Journal of the Korean society for railway, 2(17), p. 94-99
DOI: 10.7782/jksr.2014.17.2.94
Recently, trends in new transportation system development have been primarily focused on sustainable and ecofriendly mobility solutions. The personal rapid transit (PRT) system has been considered a promising candidate in this category; its competitiveness is being improved through convergence with cutting-edge electric vehicle (EV) technologies. However, battery-powered vehicles pose difficult technical challenges in attempts to achieve reliable and efficient operation. In this study, a design approach for a solar-power assisted PRT system is presented with small-scale demonstrations aimed at circumventing challenges facing its adoption, as well as helping speed the transition to electric-powered ground transportation. From the results, it is expected that flexible photovoltaic (PV) cells will be able to supply 11% of the power required by the service equipment installed in a prototype vehicle. In particular, flexible photovoltaic (PV) cells are advantageous in terms of cost, weight, and design considerations. Most importantly, the cells' flexibility and attach-ability are expected to give them great potential for extended application in various areas.