POWERgoats is a team of powerboat designers from the PUT Powertrain Interfaculty Scientific Club at Poznań University of Technology. Every day, the team carries out research into and designs alternative drive systems for a variety of means of transport, bringing together skills across mechanics, electronics, IT, product, marketing and sales. Within the science club, its work spans three main activities: building a dynamometer for an unmanned aircraft, organising the Motorboat Technology Symposium, and, as engineers of the future, designing and constructing a solar boat. This breadth lets the team take its flagship POWERboat from concept to competition entirely in-house, turning research into a real, racing prototype for the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge.
Solar boat – POWERboat. This is our flagship project for 2024-26, it combines photovoltaic panels and fuel cells with advanced solutions for energy management, storage, and conversion, to participate in the Monaco Energy Challenge. The project develops solutions for all our centres (mechanics, electronics, IT, products, marketing, and sales products).
The design of POWERboat is based on optimisation of hydrodynamic resistance using hydrofoils and a hidden cockpit made of basalt material, which in the future may be utilised throughout the boat. It also introduces energy over time and adaptive powertrain operating modes that optimise energy performance. With a photovoltaic system with active cells monitoring energy production, detecting irregularities both in port and during the cruise. Our goal is to show ourselves as engineers of the future.
