Virginia Tech Solar Array
Currently as my Senior design class at Virginia Tech I am taking Design in Power Engineering. For our first project we were asked to write a proposal to the Engineering Dept. at Virginia Tech suggesting improvements on the Solar Array currently there.
Below I have included the History as well as our idea. I am looking for other ideas to help further improve the Solar Array.
History:
Located on top of Whittemore Hall, the Virginia Tech Solar Test Facility (VTSTF) was completed and connected to the campus electrical grid in March 1989. The facility consists of three components: the photovoltaic test bed, meteorological station, and a building load data acquisition system.
The facility is comprised of three independent photovoltaic (PV) arrays; array A: ARCO Solar M55 single crystal silicon – 954 watts peak (DC), array B: ARCO Solar G4000 amorphous silicon – 680 watts peak (DC), array C: Solarex SA20 amorphous silicon – 616 watts peak (DC). Each array is connected to a separate Omnion 2200 series power inverter.
The meteorological station at the VTSTF is used to gather data on the solar radiation, ambient temperature, and wind speed. The following instrumentation is used for this purpose: an Eppley PSP Precision Spectral Pyranometer, a Global Horizontal PSP Pyranometer, an Eppley Normal Incidence Pyrheliometer, a Multi-vane Wind direction sensor, and a Campbell Scientific Model 107 temperature probe. Data obtained from the array and weather station is collected by a Campbell Scientific CR-21X Micrologger.
One of the original uses for the solar array installation was to study the application of photovoltaic power for building load management. A high resolution building electrical load data acquisition system was installed to collect real power demand and power factor data from Whittemore Hall, starting in June 1989.
Over the course of 10 years, the VTSTF was used for a variety of research projects in the electrical engineering department. Various renovations were performed on the G4000 and M55 arrays in 1997 and a performance summary was executed on these two arrays in March 2002. At some point, the array was disconnected due to equipment problems and a lack of funding.
Rising energy costs and the possibility of using the facility for undergraduate research have led to renewed interest in the VTSTF. In the spring of 2005, the solar array and weather station equipment were brought back up to National Electrical Code standards as part of a senior capstone design project. A year later, a second team of students worked to develop a system that would allow the array data to be published electronically on the Internet. Further work continues to be done on the facility.
Leave some ideas if you have time.
Wednesday, September 6, 2006
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Quick Summary: (our Proposal)
Passive Solar Tracking Mount - Follows the sun and therefore is more efficient during times when the sun wasn’t hitting the old array. 30% more effective then standard mounts.
New Panels - New more efficient panels were proposed, these output more power then the old panels and have a greater life span.
New Inverter - a more efficient, as well as data logging inverter was suggested. We can get the power output by the updated array easily to a computer with the data logger.
