Today, we put together a small scale solar panel system that could power a couple of desktop computer fans. It was good to familiarize ourselves with the components, even at such a small level. Making measurements and testing really made the idea of execution at the research shed a tangible concept. We are still having communication lapses with advisers, but today we redid most of the calculations. We found that based on the wattage of the solar panels, we would need 9 to 17 panels in order to power a heater that draws 1100 Watts (lowest power consumption with highest rating), and that seems extensive. So, we are in contact with our adviser at the farm to discuss other options.
Unfortunately, we hit a wall. Very little progress has been made on fixing the issue of ground mounting versus roof mounting. We are working on contacting advisers and reaching out to a local solar farm for recommendations on the execution of powering a heater, which we found to be very costly electricity-wise. Other than that, we have a proposed budget for both options and a necessary parts list.
Please ignore the doodles that are behind our work. They did not erase fully.
During this meeting we realized just how small the research shed actually is. After doing calculations for the electrical components along with calculations for the shed, we found the roof is too small to fit all of the solar panels that are required to power an electric heater. We discussed our options: downsize the system, move the system to the ground, or see if we can let some panel extend off the roof. None of these options seemed to appealing, so we will be working on more options and communicating with faculty advisers. We did note that the shed has a south facing roof that has an unobstructed view of the sun, perfect for installing solar panels. That was this meeting's silver lining. Today we visited the research shed as a team! We will be going over the measurements we made tomorrow!
Today's meeting was extremely productive. We had so many new faces and an unbelievable amount of progress, in terms of understanding solar panel systems and the larger electronic components we would be working with. Groups of two or three each researched possible component options and then wrote them on the whiteboard. We discussed the pros and cons and continued to shape out our overall knowledge as a team. It was a little bit overwhelming to go from an idea to a circuit schematic, but now that we have a direction, all we need is to stay focused. At this point, our actual quantitative analysis of solar panel systems is minimal, so that is something we will be working on.
Our first meeting went very smoothly, we have ten new members that seemed extremely enthusiastic about the project. The team had to become more familiar with the actual project, so we spent some time discussing solar panel systems and what it would take to implement that. Before going over last semester's project proposal, the team started brainstorming and collaborating on their own research. There are entirely new perspectives on how to fulfill the constraints provided by CWRU Farm. We want to make a visit, however, some returning members that could not make the meeting have already seen the shed and will have the most useful opinions on heater capabilities and panel placement. Our next meeting needs to be in a more group friendly area because first floor KSL did not have any whiteboards or useful team tools. For now, we need to solidify the project budget and maintain a list of component options. We have a huge set of research from last semester and this semester, and now the next step is to discuss those options as a team. After we purchase the components, the next step is implementation.
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