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ARCPHOTOVOLTAICSCENTRE OFEXCELLENCE2010/11ANNUAL REPORTMeasurement of lightdistribution in a horizontalplane. A lantern is shown inthe inset.Top side of Glowstar PCB showingseveral features such as fusesand microprocessor.(Upper) Student-built current-tovoltageconverter. (Lower) Studentbuiltphototransistor circuit.5.1.1 The StrandThe strand is unique within UNSW to thePhotovoltaics and Solar Energy Engineeringprogram, and is essentially a minor area ofspecialisation which complements a student’sstudy of photovoltaics. Students can take strandscovering a wide variety of areas includingcomputing, electronics, mathematics, physics,mechanical engineering, civil engineering, andarchitecture. The aim of the strand is to providestudents with broader engineering backgroundsimportant for the cross-disciplinary nature ofphotovoltaic applications.In 2011 strands will be offered to RenewableEnergy Engineering students as well. These will beless formally structured than in the PhotovoltaicEngineering program and take the form of setsof electives associated with various renewableenergy technologies.5.1.2 Undergraduate Second-YearStudent Group ProjectsIn the second year of the Photovoltaics and SolarEnergy program, students undertake a year-longgroup project. The main emphasis of the secondyear group project course is hands-on projectengineering. The course has a lecture componentcovering project engineering, report writing andpresentation skills and each project has a researchcomponent, a planning and design component, ahands-on component and a presentation/reportingcomponent. This course helps to prepare studentsfor their fourth year thesis, which is undertaken byall students enrolled in both the Photovoltaics andSolar Energy and Renewable Energy Engineeringundergraduate programs.In 2010, second-year project groups worked on thefollowing projects: silicon and cuprous oxide thinfilm solar cells, photoluminescence analysis of solarcells, solar thermal water heating, Sunswift solar racecar, solar water pumping, solar lanterns, cookers anda “solar suitcase” for developing countries and iceair conditioning.5.1.2.1 Developing CountriesThe School has been involved with projects in thedeveloping countries for the last eight years. Theapplication of photovoltaics and other renewableenergy technologies can make a great difference topeople’s lives and living standards in these places.Students involved with this project in the past haveinstalled and maintained photovoltaic lightingsystems in rural locations in Nicaragua, Vanuatuand Nepal and photovoltaics powered waterpurification in Sri Lanka. Skills that the students haddeveloped throughout the year were put to gooduse in the field as invaluable lessons were gainedregarding project management of activities indeveloping countries. Students faced and overcamemany technical and non-technical issues in projectimplementation. With the rapidly growing studentpopulation the School is no longer involved indirectly supervising international journeys forgroups of second year students but, instead,suggests interested students involve themselves inthe UNSW Chapter of Engineers Without Borders.Solar Lanterns ProjectEnergy is fundamental to alleviate poverty inhealth, education, communication, economicdevelopment and social equity. Electricity impactsthe lifestyles and living conditions, primarilythrough electric lighting. However, approximately1.5 billion people in developing countries haveno access to electricity. The majority of thesepeople use kerosene lamps for lighting. Kerosenelamps are expensive to run, have health impacts,are potentially dangerous and are a source ofgreenhouse gases.Solar lanterns have potential to improve the livingconditions of people in developing countries. Itcan provide much needed study hours for schoolchildren as well as support after-hour incomegenerating activities. One study has found that solarlanterns have significantly benefited school-agedchildren in India. The extended study hours madepossible with solar lanterns shown to have a verypositive impact on their performance.108
ARCPHOTOVOLTAICSCENTRE OFEXCELLENCE2010/11ANNUAL REPORTThermal image of experiments determining theefficiency and heat loss to the environment of variouscooking devices.Image of one groups insulated potcooking food.There are many solar lanterns are available in themarket. The performance of these lanterns varieswidely making it difficult for consumers to selecta product.In this project students have studiesa range of solar lanterns commonly available indeveloping contries. Using a set of tools theycompared performance of solar panel, ballastelectronics, charging-discharging circuits, lightoutput and efficiency.Solar Cookers ProjectStand alone PV systems (PV/diesel/battery) supplypower to many households in remote parts ofthe world. Remote households in Australia and inparticular Aboriginal communities utilise such PVsystems. Cooking is an energy load that needs asubstantial amount of energy. In many instancesdesigners for stand-alone PV systems advocate useof gas or microwave cookers for cooking. However,often gas bottles are a very expensive way to getenergy for cooking.Is it possible that as the price of PV falls that someform of electric cooking could be the best option? Ismicrowave cooking the most efficient technology?To answer this question we asked students: Whatis the most efficient way to cook? This projectexplored low energy approaches to cooking and PVsystem design to supply the energy to power suchsystems. One approach investigated “slow cookers”.Typically they are cooking systems that utilise lowenergy but for long periods of time. Typically theyare uninsulated, so at present not very efficient!Students investigated various approaches toinsulate their cooking devices and used PV panelsto charge a battery and then use the energy to heata pot of food. Energy flows (current and voltage)were monitored, as well as the temperature of thefood. Students investigated, designed, built andmonitored whether small PV systems are capable ofsupplying such cooking systems.5.1.2.2 Silicon Thin-Film SolarProcessing Equipment ProjectThis project aims to give students a broadexperience in enhancing and maintaininga world-class thin-film solar cell researchlaboratory. This is achieved through a twostageprocess. Firstly, students develop afundamental understanding of equipmentand systems within the Centre’s thin-filmlaboratory, including vacuum systems, gasdelivery systems, leak testing equipment,and plasma processing machines. Thesecond stage involves the studentsintegrating what they have learnt, by applying it toa specific project in the thin-film laboratory.In 2010, six second-year students undertook thisproject. A group of three students worked onupgrading a vacuum test chamber to redesign thevacuum control interface and build it. A secondgroup of three students worked on halogen lampvacuum annealing stage, with the aim of beingable to anneal samples at up to 1000°C. Thisgroup successfully designed and built a halogenlamp assembly that was both functional and easyto maintain.Both groups benefited greatly from the courseas they learnt to integrate project managementand engineering problem solving to successfullycomplete their projects.5.1.2.3 Cuprous Oxide Thin-Film SolarCells ProjectStudents this year revived a decades-oldphotovoltaics technology that was once theglobally leading technology, before silicon came tothe fore in the 1950s. The manufacturing process forcuprous oxide cells is relatively simple and studentsmade and tested their own cells from scratch.5.1.2.4 Water Pumping ProjectA group of students was charged with the taskof demonstrating the pumping of water withphotovoltaic power from ground level to theCake successfully cooked!109
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Complete Report - University of New South Wales

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