Tohoku Relief Project – Wind/Solar Energy Power Generator Senior Design I Final Project Document Group #15 12/6/2011 Members: Imran Ali Travis Comer Keith Walls Sponsored by: Workforce Central Florida Participating in: Progress Energy Symposium
Table of Contents 1 Executive Summary............................................................................................................................... 1 2 Definition .............................................................................................................................................. 2 3 4 2.1 Motivation .................................................................................................................................... 2 2.
5 4.2.3 Displays ............................................................................................................................... 45 4.2.4 Microcontrollers ................................................................................................................. 47 Design.................................................................................................................................................. 48 5.1 Battery ..................................................
List of Figures Figure 1 - Block Diagram of Overall System Layout .......................................................................................................2 Figure 2 - Typical Construction of a Lead Acid Battery ................................................................................................10 Figure 3 - Comparison between the Construction of Wet Cell, AGM, and Gel Cell Lead Acid Batteries ......................11 Figure 4 - I-V and P-V Curve of a Typical 75W PV Panel .........
Figure 51 - LCD serial pin layout ..................................................................................................................................64 Figure 52 - Serial LCD Graphical Display ......................................................................................................................64 Figure 53 – MSP430 Mpower Consumption ................................................................................................................
1 Executive Summary It is the goal of our senior design team to design and construct a power generator that harnesses and stores energy from renewable energy sources. This will include both solar energy and energy that can be generated from a wind turbine. All of the energy generated will be stored in a battery, and will have the capability of powering both a laptop computer and a projector for a minimum of two hours.
Turret Mechanism Wind Turbine Mirrors Responsibility - All group members Block Status - To be acquired Responsibility – Travis Block Status – To be acquired Responsibility – All group members Block Status - To be acquired Wind Charge Controller Solar Panel Array Responsibility – Keith & Travis Block Status - To be acquired Responsibility – Travis Block Status – To be acquired Microprocessor Battery Solar Charge Controller Responsibility – Dylan & Imran Block Status - To be acquired Responsibil
also feel that both Waseda University as well as UCF will be able to benefit greatly from this. Waseda will be given the resources needed to continue to function as a university and UCF will be given exposure to one of the most prestigious universities in Japan that could sway many potential graduate and PHD students to want to attend UCF for their degrees and contribute to the many research opportunities ongoing on campus as well as research park.
2.2.1 Solar Power input The final device will utilize solar panels to harness energy from the sun and convert it to useful electrical power. The solar panels used should be low cost and low maintenance, while being as efficient as possible. In general, the lower cost panels output a lower amount of power. For this reason, the cheapest panels cannot be automatically selected, and instead price must be balanced with the power requirements of the system as a whole.
2.2.5Simultaneous operation Per specification the design of the generator is to facilitate simultaneous operation of the power sources. This being that no matter what conditions are present the generator is to be able to generate power without any external input or maintenance from a user and both sources are to supply power to the battery simultaneously or independently depending on the external conditions.
procedures the enclosure for the electronics will be a very simple most likely plastic box to just prevent direct water contact during testing. Since cost and time is a factor in this project design of an enclosure and no finished product is being shipped to consumers a simple barrier preventing direct water exposure will be satisfactory per our design specifications. 2.2.
3.3 Power Storage Having this mobile power generator would be pointless when the sun isn‟t out and the wind isn‟t blowing. For this reason, we need to harvest and store the energy as electrical energy when it is available. The system should be capable of running a laptop and projector for at least 2 hours on average.
components, their configurations, or the specific interconnections to be used in the final design. In the following sections, the different options and details about each option for all major hardware components of the system will be discussed. Specific components will not be selected here; this can be found in the design sections. 4.1.1Batteries Choosing the correct battery is one of the most critical parts of this design.
long period of time and a larger storage capacity than an SLI battery of similar size. Deep cycle batteries are popular in boats and RV‟s, as these have more electronic accessories to run, often without the engine running, than a car typically does. These are also the typical battery of choice for storing the energy produced by solar panels and wind turbines, just like our device will need.
Figure 2 - Typical Construction of a Lead Acid Battery Permission Pending These disadvantages are in effect advantages of VRLA batteries. VRLA batteries are more accepting of vibrations and being moved around a lot due to their pancake stack like design. They can be also mounted in any orientation and can‟t be spilled because their electrolyte is immobile.
in a higher charge efficiency due to less electrical energy being turned into heat. Their design also allows for virtually any charging current, which can drastically reduce charging time. The figure below shows an illustrated diagram of the difference between wet cell, AGM, and gel cell batteries.
battery packs generally cost between $60 and $150 each, weigh about 1 pound each, have a storage capacity up to 12800mAh, and come in 7.4V and 11.1V variants. They are designed to be deep cycled many times and are readily available at hobby shops and on the internet. One major downfall of lithium based batteries is that extreme care must be taken when charging lithium based batteries, as there is a risk of explosion if charging procedures listed by the manufacturer are not strictly followed.
sunlight, it still only puts out 4.4A, which makes or 12V x 4.4A = 53W. This results in 22W of un-generated power. If the PV panel were allowed to operate at 17V and generate its maximum of 75W, 75W/12V = 6.25 would be delivered to the battery. This is much better than the 4.4A before, and obviously will result in a quicker recharge of the battery. Again, this is all assuming full sunlight. The I-V curve of PV panels changes for each amount of sunlight it receives.
tolerances. This also applies to wind turbines, and applications where wind turbines and PV panels are applied simultaneously. The most efficient way to correct this it to employ an MPPT charge controller on each and every solar panel and wind turbine in the system. However, the most common method is to simply apply one MPP charge controller on the entire solar array and one on the wind generator array. 4.1.
The charging of the battery should transition seamlessly from the constant-current charge stage to the topping charge stage. This stage will complete the remaining 30% of the charging that is needed and can last between seven and ten hours. The current applied to the battery begins to drop as the battery begins to saturate, and the battery is considered fully charged when the current reaches a level that is 3% of the rated current.
If we were to use a lead acid battery in our final design, there would be a few specific requirements that we would need to follow. First, the area where the battery was located would need to be well ventilated, as the hydrogen gas produced while charging the battery is explosive. Next, we would need to look at the specific charge program for the battery that we choose, as it could be different between the flooded, gel, and AGM batteries that we have looked at.
Figure 9 - Charging Characteristics of a Nickel-Metal Hydride Battery Permission Pending The most preferred method for nickel-based chargers is known as Negative Delta V (NDV). Through NDV, the microcontroller in the system measures a voltage drop in the charger. This is a defined voltage signature that occurs when the battery has reached full capacity. It is the most accurate method when it comes to measuring most nickelbased chargers.
be used as an alternative. Finally, if none of these methods are ever utilized by the charger as a shut off point, then an absolute timer can be used to cut off the charge and prevent over charging. All of these methods combined, though complicated to implement, would be the most ideal way to monitor when the nickel-metal hydride battery has reached its maximum charge. Figure 10 - Lithium Ion Battery Charging Circuit Permission Pending Above is an example of a lithium ion battery charger.
Figure 11 – Charging States of Lithium Ion Battery Permission Pending Lithium ion batteries also experience a second stage of charging after the battery is charged to 70%. This topping charge stage, however, does not always charge the battery to max capacity. This is to prevent overcharging in the battery, as lithium ion batteries become very stressed when they go over the threshold voltage.
according to those guidelines. With proper and responsible practices in charging the battery our group will save time and money from buying a new battery and will avoid all potential injury. In order to properly capture as much gathered energy as efficiently as possible a charging circuit would be needed to take the energy generated by the wind turbine and the solar cells and be able to store it into the later specified battery.
amp/hour rating which would give us a maximum recharge rate of forty amps for this example. The time period of the bulk stage could then be determined from one hundred and twenty percent of the charge depletion depth divided by the average recharge rate. This would give a time period of three hours for the bulk stage of the charging process. The second stage that was observed and studied for charging circuits is known as the absorption stage.
Figure 12 - Charging Stages Permission Pending With the general understanding of what to look for in a charging circuit we can now look to see how the specified battery will react to the previously discussed charging methods.
However if the best form of charging circuitry is to be available for use in the project more than just the multi-stage charging system must be looked at. Another method available for use is to utilize what is known as maximum point power tracking or MPPT for short. Initial research showed that at first look the maximum point power tracking system is a great deal more complex than other multi-stage charging systems. Price to is also much higher than other conventional forms of charging circuitry.
A maximum point power tracking system would be able to take the characteristics of the example PV array and determine its‟ maximum point and use that for an optimized charging system as seen below. Figure 14 - MPPT Benefit Graph Permission Pending The maximum point power tracking system can take what inputs are available to it and combine them in a way to where the most efficient use of energy is able to pass through it.
have to be changed out for one that converts 12 VDC to 100VAC at 50 hertz, as this is the standard form provided by the electricity grid in Tokyo. The modified sine wave inverter is the less desirable of the two types, mainly because of its lower efficiency and the possibility that it could interfere with some sensitive electronics such as TV‟s, motors, and medical equipment.
as “soft start,” is also quite important to consider. Soft start is mostly beneficial with inductive loads, but the whole point of it is to minimize the current drawn by a device when it is first turned on. For example, most electric motors draw much more current, and therefore much more power, when they are first turned on and getting up to speed. Even though this particular system is not planned to be used for inductive devices such as this, it may prove beneficial to the user at a later time.
Figure 16 - Verical Axix Wind Turbine Permission Pending The second option that was available for the design was to use a horizontal axis wind turbine. Again this option came with its‟ own advantages and disadvantages that would need to be considered before a decision was made.
Some of the disadvantages that were observed from the horizontal axis wind turbine was the fact that much of the time horizontal axis wind turbines are mounted high up on poles to be available to higher unimpeded wind speeds. However because of the design specifications of the project the turbine will need to be closer to the ground and will not have access to the higher wind speeds if it were elevated.
were chosen the following data could be used as a base point in making that decision. The map in figure shows those wind resources and the location of Shinjuku-ku, Japan has been denoted with a red dot to give a sense of perspective on where the generator is being deployed. Figure 19 – Wind Intensity Map Permission Pending 4.1.6PV Cell Arrays Sunlight energy is a very easy source of power to harness. It can be accessed from anywhere in the world and most of our solar system.
Hydropower was an option but we needed a running stream to harness this energy. There is a high probability that the user will be in a area that a running source of water will not be available so there is no reason to use this as a primary source of energy. In our design we will be using Solar Panels to charge our battery. These panels output 12 volts, which we will use to charge the battery by using sunlight. They will be mounted on our box in such a way to optimize sunlight.
Figure 21 – Charging System form Solar Panel Permission Pending Since our device is very portable and we need to keep it light and mobile we will be using the thin film silicon, also known as amorphous. The advantages of this type of material are that it is the cheapest of them all as well as being the most flexible PV Cell Array.
As you can see from the picture it is a very thin material so we can bend it and in some cases cut it to the desired shape needed to put on the box. We will be adding this material to every possible area such that it can be optimizing the sunlight. Finally the last type of material used for solar energy that we can discuss is the CIGS. This material is still in its developmental stages but it is a very good prospect of a PV array.
which output different voltages for different applications. Since we are using a 12-volt battery we are going to also have to pick a panel, which outputs a voltage of 12-volts. The panels will also have to wire in parallel such that we don‟t double the voltage by each panel that is added respectively. The panels will also have to match the Voc because if we do not we will have voltage fluctuations and it will not charge the load correctly. The panel will be best used in areas where sun is highly available.
In order to sense the voltage at the battery, a simple voltage divider circuit can be employed to drop the voltage swing from the 10.5 – 13.5VDC range to the 0 – 3VDC range. This will enable the voltage to be read at the analog inputs of the microprocessor, as most microprocessors read in analog voltages between 0 and 5VDC. The voltages can then be scaled back up mathematically in the programming of the power calculation.
increase the voltage drop across this resistor to a value that is readable by the microcontroller. This is typically done on the high side of the load, but it is possible to also use this method the low side of the load. The charts below detail the advantages and disadvantages of both low side and high side sensing.
They will be using a serial LCD made by Monochrome in our design. Some of the many advantages of this LCD display is that it uses an onboard PIC tells the display to show alphanumerical characters rather than printing to a seven segment display. It also uses very low power which will be essential to this design since they are looking to optimize energy stored in a battery. Some of the features that they will be using with this LCD is the brightness display as well as the on/off feature.
the power is low to let the user know that the battery is almost discharged and inform the user that there will be a need to connect to a different power source unit before complete shutdown. I estimate 10 minutes before would be sufficient enough to let the user know about the situation. If the user ignores this we will then send out another alert when there is 5 minutes of battery left and a final alert when 2 minutes of battery is left.
Figure 29 - Serial Connection on LCD Permission Pending All of the settings will be stored on the LCD display in the EEPROM chip. This will store the configuration of the display as well as its timeout feature. We will also store in that chip how we want the characters to be displayed.
systems, appliances, power tools, toys, and implantable medical devices. Since most microcontrollers are able to operate at clock rates as low as 4kHz and draw only nanowatts worth of power while sleeping they are very useful for applications that require long term battery usage. One of the most common uses of microcontrollers is with LED or LCD displays. As it is our desire to use an LCD display in our design, a microcontroller would be used to program the display.
programming languages that this task can be accomplished in include Assembler, C, and BASIC. Another function that the microcontroller could perform would be the power usage and battery charge state calculations. Taking input from sensors connected to the charge controllers of the incoming power supplies, the microcontrollers would be able to monitor all incoming power. Next, the microcontroller would be able to measure the amount of energy being used within the entire system.
is also capable of being used with external devices and could easily be used to control our LCD user display. With packages between $10-$20 and individual parts as low as $0.50, the MSP 430 is a very affordable option for our group. An Arduino microcontroller is another board that we could consider using in our design. This is an open-source single-board prototyping platform that is designed to be used in electronics for multidisciplinary projects.
Figure 31 - Hardware multipliers for MSP430 Above is a picture of some of the hardware multipliers that we will implement in our design project. This is what will be used to carry out the prediction operations in our system. These operations are very fast which is what we will need to compute real time results. It also has a very low cost per operation because it requires little power and can be used even if the microcontroller is partially asleep.
The above figure shows the MSP430 architecture. As stated before and as shown in the figure, the MSP430 has its own clock system, capable of functioning with external devices. The MSP430 is available with either Flash or Read Only Memory (ROM). As it is our desire to write our own program and to have the ability to reprogram the chip in the testing phase, we will be sure to use a microcontroller that utilizes Flash memory.
user in a message on the screen. It will also light a LED, which will tell the user without looking at the display if it is using power or storing power. For example if the system is consuming power it will display a negative value on the screen which will light up a red LED that will indicate power usage. This information will have to be fed to the time calculation as well to calculate the amount of time remaining. The next possible situation is if the system is storing more power than using.
events are taking place. The more attention we can bring to the box the more better it is in the safety and well being of the individual using it as well as the machine itself. Adding a speaker will be very inexpensive as well as very valuable in the event of failure as well as in the event of important events that might take place. 4.2.3Displays Our display will be programmed using C/C++ programming language.
screen. There are other ways to get the battery data. This method seems to be the easiest, but it is not the most accurate. The most accurate method is to use the specific gravity of the battery, which the processor can take up to 2 hours to calculate. We felt as if this is to much time to get the percent of the battery left because that amount of time to get a steady state to read the level is to much time.
feature to turn off the LED that tells you if it is drawing power or if it is using power. This will save energy for our system. Figure 35 - LED to display fault codes Permission Pending Programming the LED bulbs will come from the microcontroller. We will have functions that will be running in real time to light the bulb. The bulbs will have a label under them letting the user know what the meaning of each bulb is. 4.2.
With multiple microcontrollers, the code programmed to each microcontroller would be much simpler. As it would only need to worry about dealing with one task, the code written for it would be very specific for that goal. During testing, if one aspect of our power generator was not functioning properly, we would be able to go back to the microcontrollers and specifically pin point the issue.
needs to have a high enough energy density to power a laptop and a projector for at least two hours. In order to estimate the correct size battery and ensure its lifetime is not compromised, a few calculations must be done. Most laptop power supplies consume less than 120W and most projectors consume less than 450W. To be safe we can round this up to a total of 600W power usage between the two, which would draw 5A from a 120V source. This means we need a battery with an approximate capacity of 10Ah.
Figure 37 - Spiral Cell vs. Rectangular Cell AGM Battery Permission Pending Because of the benefits of a spiral cell AGM battery over a rectangular cell AGM battery, the decision was made to use a spiral cell. The most popular and widely available manufacture is Optima. To help in making a final decision on a specific battery to use in our design, we created a comparison chart for all the different deeps cycle batteries Optima makes.
In the end, the decision was made to use the Optima D51 battery. Optima is a well known AGM battery manufacturer, and their batteries generally receive very good reviews on many different websites. This D51 is the cheapest and smallest battery Optima makes, costing less than $140.00 on amazon.com and weighing in at a mere 26 lbs, both of which are significantly less than most lead acid deep cycle AGM batteries.
5.2 Charging System Because high efficiency is a greatly desired characteristic of the project generator it was determined that the greatest use of a charging circuit would be with a maximum power point tracking system. This was chosen over the other multi stage charging methods because the efficiency of the maximum power point tracking system is over thirty percent more efficient than other conventional charging circuitry methods.
The maximum point power tracker that was eventually chosen for the project was the Solar Regulator, 30A MPPT rated up to 1.2KW that would be used in conjuction with the solar array, and an additional MPPT system that was included with the wind turbine. Between the two combined systems the power from both the micro wind turbine and the solar array should be at peak efficiencies when it is sent to supply a charge for the battery.
time that way the solar array could be isolated from the wind turbine or vice versa the wind turbine could then be isolated from the solar array. However this approach was deemed to complex and time consuming for the specifications of this project and the use of multiple charge controllers was deemed a suitable and satisfactory solution to controlling the output of the energy sources. 5.
Product 6.2 Peak Speed (m/s) 16 Cut In Speed (m/s) 3 Cut Out Speed (m/s) 26 20 10 15 3 18 20 10 15 3 18 3 3.7 17 3.5 26 5.5 5.1 16 3 26 0.8 1.75 12 3.5 26 Bornay 600 0.6 2 11 3.5 26 Bornay 1500 1.5 2.86 14 3.5 26 Bornay 3000 3 4 14 3.5 26 Bornay 6000 6 3.9 14 3.5 26 Proven 7 3.2 3.5 12 2.5 26 6 5.5 12 2.5 26 Proven 35 15 9 12 2.5 26 Evoco 10 10 9.65 9.5 2.5 26 Evoco Airsurfer 1.5 Gaia 133 Evoco 1.5 3.2 12 2.
dollars. One of the reasons for the lower costs is that the Sunforce 45444 was designed for off-grid performance and utility. Meaning that its‟ sole purpose is to charge twelve to twenty four volt batteries, very similar to the use that we have for it. Because that it was designed for off-grid use it does not require many of the accessories and sensors that various codes require personal power generators to abide by if they input power back into a power grid.
Sunforce 45444 Wind Speeds: Approximated Watts Produced 56 100 200 300 350 400 500 600 12 14 18 20 22 24 26 31 Figure 44 – Wind Speed vs.
Above is a schematic provided by the manufacturer to show how the Sunforce 45444 can be utilized in conjunction with a solar array. This will be a wiring diagram very similar to how the wind turbine and the solar array will be implemented in the project. The only difference being that in the final construction the turbine and the solar array will be mounted to the same support structure to be one all-inclusive power generator. 5.
Figure 46 - Thin Film Array Solar Panel Specifications The photo above shows the type of panel we will be using in our project. As you can see it is very flexible and we will be using this panel to cover the dome. This panel is made by Honeywell and is readily available for purchase. This particular solar panel can be cut to conform to different shapes. This is one of the main advantages of using this material.
Figure 47 - PV Array The wires that will be connecting these panels to the battery will be 8 to 10 gauge wires. We chose these wires because of the fact that we need to supply a 12-volt source to the battery. Since the panels will not send a burst of current and is limited to the maximum amperage of the wire we do not foresee a problem by using a thinner wire to transfer the energy to the battery.
but will also generate heat. We will need to find a way to remove heat from the system such that it does not heat the solar panel too much. As discussed earlier, the more heat that is added to the system the less effective the solar panels are and we do not want to lose energy through the addition of heat. We will need to find a way to balance the heat as well as energy creation because we don‟t want to create to much loss. This will defeat the purpose of adding the mirrors to the system.
5.5 Display They are many displays out there that all do basically all the same thing. These displays range from 9-segment display to fully realized pictures with images as well as movies. One of the main reasons in choosing our display is that it draws very little power and is cheap. We also noticed that the more sophisticated the display the more power it draws. Since we are going for low power we must have a system that consumes the least amount of power available.
We will need to look into different airflow patterns to keep our system cool. We will be doing this by using fans that will draw air from the bottom of the box and pull it in and let it out through raised slits in the side of the box. This is the best type of design because we need to keep rain and other elements out of the box. The rain will completely compromise our system and need to take precautions to keep it out of the system.
Figure 51 - LCD serial pin layout Permission Pending The figure above has the pin layout for the LCD display. As you can see in the picture the data bus lines are pin 7 through 14. These are the pins we are going to use the send the data to the LCD screen. Pins 1 and 2 are used for powering up the LCD screen, they are ground and Vcc respectably. The other pins that are associated with this device are settings and features we will try to incorporate in our design.
There were some other LCD screens we as a group were looking into. One if the main design issues we ran across when making our decision for the LCD was: Did we want to use a alpha numeric display or did we want to use just a simple 7 segment display? We decided on using the alphanumeric display because unlike the 7-segment display we can display characters, which would be a great feature for our users because they would not have to try to figure out what this number means on the screen.
Another useful function that we can incorporate from the MSP430 is its zero-power brown-out reset (BOR) function. This would detect low voltages from the power supply, which in our design case would be the battery. This function can be used as a fail-safe, insuring that the battery never reaches critical voltage levels. Texas Instruments has also incorporated into their MSP430‟s a type of non-volatile memory known as Ferroelectric Random Access Memory (FRAM).
Looking at the chart from Texas Instruments found below will be useful for comparing available microcontrollers. A few particular lines of the MSP430 family have built in LCD controllers, making it convenient to control our user display system. This is also combined with a fast wake up system and flash memory, both features desirable in our design.
USB Ground USB Data + USB Data USB Vcc +5VDC 2KΩ Vcc Voltage Sense Current Sense 2 Current Sense 3 Current Sense 4 Current Sense 5 Output 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 14 Gnd 13 12 MSP430G2231IN14 11 10 9 8 Vcc Input D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 14 13 12 MSP430G2231IN14 11 10 9 8 4.
connect our own to them. The MPPT charge controllers will help regulate the power output and will ensure that it stays within safe levels for the battery. This information will also be fed into the same microcontroller as the second power input source. Next, we will need to know the amount of power being drawn between all of our devices. This would include such things as the laptop, the projector, the LCD display, and any microcontrollers used.
Since most current sensors don‟t have an output that 5V or higher, their voltage will need to be modified to that accepted by the microcontrollers in the same way as above. These voltage divider circuits will be included on the same circuit board that the sensor is mounted to in order to allow for any current sensor to be used in the case that one fails. 5.6.2Battery Charge State Sensors It will be our next task of computing in real time the amount of time remaining that the battery can be used.
Draining the battery to a voltage below 10.5V may also cause permanent damage to the battery. 5.7 Power Inverter When it came to the power inversion part of the design, we had two options. We could either build an inverter from scratch, or we could purchase a commercially available alternative. In building one from scratch, the inverter would be custom and specific for this application, and it would also cost significantly less than a comparable commercially available option.
X X X X X X X Price ($) X X X X X X X X Temperature Protection X X X X X X X Short Circuit Protection X X X X X X Soft Start 87 n/a 90 90 90 90 87 X Overload Protection 1000 750 800 600 800 900 1000 X X X Low Battery Protection 90 90 90 n/a 88 USB Port Peak Efficiency (%) 700 600 750 1000 800 Pure Sine Wave Continuous Power Rating Wagan 2016-6 Xantrex PROWatt 600 Vector VEC043B Sunforce 11240 Cobra CPI 880 Black & Decker VEC049DCB Black & Decker PI750AB Whistler Pro-800W Pyle PINV2 P
Ground Data + Data Vcc - +5VDC 60A Fuse + 120 VAC Power Inverter - + 12 VDC Microcontroller PCB 120 VAC “Hot” 120 VAC “Neutral” 120 VAC “Hot” 120 VAC “Neutral” Ground 120 VAC Outlets - Optima D51 Yellow Top Battery Vcc - +5VDC Data Data + Ground USB Outlet Figure 59 - Schematic Diagram of Wiring from Power Inverter to Outlets 5.8 Power Outlets In order to keep the power inverter sealed from the elements, it must be mounted inside the enclosure with all the other electronics.
being deployed and the second being to use the already existing ground of the nearest building. Rather than having to run a cord to the nearest building and plug it into an outlet there, it was decided a new ground should be created at the location of the system. In order to do this, a 6 foot metal rod must be pounded into the ground, and then connected to the ground lug on the outlet. A wiring diagram showing the planned connection of the GFCI outlet can be viewed below.
Figure 61 - Heat transfer over a box Permission Pending As you can see from the picture heat will rise which will cause the top of the box to get hot. We will mount a heat sink and will use thermal ohms law to calculate the amount of surface area we need to be able to cool the box effectively. As in the image above you can see that we will be using fans to direct the air into the box by doing this we can route the air to transfer the heat from the box to atmosphere.
Figure 63 - Waterproof button used to change modes Permission Pending The image above shows the button that we will be using in our design. As you can see it is a very durable button as well as being waterproof. We are building this system to withstand camping, power outage, mobile power station. This button is designed into this project be the user who will be using it for camping.
To begin with the wind turbine power system will be described. The system starts with the Sunforce model 45444 micro wind turbine mounted on the zenith of a converted speaker stand that utilizes slip rings underneath the turbine so that the Sunforce 45444 will be free of obstruction and able to move and rotate freely. From there insulated wiring travels down the speaker stand inside the sealed enclosure where the output from the wind turbine is dumped into a charge controller.
7.2 Power Generation testing In order to ensure that the system can recharge the battery quickly and correctly, a few different tests must be performed. To begin, the solar panel array and wind turbine will be tested separately. Each generator will have a multitude of tests performed on it to evaluate its performance and ensure that it is in fact generating the power that is advertised to and is necessary for the system as a whole to operate correctly.
Permission Pending Some feel that open field testing is the only true way to test the performance of a micro wind turbine, stating that other testing leaves room for the data to be unrealistic if it is only tested under optimal conditions. However to accurately test the results more testing methods will be needed in order to compare results from different tests.
If an inside location is eventually chosen for the testing area then mounting of the turbine will be even more crucial and require more thought involved. Since most parking garages have a low ceiling from the floor mounting the turbine to the top of the automobile could prove disastrous while at the same time expensive if a new turbine is to needed to replace one smashed into a concrete ceiling.
Figure 68 - Connection between PV array and Battery Permission Pending Heat generated by the panels may compromise our system. If that happens we need to find ways to dissipate the heat generated. We propose putting the panels outside of the box since they are weatherproof and make it lifted from the box such that air can flow between the panels cooling it as well as adding insulation so that it cannot go into the box and damage components.
Figure 69 – Solar Array Testing Method Permission Pending That way if in the future it is determined that the power system is lacking by a factor of „X‟ amount of energy a close estimate of how many additional PV sections needed can be calculated to make up the difference.
This sensor will be tested by using a power generator and by sending 30 amps into the sensor. This should relay a voltage reading, which should show that the sensor is reading 30 amps through the wire. We will then test the voltage sensor by using a multimeter and then see if the reading off the voltage sensor matches the rest of the system. We will then vary this to determine that the sensor is acting properly.
power consumption is to create a resistive load that will dissipate approximately 600W. This can be done by hooking 3 100W light bulbs in parallel and then connecting them all to one of the 120VAC power outlets, and the hooking another 3 to the other 120VAC power outlets. This is done to make sure that the current drawn on a single outlet is not too much.
output. We will need the frequency to be 60 Hertz as well as it needs to be running at 120 Vrms. This will be used to power normal household plugs when they are out in the field. For example we will have the USB ports to charge cell phones and other devices because most phones are charged with USB today. Next we will have a 12 volt output for devices that need a 12 volt source. Finally we will have the normal plugs that are on the wall such that any other item can be plugged into it.
7.5 Display Testing Testing the display will have to be done towards the end of the project. To test the time until empty we will hook it up directly to the battery and see if we add a light bulb of a known usage. For example a 60 W light bulb, we will use this to see if it is calculating power consumption correctly. It is important that the display shows that the system is using 60 watts of power. Then we will use that to calculate a time until empty and see if our predicted time matches our actual time.
1-Sep 15-Sep 1-Oct 15-Oct 1-Nov 15-Nov 1-Dec 15-Dec 1-Jan 15-Jan 1-Feb 15-Feb 1-Mar 15-Mar 1-Apr 15-Apr Batteries Maximum Power Point Tracking Charging Circuitries Power Inverters Wind Turbines Research PV Cells Power Usage/Generation Calculations Battery Charge State Calculations Displays Microcontrollers Batteries Maximum Power Point Tracking Charging Circuitries Power Inverters Wind Turbines Design PV Cells Power Usage/Generation Calculations Battery Charge State Calculations Displays Microcontr
PCB $100.00 Steel Base $50.00 Aluminum Framing $100.00 Plexiglas Casing $150.00 Paint $20.00 22 Gauge Solid Core Wire $20.00 14 Gauge Wire $30.00 Mirrors/Lenses $200.00 Wheels/Axel $70.00 22 Gauge Connectors $20.00 14 Gauge Connectors $20.00 AC - DC Conversion Parts $150.00 Telescoping Tripod Stand $150.00 Miscellaneous Hardware $200.00 Total $2,870.00 Figure 74 – Revised Itemized Budget 8.
Figure 75 Permission Pending The last goal that this project hopes to accomplish is to allow UCF engineers the opportunity to work hand in hand with our partners across the pacific. It is desired that this project and the knowledge it can provide will allow UCF engineers to travel to Waseda University in order to aid in the construction and design of the generators that Waseda University is hoping to construct.
Thirdly is how all of these systems interact with each other at the battery to supply power to the load. At the battery there are a few systems working simultaneously. The previously aforementioned power systems are dumping their outputs to charge the battery via their respective charge controller but MSP 430 electronics are also collecting data and sending it to an LCD display where the user can view it. Such things collected are power usage power generated and power still available in the battery.
specified it came down to how to test the machine after it is constructed. It is one thing to say that a motor is spinning at two hundred rotations per minute but when you have to find a way to prove it challenges can be encountered. The senior design team was able to sit down and draft multiple and creative methods that could potentially be available to them in order to test their designs and collect data on the final designs.
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