National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) an autonomous institution of Ministry of New and Renewable (MNRE), is the apex National R&D institution in the field of Wind Energy. The NIWE has assumed all technical activities of Wind Energy Centre (WEC) and has also re-organized itself to undertake roles and responsibilities assigned to it by the Ministry (MNRE).
National
Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) an autonomous institution of Ministry of New
and Renewable (MNRE), is the apex National R&D institution in the field of
Wind Energy. The NIWE has assumed all technical activities of Wind Energy
Centre (WEC) and has also re-organized itself to undertake roles and
responsibilities assigned to it by the Ministry (MNRE). The Institute is
involved in demonstration, standardization, interactive research, training and
testing of wind technologies and systems. It is an effective interface between
the Government and institutions, industry & user organizations for
development, promotion and widespread utilization of Wind energy in the
country.
Ecosense
Installed Renewable energy Lab at National Institute of Wind Energy in 2015.
Since then many students, researchers and educators has been trained on these
equipments in the field of Solar PV, Solar Thermal and Wind Energy.
After 5 years
of extensive usage, the Lab equipments were still running but needed some
calibrations, adjustments and repair of some damaged or worn out components. On
request of the Institution Ecosense refurbished the whole Renewable Energy lab
at both National Institute of Wind Energy Centres in Chennai and Kayathar.
Ecosense
refurbished all of the 8 equipments supplied at both the centres which are now
as good as new and can be used for another 5 years without any problem.
1. Solar PV
Training and Research system 2. Solar Grid Tied System 3. Solar PV Emulator 4. Solar
Thermal Training System 5. Solar Concentrator Training System 6. Wind Energy
training System 7. Wind Emulator System 8. Thermal Energy Storage system.
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 PV Grid Tied System enables users to learn about Solar PV Grid Connected
Technology. Using this system, a user gains knowledge in performance, assembly
and advantages of a Solar PV Grid connected system. This system enables user to
learn about grid connection, basic electrical concept, power quality
correction, voltage sag due to long transmission lines, anti- islanding effect
and net metering concept.
Solar PV Emulator is a DC source which
can be programmed to act as a solar PV panel. As Solar panels are dependent on
natural conditions such as Sunlight and solar irradiation, this system enables
user to carry out their respective experimentations and research inside the lab
at time of the day as
Solar PV Emulator emulates the same characteristics as a Solar panel but it is
not dependent on natural conditions.
Solar Thermal
Training system enable users to study the characteristics of a Thermal Flat Plate
Collector water heating system inside the laboratory. 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.
Solar Concentrator Training 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.
Wind Energy Training System is a scaled
down version of actual wind turbine power plant. This system facilitates the
students with working and configurable model of wind turbine. This system gives
the insight about individual components and consequences of changing the
operating points of any wind turbine defined in terms of wind speed and pitch
angle. Students can learn concepts like I-V characteristic, cut-off, cut-in
speed etc.
Wind Turbine Emulator mimics the behavior of
wind turbine for hardware level simulations. This system has a DC motor coupled
with the Induction generator, speed of which is controlled as per the speed
reference calculated by solving the mathematical model of wind turbine. An
induction generator is coupled to the DC motor and bidirectional inverter is
connected to the terminals of the generator. Researcher can execute the
mathematical models of their newly developed or modified wind turbine and can
simulate the speed/power of profile of turbine on hardware environment directly
for different wind speeds & pitch angle.
Thermal Energy Storage training system 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.
Ecosense also conducted a masters training program at National
Institute of Wind Energy. This Masters training program was focused on
educating and training the professors, scholars and technicians in Renewable
Technology who will further train thousands of students and professionals to
start their career or business in this very field.
