Solar roadways

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Client Solar Roadways
Advisor May Karrie
Duration Spring 2018 - Fall 2018
Mentor Hess Herbert
Team Name Solar roadway warriors
Students
  • Ziyang Chen
  • Silas Connolley
  • Yu Han
  • Bailey Poitra

“Solar Roadways”, located in Sandpoint, Idaho, is working towards manufacturing a modular system of specially engineered solar panels that can be walked and driven upon. The panels use LEDs to create signage without paint and heating elements to remove snow and ice accumulation. Our team is working closely with the staff here at the University of Idaho (U of I) and with this company to ensure the development of Solar Roadway panels that exceeds expectations and hopefully will be installed at the University of Idaho in the near future. We will be updating the information on this page monthly until it is finalized in December of 2018, where we will then hope to share the success of our project.


Project Definition[edit | edit source]

Problem Statement[edit | edit source]

Design a more efficient heating element system to improve the Solar Roadway panels as well as complete a portfolio/presentation for University of Idaho Facilities.

Mission Statement[edit | edit source]

Acquire power generation data and complete economic analysis on Solar Roadway panels.

Spring Expo Board[edit | edit source]

Left

Schedule[edit | edit source]

Left


Project Learning[edit | edit source]

Spring Project Learning(hardware)[edit | edit source]

Image Description
Filter ATMEL AVR.png Atmel discrib.png.
Filter ATmega256.png Pin I/O capabilities

Wireless communication 

ISP pins

Light sensor

Temperature sensor

Filter solar roadways board.png Current use

Ice detection

Panel to Panel LED mapping

Security

Error detection

Fall Project Learning[edit | edit source]

First design review[edit | edit source]

Image Link
First design review.png Prezi


System analysis[edit | edit source]

Image Description
Solar Roadway (SR) Panel Circuit Diagram.png Solar Roadway (SR) Panel Circuit Diagram
V1 represents Solar Roadway panel voltage
Power rating of SR panel: 44 W
Measured open circuit voltage: 22.3 V
P_rated = (Voc^2)/R
resistance is calculated to be around 11 ohms
Resistors from BEL Power Lab – Modelled using LTspice
Solar Roadway Panel I-V Characteristic Curve.png

Solar Roadway Panel I-V Characteristic Curve

DC sweep of SR panel voltage V(n012) from 6 V to 23 V 
Current across R1 is plotted
Power is calculated by multiplying voltage by current
Annual Solar Generation (SR panel specs).png
Annual Solar Generation (SR panel specs)
Power out.png
power out

Solar Roadway Panel Power Output Test[edit | edit source]

Image Details
Olar Roadway Panel Power Output Test.png

Objective

Determine the total power produced from Solar Roadway panels during peak sunlight.

Location

University of Idaho Steam Plant

Materials

-One Solar Roadway (SR) panel
-One Digilent board
-One laptop with Diligent software included (data sample)
-One fifty-Watt one ohm resistor

Steps for testing

1)Place SR panel flat on UI Steam Plant near direct sunlight exposure.
2)Connect SR panel to resistor.
3)Connect Digilent board to laptop.
4)Connect Vin pin to SR panel blue wire.
5)Connect ground pin to SR panel white wire. 
6)Connect voltmeter pin to resistors and measure voltage across resistor.
7)Sample voltage across panel (�V�in) and voltage across resistor (Vr) using laptop and Digilent meter.
8)Calculate current by subtracting voltage of Solar Roadway panel by the voltage across the resistors and divide that value by the resistance.
9)Calculate power by multiplying voltage across resistor by the current across the resistor.


Solar Roadway Resistance Test[edit | edit source]

Image Details
Olar Roadway Panel Power Output Test.png

Objective

Determine the resistance from provided 50 W one ohm resistor.

Location

University of Idaho Power Lab.

Materials

-Voltage source
-Volt meter
-Ammeter
-One fifty-Watt one ohm resistor

Steps for testing

1)Connect voltage source to resistor.
2)Measure voltage across resistor using volt meter.
3)Measure current using ammeter.
4)Calculate resistance by dividing voltage across resistor by measured current.|-

Solar Roadway Out Power[edit | edit source]

Out Power

Heating Elements Test[edit | edit source]

elements

Final Expo board[edit | edit source]

Left

Documents[edit | edit source]

Final Powerpoint=[edit | edit source]

power point

Project report[edit | edit source]

report

Meeting minutes=[edit | edit source]

Minutes1

Minutes2

Minutes3

Minutes4

Minutes5

Minutes6

Minutes7

Minutes8

Minutes9

The team[edit | edit source]

Member Discipline
Ziyang Chen Electrical Engineering
2018308070742.jpg

Ziyang Chen grew up in JiangSu, China. His academic interests include microelectronics and power electronics. Outside of school, he enjoys just being a dude. After graduation, he plans on becoming a hard working engineer in the workforce.

Silas Connolley Electrical Engineering
F8561DA9F42CCC94C07F4767DCA79DC4.jpg

Silas is from Grangeville, Idaho. His academic interests include microelectronics and computer programming. He is interested in renuable power generation and renovating the power distribution grid. He is a founding father of the Zeta Mu chapter of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity at the University of Idaho. He plans on entering into research and development and possibly putting his knowledge to use for the United States Forest Service.

Yu Han Electrical Engineering
20180308072621.jpg

Yu Han grew up in KunShan, SuZhou, China. His academic interests include microelectronics and energy systems. Out of school, he likes to work out at the gym at the University of Idaho. Before he arrived at the University of Idaho, he took part in internships in his home country.

Bailey Poitra Electrical Engineering & mathematics.
3D0B0EAD3EBE64C862DB8519570DD9AA.jpg

Bailey is from Pullman, Washington. His academic interests include power as well as signals and systems. He enjoys wrestling with the University Of Idaho Club Wrestling Team. After graduation he hopes to find a job within his field of study that will utilize his talents and allow him to excel in his profession.