On-Campus Solar PV Lab: Component Selection is Only the Beginning

The work of the Solar PV Team is to design and install Solar PV systems which enable our clients to fulfill their mission in the presence of unreliable or non-existent electrical power. In order to experiment with different Solar PV configurations and train new members, the Solar PV team last year designed a Solar Lab to be installed in and next to Frey 70. This work paralleled the design/component selection typically performed prior to an installation site trip. This year, the team modeled the efforts typically done at the installation site by building and configuring the Solar Lab design. This poster will focus on the lessons learned about decisions that need to be made in the field to convert a Component Selection level design into a Functioning PV System.https://mosaic.messiah.edu/engr2021/1003/thumbnail.jp

On-Campus Solar PV Lab: Component Selection is Only the Beginning

The work of the Solar PV Team is to design and install Solar PV systems which enable our clients to fulfill their mission in the presence of unreliable or non-existent electrical power. In order to experiment with different Solar PV configurations and train new members, the Solar PV team last year designed a Solar Lab to be installed in and next to Frey 70. This work paralleled the design/component selection typically performed prior to an installation site trip. This year, the team modeled the efforts typically done at the installation site by building and configuring the Solar Lab design. This poster will focus on the lessons learned about decisions that need to be made in the field to convert a Component Selection level design into a Functioning PV System.https://mosaic.messiah.edu/engr2021/1015/thumbnail.jp

Designing a Solar PV System for Tree 4 Hope

The Solar Photovoltaics (PV) team designs and installs solar electricity systems in developing countries where power is less reliable or non-existent. Starting in 2020, the Solar PV team began collaborating with Tree 4 Hope—a nonprofit organization that partners with an orphanage near Guatemala City, Guatemala. Over the past year, the team has designed a solar system to be installed at the orphanage which will provide them with a cleaner and cheaper source of electricity. Thus far, the overall 5 kW solar panel system design including lead-acid batteries has been completed. Key components of the system consisting of the system controller, two charge controllers and the inverter have been programmed and tested, by plugging them into existing elements of the solar lab system, in preparation for installation in Guatemala. This poster details the progress accomplished this year in the design, testing, and programming of the Solar PV system including wiring considerations and communication with in-country suppliers for installation at the orphanage during May of this year. Funding for this work provided by The Collaboratory for Strategic Partnerships and Applied Research.https://mosaic.messiah.edu/engr2022/1016/thumbnail.jp

A quantitative thermal analysis of cyclists’ thermo-active base layers

It is well known that clothes used in sporting activity are a barrier for heat exchange between the environment and athlete, which should help in thermoregulation improvement. However, it is difficult to evaluate which top is best for each athlete according to the characteristics of the sport. Researchers have tried to measure the athlete’s temperature distribution during exercise at the base layers of tops with different approaches. The aim of this case study was to investigate the use of thermography for thermo-active base layer evaluation. Six new base layers were measured on one cyclist volunteer during a progressive training on a cycloergometer. As a control condition, the skin temperature of the same volunteer was registered without any layer with the same training. A training protocol was selected approximate to cycling race, which started from the warm-up stage, next the progressive effort until the race finished and at the end ‘‘cool-down’’ stage was over. In order to show which layer provided the strongest and weakest barrier for heat exchange in comparison with environment, the temperature parameters were taken into consideration. The most important parameter in the studies was the temperature difference between the body and the layers, which was changing during the test time. The studies showed a correlation between the ergometer power parameter and the body temperature changes, which has a strong and significant value. Moreover, the mass of every layer was checked before and after the training to evaluate the mass of the sweat exuded during the test. From this data, the layer mass difference parameter was calculated and taken into consideration as a parameter, which may correspond with the mean heart rate value from each training. A high and positive correlation coefficient was obtained between the average heart rate and the mass difference for the base layers. Thermal analysis seems to have a new potential application in the objective assessment of sports clothing and may help in choosing the proper clothes, which could support heat transfer during exercising and protect the body from overheating