Moscow Poly “Sunny Regatta” student project, together with Sci-Tech Center for Polymer Materials Science, developed a composite steering wheel for boats that will run on solar power.
The new wheel is easy to control. It is 15-20 times lighter than the previous model. What is more, the wheel is smaller, which increases the safety level.
As a result of the cooperation between Moscow Poly students and the sci-tech center several more steering wheels of a kind are planned to be developed. They are going to be installed on the functioning boats, thus replacing the heavier ones. In addition to that, the team is planning to use this composite steering wheel concept in their upcoming projects.
This year the team is holding plans on boat construction involving vacuum diffusion methods. The boat shell will be made exclusively of carbon fiber, which will allow to considerably reduce its weight.
Moscow Poly has been constructing solar-power boats since 2015 as a part of their project activity. So far, the team has gathered a collection of 5 constructed boats. Lately, they have been winning all trophy cups at various solar-power racing boat contests in Russia.
