TerraLiner:12 m Globally Mobile Beach House/Class-A Crossover w 6x6 Hybrid Drivetrain

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The very best map that I've been able to find so far, that expresses this basic idea clearly, is the following:


1 image


Unfortunately it's a lower-resolution image, but what it says should be apparent enough. There's a large swathe of purple low-DNI running clear across equatorial countries, one that is then repeated as another swathe of low-DNI purple across the top of the northern hemisphere, and same swathe of purple across Antarctica.

So when the TerraLiner travels in equatorial countries, even though the sun will be directly overhead, the solar arrays will for the most part not achieve their maximum peak power. The only probable exceptions might be Kenya and Tanazania:


2 maps DNI Tanzania and Kenya
1 map global DNI


Note that in these more focused “country maps” of DNI, blue and green mean something different than they do on a global map. On the global map, blue means a DNI of roughly 500 kwh/m[SUP]2[/SUP], whereas in these maps of Kenya and Tanzania, blue means 1100 kwh/m[SUP]2[/SUP]!!


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6. The sun is low in the sky, the days are short, and it's cold as hell: we must be in Siberia


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India suggests that the DNI level might vary considerably on a seasonal basis, because of varying precipitation. Russia illustrates this idea of season variation even more dramatically, but for a different reason.

The prospect of crossing Russia with a vehicle dependent on solar power presents additional problems. For instance, the solar energy “resources” of Russia are all in the south:

2 maps


However it should be granted that, according to many of the maps above, from a global perspective southern Siberia actually receives more solar radiation than most of central China!

The problem is slightly different. Because Russia is so far north, there is a huge difference in the “Solar Radiation Totals” it receives for July versus January – see http://www.agroatlas.ru/en/content/climatic_maps/Ir/ :


8 maps


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Again, by far the coolest way tools I've been able to find on the web to describe this, are some animated GIFs, the first two showing the change in seasonal solar radiation, and the third, the change in snow cover:


3 Animated GIFs


Presumably the same pattern will hold true for all countries that are closer to the North Pole or the South Pole, than they are to the equator. In countries closer to the equator, the level of solar radiation available will remain more constant (other factors being held equal), because the sun won't change it's height or “declination” very much over the course of a year – see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Position_of_the_Sun ;

When travelling Siberia this presents considerable problems for reliance on solar. The ideal time to travel Siberia is in the winter, not the summer. Siberia is best travelled after the roads have frozen, and before they begin to thaw. Perhaps not in the middle of January, but ideally the TerraLiner would want to travel Siberia either in December, or in February/March:


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The featured KAMAZ truckers work in the winter time only, when ice roads are open. From the middle of December till the end of April.


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Even today, the highway is faster and smoother in winter—ice and snow fill in the potholes—but caravans are mandatory; if a peregonchik breaks down while alone, he'll freeze to death.) Sell one car back then and you could buy two. Sell two and you could buy four.


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The road condition is best in winter, when it is made of ice. This begins when the ice bridges on the Lena and Aldan are passable to trucks, around late October. In early April, these ice bridges become unsafe and by May the road is impassable while river crossings are blocked by moving ice. During winter the temperature is rarely warmer than -30C. Most vehicles travel in convoy, as if the car breaks down, it's only a matter of days until everything flammable has been burnt. If no other cars come, people swiftly freeze! There are many memorials along the road to people who have perished in this manner.
In late May and June (early summer), the road is muddy due to frequent rain, and the taiga is infested with hungry bears and semi-lethal Ichodes ticks. Neither are a problem in the few built-up areas. In July and August, the road is dusty, but in reasonable condition. By September it is Autumn - expect grey days, rain, and cold. During the freeze (in late September), river crossings are again impossible, except by helicopter.


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The Lena Highway…. although it is a federal highway, it was just a dirt road until 2014. When frozen in the winter, this makes for an excellent surface, and the posted speed limit was70 kilometres per hour (43 mph). However, in the summer, with any significant rain, the road turned to impassable mud that often swallowed whole smaller vehicles.[1] Significant parts of the road, mainly in the south, have been paved[2]
The last problematic part of the highway was paved in 2014 and now it is accessible all through the year.[3]However the bridge over the Lena river is still not constructed.The only transport working across the river when it is congested with floating ice are helicopters and hydrofoils.


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In sequence, see http://askyakutia.com/2013/12/truck...a-siberia-russia-photos/#sthash.fqT84j1o.dpuf , http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/print/2008/06/trans-siberian-highway/mckenzie-funk-text , http://wikitravel.org/en/Kolyma_Highway , and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A360_Lena_highway_(Russia) .

Also see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_road ,
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north...it-s-like-a-way-of-life-says-writer-1.2515737 , http://askyakutia.com , http://askyakutia.com/my-services-in-yakutsk/ , http://askyakutia.com/2012/12/planning-a-winter-road-trip-in-yakutia-siberia-russia-calculator-tips/ , https://www.facebook.com/AskYakutia ,
http://askyakutia.com/tag/kolyma-highway/ , http://askyakutia.com/2013/12/truck...ads-in-yakutsk-yakutia-siberia-russia-photos/ , http://blogs.waytorussia.net/herbariums/driving-by-car-through-siberia-part-1/ , http://siberiantimes.com/ecology/ca...ding-in-siberia-as-winter-ice-starts-to-melt/ , http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/08/30/on-the-prison-highway , http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/08/03/travels-in-siberia-i , and http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/08/10/travels-in-siberia-ii .

So if the TerraLiner wants to travel Siberia during the “ideal season” of winter, when the roads are most passable, it will have to do so precisely during those months when the days will be short, and the sun will be low in the sky. So quite nearly all of its power will have to come from a diesel generator instead.


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Extra in case

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7. Sunshine is abundant, and DNI is high, and the locals have skin cancer: we must be in Australia


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As the global maps of the DNI make clear, even the eastern lush/tropical, and more temperate/relatively wet parts of eastern Australia have





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8. It's Hot and Wet, so the DNI will be low…..


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The upshot of all of all these maps and thinking about solar conditions worldwide, is really quite simple: the TerraLiner should probably carry a large diesel generator after all, just like Class-A American motorhomes; a diesel in the 15 KW – 20 KW range, that can meet the complete power needs of the TerraLiner on its own.

It's one thing to rely on solar cells for one's power in a fixed abode, in a stationary house, where the weather is fairly predictable, and one can calculate one's solar expectations with some degree of precision. But when travelling with the TerrraLiner across the surface of the planet, solar conditions will be so varied, in so many different ways, that just hoping that one's solar array and batteries will “pull through”, would be foolish. For instance, one might find oneself in a tropical country in the middle of the rainy season. It's hot and wet, but there's little sun, and so one would have to run the diesel generator instead.

Now again, I am not an engineer, and despite having written the above, I still honestly don't know what the difference is between “Yearly Sum of Direct Irradiance”, “Global Irradiance”, “Direct Normal Irradiation” (DHI), “Global Horizontal Irradiation” (GHI), “Global Mean Solar Irradiance”, “Solar Insolation”, or “Weighted Mean Instantaneous Solar Irradiance at the Ground”. Or any of the other terms bandied about on the maps posted above. Sure, I've tried reading the Wikipedia articles, but many of them are filled with some fairly hefty equations – see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunlight , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insolation , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_insolation , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irradiance , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albedo , and http://wiki.naturalfrequency.com/wiki/SolarRadiation/Components , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_energy , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photovoltaic_system , and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_vehicle . So it would be great to hear from someone who does know the difference, and who might be able to speak in an informed way about the solar power consequences for the TerraLiner, as it travels from one part of the globe to the next.

Which metric actually matters the most for a world-travelling motorhome? Or which combination of metrics? My best guess is that the DNI matters most, and that the maps of the DNI are hence the most useful. But as seen in the case of Russia, some countries will also have tremendous season variation in the intensity of solar radiation available, so even maps of the annual DNI don't provide all the information that one needs.

So it's all fine and well to calculate that the solar energy potential of the TerraLiner's roof will be at least 5 KW, given the technology advances likely to occur over the next 5 years. But what does that actually mean, in concrete real-world terms, when travelling through northern Siberia, as opposed to the central Sahara? How much is peak efficiency likely to fall off, as one travels through places that are more humid, or more northerly, or both?

For instance, egn: as already demonstrated above, Blue Thunder has one of the biggest solar arrays mounted on a mobile home, expedition or otherwise, and you really travel with it, to places as varied as Sweden and Albania, Ireland and Russia. Have you been monitoring the difference in the performance of Blue Thunder's solar array, as you've moved around?

Needless to say, if anyone else has direct, real-world experience of performance differences in their solar panels as they've travelled with their expedition rigs, please post!! Real-world information of this kind would prove invaluable.



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Extra

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PART Id: SOLAR ENERGY – The Solar Technology of the TerraLiner's Side-Awnings: Thin-Film Flexible


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1. How do we realistically estimate of the power density of awnings coverd by Thin-Film flexible solar panels?


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Now in addition to the TerraLiner's roof surface of 25.5 m[SUP]2[/SUP], we need to add at least another circa 25.5 m[SUP]2[/SUP] - 70.31 m[SUP]2 [/SUP]of solar cells for the TerraLiner's awnings, covered with flexible, roll-able thinfilm arrays.

Skip ahead about one minute into the following video, to see what this might be like:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=010B4wsXlxk


Here the technology will be thin-film solar, and specifically thin-film solar of the flexible, roll-able, and/or bendable kind – see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_film_solar_cell .

The efficiency of thin-film solar panels has been gradually improving, and approaching that for mono-crystalline panels. For instance First Solar recently set a thin-film record of 20.4 % efficiency – see http://cleantechnica.com/2014/02/27/first-solar-knocks-park-new-solar-cell-efficiency-record/ . But First Solar specializes in rigid thin film modules, not flexible thin film – see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Solar and http://www.firstsolar.com/en/products . And flexible thin film solar arrays are much less efficient than Crystalline panels.

I haven't looked into thin-film flexible technology for a while now, but it seems that PowerFilm has become a major market leader – see http://www.powerfilmsolar.com , http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/about/technology/ , http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/education/calculations/ ,
http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/produ...tCategoryID=6579&productCategoryIDs=6578,6579 , http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/produ...tCategoryID=6580&productCategoryIDs=6578,6580 , http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/military/products__systems/foldable-and-rollable-solar/ ,
http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/produ...roductCategoryID=6571&productCategoryIDs=6571 , http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/military/products__systems/power-packs-and-high-power-solar/ , http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/military/capabilities/basing/ , http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/education/videos/ , http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/produ...roductCategoryID=6570&productCategoryIDs=6570 , http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/produ...roductCategoryID=6609&productCategoryIDs=6609 , and http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/education/videos/ . Those who attended the OverLand Expos in 2014 and 2015 might already be quite familiar with PowerFilm's product – see http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/media/cms/PowerFilm_Solar_Spring_2014_eNewlet_23A993BFCC660.pdf and http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/about...flagstaff_az&show=event&eventID=3913&eventDay= .

PowerFilm advertises that it sells the most flexible, most roll-able thin-film solar on the market today, and as a rough ball-park estimate, it gives its solar cells a 5 % efficiency rating, or about 5 watts per square foot / 54 watts per square meter – see http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/faq/ . But as we will see below, in actual practice the power density of the products that will interest us the most, is lower. PowerFilm also provides a useful Calculations webpage, at http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/education/calculations/ ; and also see http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/file.cfm/media/cms/QEPlotLightIntensityTempPerf_607E138129C18.pdf , http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/about/blog/?module_efficiencies&show=entry&blogID=947 , and http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/about/blog/?taking_the_technology_further&show=entry&blogID=976 .

As the following videos also make clear, official “efficiency” figures don't tell the whole story, because Thin Film solar seems to work better than most mono-crystalline panels when shaded, and when panels are not angled directly at the sun:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flvkYi753Js
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AExFl6LUqxk


However, note that in these product comparisons the videos contrast Powerfilm to just one type of mono-crystalline panel, and the videos are somewhat dated. Since the advent of thin-film solar, some mono-crystalline panels have been redesigned to correct for the defects that competition from thin-film solar has revealed, as already discussed above with respect to SunPower panels.


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2. Some PowerFilm Products


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Here are pages from a Powerfilm “product lineup” PDF that I found online, but it might be dated:


8 images



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And here are various specific PowerFilm product PDFs, for “foldable” and “rollable” charging mats respectively – see http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/produ...productID=271510&productCategoryIDs=6578,6579 , http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/sitev...0_Watt_Foldable_Sales_Sheet_0AB74FDD953AE.pdf , http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/produ...productID=271511&productCategoryIDs=6578,6579 , http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/sitev...0_Watt_Foldable_Sales_Sheet_E5B7214B89739.pdf , http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/produ...productID=271512&productCategoryIDs=6578,6579 , http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/sitev...0_Watt_Foldable_Sales_Sheet_0ED1D4C37867F.pdf ,
http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/produ...productID=271514&productCategoryIDs=6578,6579 , http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/sitev...0_Watt_Foldable_Sales_Sheet_583DA5D4AF047.pdf , http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/produ...productID=271515&productCategoryIDs=6578,6580 , http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/sitev...dia/products/R7_Sales_Sheet_6640CB5AA8CBE.pdf , http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/produ...productID=271516&productCategoryIDs=6578,6580 , http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/sitev...ia/products/R14_Sales_Sheet_D6872305FE172.pdf , http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/produ...productID=271517&productCategoryIDs=6578,6580 , http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/sitev...ia/products/R21_Sales_Sheet_EB226DE0F6F8C.pdf , http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/produ...productID=271518&productCategoryIDs=6578,6580 , http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/sitev...ia/products/R28_Sales_Sheet_E9D3DAD3778F0.pdf :


4 images from pdfs foldable



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Just in case
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4 images from pdfs rollable


Powerfilm also now makes 42 W and 60 W rollable charging mats, but PDFs are not yet available – see http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/produ...productID=276216&productCategoryIDs=6578,6580 and http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/produ...productID=276215&productCategoryIDs=6578,6580 .

As will become clear, it's these rollable products and their power densities that will prove most relevant to calculating the probable output of the TerraLiner's side awnings. The 42 W mat has unrolled dimensions of 1.544.57 m long x 0.66396 m wide, or 1.025 m[SUP]2[/SUP]. This gives it a power density of 40.97 W per m[SUP]2[/SUP]:


3 images


The 60 W mat has an unrolled dimensions of 2.18567 m long x 0.66396 m wide, or 1.45 m[SUP]2[/SUP]. This gives it a power density of 41.37 W per m[SUP]2[/SUP]: 36.243 W per m[SUP]2[/SUP].


3 images


The problem with these products, however, is that they are not solar panels that have been incorporated into large sheets of canvas or similar fabric, of the kind used in awnings. The actual power density of a huge awning that is designed to be flexible, and withstand gusts of wind and rain, will probably be lower.



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