Sponsor: Dr. Zeljko Pantic, FREEDM

Mentor(s):

Dr. Zeljko Pantic zpantic@ncsu.edu

Project Background and Need:

The objective of this project is to design, fabricate, and test a floating solar harvesting system intended to operate on the water surface. There are overwhelming benefits of utilizing solar panels offshore: i) the minimum temperature at open water is higher, and the maximum temperature is lower, which increases energy production; ii) wind, humidity, and wetting reduce the panel temperature rising the energy production; iii) there is no partial shading, iv) cost of the installation land is eliminated, etc. Offshore solar farms have been developed in more than 60 countries so far. The largest in the US is a floating solar farm installed in Sayreville (NJ), whose rated power is 4.4 MW. This project is focused on small, flexible solar harvesters.

Problem Description/requirements (List of high-level functionality you expect to see in the end product):

In this project, the students will design and test a 500 W floating solar harvesting system charging a 48-V battery. The solar system will consist of up to 4 panels and should include flexible mechanisms to improve the energy harvesting during the day. The focus of the project is on integration, control, and demonstration. The final system will be tested in a pole or outdoors on a lake or pond. More details about the proposed solution will be provided to interested students.

Required Skills / Desired Competencies (in order of importance):

• Power electronics and power systems

• PCB design and layout

• Embedded hardware and programming

• Robotics/mechatronics

• MATLAB and Simulink

• Analog circuit design

• Programming experience

• Wireless communications

How often and how would you be available to meet/chat with the team (Zoom, Hangout, Skype, Phone)?

Weekly, in-person

Will the students be required to sign any of the following before they start with the project? NDA / CDA / IP assignment / IP protection form

NDA will need to be signed.

Sponsor Meeting: 6 p.m. Thursday @ FREEDM

Internal Meeting: 1 p.m. Friday @ Oval

Meeting Minutes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1puKIqcCw1gN7MKSqgbspXO05qubKkoxNKT9vJi7YuQE/edit?usp=sharing

Project Introduction:

• https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1exqdguW_FTeu8dK7HXYK976gOtXPc8VDllSL5WbGiNg/edit#slide=id.geb5f60e5c5_0_0

Team Charter:

• https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12Tjefal5FXMlltKj5wwcsRN0JJJqnU9zBz2p8yI5Bys/edit#gid=951536660

Assignments:

• CDR: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1wXGl25iHy6KNBf2-s9QQ0icuhRIOnf1LOn3yqiAMEUI/edit

• System Architecture Diagram

Team Poster