World's Mightiest Solar Boat Unveiled
By Christopher Mim http://www.scientificamerican.com
1. Nearly 500 years after Juan Sebastián Elcano
completed the first circumnavigation of the globe
using nothing but renewable power, Swiss engineer
Raphael Domjan and French sailor Gerard
D'Abouville are preparing to repeat Elcano's
journey in an all-electric boat powered by the
energy gathered by 470 square meters of ex.) solar
panels.
2. Unveiled for the first 1.)__________ in a ceremony
at a shipyard 2.)__________ Kiel, Germany, last
week, their vessel 3.)__________ a catamaran
made entirely out of 4.)__________ same kind of
carbon-fiber composites that 5.)__________
modern airplane wings strong yet light. On
6.)__________ 40,000-kilometer journey, the 30meter long and 15.2-meter 7.)__________ boat,
known as PlanetSolar, will have 8.)__________
withstand high winds, stormy seas and days
9.)__________ sunshine. On board, the world's
largest lithium-ion 10.)__________, a 13-tonne
monster capable of storing 1,300 kilowatt-hours of
energy when fully charged, will allow the boat to
slice through the water at an average speed of 13
kilometers per hour for three days straight in
complete darkness before its charge is completely
exhausted.
3. The ship can fully recharge its battery in the span of
a little more than two days of full sunshine if it's not
drawing power at the same time, such as when it's
docked in a marina, according to Domjan, a
paramedic turned engineer who is the visionary
behind PlanetSolar as well as its co-captain. The
ship is designed, however, to operate at sea
indefinitely, and under normal conditions its 38,000
solar cells average enough power production to
muster the 20 kilowatts of power needed to keep the
boat cruising along at its average speed. The
maximum electrical output of all the cells together
on a sunny day is about 100 kilowatts.
4. On a solar boat, where the amount of energy
available is much lower than on a traditional fossilfuel–powered vessel, efficiency is of the utmost
importance, says Jeff Morehouse, head of the Solar
Splash intercollegiate solar boat competition and
professor of mechanical engineering at University
of South Carolina in Columbia. In addition to its
double-hulled design, which means the boat has
much less drag when it moves through the water
compared with a single-hulled boat of similar size,
PlanetSolar has a number of innovations to make it
as efficient as possible.
5. One of these innovations is PlanetSolar's propeller
design—both propellers sit at the water line, half in
the water and half out. This kind of prop, known as
a "surface-piercing" propeller, can be much more
efficient than traditional propellers, because it
prevents the blades of the propeller from interfering
with one another as they push through the water,
Morehouse says. The blades of a surface-piercing
propeller also experience almost no drag during the
time spent out of the water.
6. PlanetSolar also uses the highest efficiency massproduced solar cells. Manufactured by SunPower
Corp. for installation on the rooftops of homes and
commercial buildings, these cells can convert 22
percent of the sun's energy into electricity, says
Joern Juergens, director of components at
SunPower. After installation on the ship, however,
the cells' efficiency is reduced to 19 percent,
because they must be covered in layers of plastic
and transparent composites in order to make them
immune to the corrosive effects of seawater and
variable temperatures.
7. The solar cells powering PlanetSolar are at the high
end of what's available for home installation, but
overall, the technology being used is "very
straightforward," Morehouse says. The solar power
component of this project is "purely a matter of
being rugged enough to withstand ocean travel," he
adds. Using standard, widely available technology
is exactly the point of PlanetSolar, Domjan says.
"What we want to show with this project is that
today we have the technology—you could buy this
technology for your home," he adds.
8. PlanetSolar will be tested in the water for the first
time later this month, and by early 2011 its captains
hope to be on their way, with stops including
Hamburg, London, Paris, New York, San Francisco,
Singapore and Abu Dhabi. At each stop, the focus
will be education. "Our main goal is to be
optimistic and to spread optimism," Domjan says,
"because almost everybody on this planet knows we
have to change, but they think we cannot change.
What we'd like to say to the world is, 'look, it will
work—we can keep our level of life and if we use
technology, it can be sustainable.'"
Prova di Inglese A 3.2010
UNIVERSITÀ' DEGLI STUDI DI ROMA
"LA SAPIENZA"
FACOLTA' DI INGEGNERIA
PROVA DI IDONEITA'
DI LINGUA STRANIERA
3/2010 Inglese
Cognome ____________________________
Nome _______________________________
battery
in
is
its
___ solar
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
make
the
time
to
wide
without
solar
II. HEADINGS (1 point)
Choose the best heading from the box below for
each of the numbered paragraphs from the text.
Example.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 8
Rankin
Matricola ____________________________
I. VOCABULARY (1 point)
Complete the paragraph(s) in the text with the best
words from the box below.
Example 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Compito A
___A_
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
Introducing Planet Solar
Just good, simple technology
Making the boat efficient
The best solar cells on the market
Spreading the good news
Charged to sail forever
Propellers at the surface
III. REFERENCE (1 point)
What do the underlined words in the sentence
refer to?
Example: “are preparing to repeat Elcano's
journey” (par. 1)
_________ first circumnavigation of the
globe using renewable power______
17. “The ship can fully recharge its
battery” (par. 3)
____________________________________
18. “PlanetSolar has a number of innovations
to make it as efficient as possible.” (par. 4)
____________________________________
19. “as they push through the water” (par. 5)
____________________________________
20. “these cells can convert 22 percent of the
sun's energy” (par. 6)
____________________________________
IV. GEN. COMPREHENSION (2 points)
Indicate if the following statements are true (T),
false (F) or if there is not enough information (N)
based only on the information in the text.
Example: Juan Sebastián Elcano
circumnavigated the globe in a sailboat......._N
21. The PlanetSolar boat was fabricated in
Germany.....................................................___
22. PlanetSolar requires 20 kilowatts of
power to travel at average speed................___
23. The SunPower cells used on PlanetSolar
maintain a constant 22 percent efficiency
when installed.............................................___
24. The immediate goal of the boat is to
educate people about solar energy..............___
25. The surface-piercing propellers used by
PlanetSolar are made of aluminum.......___
Prova di Inglese A 3.2010
Answers
1
time
2
in
3
is
4
the
5
make
6
its
7
wide
8
to
9
without
10
battery
11
F
12
C
13
G
14
D
15
B
16
E
17
planet solar
18
the boat
19
propellers
20
SunPower cells
21
N
22
T
23
F
24
T
25
N
Prova di Inglese A 3.2010