Download - Sizing & Data Capturing For A Vacation Home
MECHATRONICSENGINEERINGTECHNOLOGY
Sizing & Data Capturing For A Vacation Home
Solar Energy SystemsECET-52100
Presented By:Abdulhaleem Al
OwaisheerJen Vacendak
Tanima Zaman
MECHATRONICSENGINEERINGTECHNOLOGY
Project ObjectivesThe goal established for this project was to design and simulate an alternative solar power system for a vacation house which enables an owner:
To rely the least on the “Grid Power”
To meet the electricity requirements for “Reasonable Costs” during the winter season
To earn money by selling the additional power generated in the off-seasons to the “Power Grid”
To “Monitor System Parameters” (e.g. temperature, power etc.) from original residence
Store “Backup Power” for the cloudy day (If financially feasible
MECHATRONICSENGINEERINGTECHNOLOGY
The design approaches established and all simulations performed in this project were focused on the following preliminary data:Location: Key West, Florida, FL 33040
Latitude: 24 o 33 ‘N, 81o 45 ‘WPower Requirement: 1120kWh/monthCost of Electricity in Florida: $0.1165/KW
PV System Size: 10.785KWattThe annual solar irradiation data
Software Tools:SolarBear (www.pvpower.com)Battery Sizing CalculatorHomerOnset’s HOBO Data Logger
Research Considerations
MECHATRONICSENGINEERINGTECHNOLOGY
Methodology 1The first approach for the project was to figure out recommendations for PV Systems from SolarBear based on the zip code, price per kWh and solar system size. The obfollowing systems with three different criteria were tained :
Lowest Price System
Lowest Cost per Watt System
Most Powerful System
MECHATRONICSENGINEERINGTECHNOLOGY
SolarBear Recommendations
Lowest $/W,
Most Powerful
and Least
Expensive
System
Most
Powerful
System
MECHATRONICSENGINEERINGTECHNOLOGY
Methodology 2Secondly, energy storage battery bank s were sized for sufficient backup purpose. The battery sizing calculator was used to determine the watt-hours and amp-hours . The results obtained were 223,252Wh and 9303Ah in order to meet the following criteria:2 Days backup power37,333Wh of energy usage/day400 F minimum temperature24V battery bankBased on the calculations, the system
would require 12 6V, 200Ah in 3 strings. The cost for this came out to be $1678/each with a total of $20,136.
MECHATRONICSENGINEERINGTECHNOLOGY
Methodology 3Thirdly, the simulations were performed in HOMER software based on the two recommendations provided by SolarBear . Two simulations were run with and without considering the battery backup systems. The parameter values collected and entered in HOMER were as below:General Information:Solar radiation indexLatitude and longitude for Key WestEnergy usage per month 9 (zero 8months of the year)
Cost per kWh20-year life time
MECHATRONICSENGINEERINGTECHNOLOGY
PV Information
System size in KW
Total cost
Efficiency
Nominal Operating Cell
Temperature
Pmax (%/ 0C)
Inverter Information
Size in Watt
Cost
Efficiency
MECHATRONICSENGINEERINGTECHNOLOGY
Battery Backup Information
Single battery voltage and Ah
rating
Batteries per string
Number of strings
Cost
LifetimeHOMER provided the simulations
results with all scenarios including
buyback.
MECHATRONICSENGINEERINGTECHNOLOGY
Methodology 4Finally, the HOBO Data Logger was introduced in the design for monitoring conditions (e.g. temperature, solar radiation, power consumed by appliances and output power of the PV systems) remotely over the internet when the owner is back to his/her original residence after vacation. Following the image of how HOBO provides information:
MECHATRONICSENGINEERINGTECHNOLOGY
Result 1: Cost Comparison without Battery
Most Powerful
Lowest Cost per kWatt System
MECHATRONICSENGINEERINGTECHNOLOGY
Result 2: Cost Comparison with Battery
Most Powerful
Lowest Cost per kWatt System
MECHATRONICSENGINEERINGTECHNOLOGY
Our Recommendations1. Lowest Cost per Watt/ Lowest Price ($15,553.96)
11kW PV System (11 modules, 4 strings)10kW Inverter (1) Grid-tied for Electricity Buyback
2. No Battery Backup
3. Data Logging Equipment ($2178.00)Onset HOBO U30 Ethernet Data Small Backup Battery (1)Solar Radiation Sensor (2)Energy & Power Meter (2)Temperature Sensor (1)HOBOlink Remore Monitoring Software
MECHATRONICSENGINEERINGTECHNOLOGY
Significance of the project
We found this project a significant design problem as it very closely related to real-life solar application. This project lead us to some challenge regarding gathering pertinent information, simulate the systems, data analysis and based on the simulations come up with a right choice. It bridged the classroom and field work and that is very valuable