Solar Rallye - Japan

 

 

 

 

THINKING OF BUILDING YOUR OWN SOLAR CAR?  CHECK OUT THE PAGES BELOW AS THEY COME ONLINE........

 

 

 

1. Chassis - and seating

2. Mechanics - suspension, steering, brakes

3. Motor and drive train

4. Motor controller

5. Solar Array - usually part of body

6. Batteries or fuel cells

7. Electrical System - and instruments

8. Driver Controls - switches, lighting, etc

9. Bodywork - Screen, etc

 

 

 

SOLAR CAR PART FINDER 

 

 

 


 

A taste for adventure

Solar Cola - a healthier alternative

 

 

EDUCATION  |  SOLAR CAR RACING TEAMS  |  SOLAR CAR RACING EVENTS  |  FILMS  |  MUSIC

The content of this website is copyright © and design copyright 1991 and 2006 Electrick Publications and NJK. All rights reserved. The bluebird logo and name Bluebird and Blue Max are trademarks.  The BE2 and BE3 vehicle shape and configuration are registered designs ®.  All other trademarks are hereby acknowledged.  Max Energy Limited is an environmental educational charity.