Ecosense established a Solar PV and Solar Thermal Lab at Jabalpur Engineering College
Ecosense established a Solar PV and Solar
Thermal Lab at Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jabalpur Engineering
College, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.
Ecosense established a Solar PV and Solar Thermal Lab at Jabalpur Engineering College
Ecosense established a Solar PV and Solar
Thermal Lab at Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jabalpur Engineering
College, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.
Jabalpur Engineering College is second
Engineering College in India established in 1947 and is a premier institution
of engineering education in Central India.
Under Solar PV and Solar Thermal Lab,
Ecosense installed following seven equipments at the Department of Mechanical
Engineering.
A. Solar PV Lab
1. Solar PV Training and Research System
2. Solar PV Grid Tied Training System
3. Solar PV Emulator
B. Solar Thermal Lab
4. Solar Thermal Training System
(Flat-plate collector based)
5. Solar Concentrator Training System (Parabolic
Trough collector based)
6. ETC Characterisation system (Evacuated
tube collector based) and
7. Thermal Energy Storage System (Thermal
battery)
A. Ecosense’s Solar PV lab
Ecosense’s
Solar PV lab enables users to learn about Solar PV Technology in a very
easy and interactive manner. Solar PV Lab educates users in three different
branches of Solar PV Technology that are Solar PV characteristics, Solar PV
Standalone/Grid Tied configurations and Solar PV Research Area.
Ecosense’s Solar PV Training and research system enables
user to learn about Solar PV standalone technology. Using this system, a user
gains knowledge in three fields of Solar PV Standalone system:
1) Physics of Solar PV Panels — I-V and P-V characteristics, series
and parallel connection of solar panels effect of irradiation, effect of
temperature, effect of shadow, effect of tilting of panels, effect of
geographical location etc.
2) Components and Assembly of standalone system — use of
blocking diode, use of bypass diode, use of solar charge controller, use of
solar inverter, difference between MPPT and PWM charge controllers, AC load, DC
load, battery charging/ discharging characteristics, assembly of several
components and power flow calculations in each branch.
3) Research in PV systems — Ecosense
separately provides a research unit along with standalone experimental system.
User can initiate research in the area of maximum power point tracking using
this unit. It has provision of providing automatic as well as manual gate
signals to charge controller. User can use his/ her own MPPT algorithm with any
of the controller to provide manual gate signals.
Ecosense’s Solar Grid Connected Training system enables user to learn about
Solar Grid -tied technology. Using this system, a user gains knowledge of
connecting an auxiliary grid (Solar PV) to the main grid, its essential
components and transfer of power between the two grids. Using this system user
gains knowledge in the following areas:
1) Effect of different types of loads on Electrical Grid
2) Effect of capacitance and inductance in Transmission lines
3) Interfacing requirement of an auxiliary Grid to main grid
4) Concept of anti-islanding
Ecosense’s PV Emulator can be understood as a variable Solar PV panel where
a user can define the parameters of Solar panel and see its working in real
time. It is essentially a DC supply which simulates the characteristics of a
solar panel. PV Emulator allows to alter the characteristics of a PV panel in
real-time and user can also see shading effects up to 4 peaks. This system
facilitates a user to conduct research in the field of Solar PV.
B. Ecosense’s Solar Thermal Lab
Ecosense’s Solar Thermal Lab enables user to learn
about Solar Thermal technology in a very easy and interactive manner. Solar
thermal lab educates user about the usage of different Solar thermal
technologies such as flat plate collector-based systems, parabolic trough-based
systems and evacuated tube collector-based systems, their efficiencies and
applications. It also educates user about thermal storage where a user can
store thermal energy for later use similar to how we store electrical energy in
batteries.
Ecosense’s Solar Thermal Training system is a replica of the solar flat plate
collector-based water heating system designed in a form of experimental setup
to help students learn and experience different parameters of performance of
Flat Plate Collector System. This system helps students in practical
understanding of various technical parameters such as Overall Heat Loss
Co-efficient, Heat Removal Factor and Efficiency at different flexible input
parameters like radiation, wind speed etc. The system has in built sensors
which measure parameters like pressure, temperature, flow rate etc., mounted on
a control unit.
Ecosense’s Solar Concentrator Training system is Solar Parabolic
Trough Collector Based System consists of parabolic reflectors, absorber tube,
sun tracker, piping, storage tanks and a heat exchanger. A control panel would
control different devices and also measure the different parameters of the
system. The system can be used to perform experiments in heat transfer,
parabolic trough characteristics and heat loss at different parts of the
system. The system is highly flexible – it can be used with different working
fluids, different absorbing materials, different piping insulation thickness
and different types of storage tanks. This gives a lot of scope for research in
heat transfer and related fields. Wind speed variation and flow velocity are
other parameters which can be changed to show their impact on heat transfer and
heat loss.
Ecosense’s ETC Characterisation system is for thermal analysis of fluids is a mini
closed-loop ETC system to study the thermal characteristics of various fluids.
It uses an artificial sunlight so that it can be used inside a lab and is
independent of the natural climate. A chiller is also connected to the system
so that once fluids get heated, students will be able to cool it down
immediately and study the thermal characteristics of heating as well as
cooling. This system helps students in practical understanding of various
technical parameters such as efficiency and heat transfer at different flexible
input parameters like radiation, wind speed, etc. The system has inbuilt
sensors that measure parameters like pressure, temperature, flow rate, etc.,
mounted on a control unit.
Ecosense’ Thermal Energy Storage has been designed to perform TES
related experiment by using PCM materials. As there are several types of PCM,
the system has been designed to perform experiment with at least two PCM
separately. Provision is also kept to examine the combine (known as cascading)
effect of two PCMs in thermal energy storage. To visualize the phase changes in
the material another set of arrangement are there in the system.
