Group Status Report 2 MIDTERM Waste Heat Recovery from PV Panels

Background Started from Solar Decathlon HU/ODU Project How it’s (supposed to) work Fall Semester 2015 achievements Rig Design Solar research Rig construction/setup

Experimental Process Main Goal: To monitor and quantify the removal of waste heat from back of PV panels SunDrum: Active Cooling Heat Recovery Unit, affixed to back of panels Variables which will be measured: Panel surface temperature (infrared laser thermometer gun) Temperature rise of water in tank Data as provided by TIGO

AC/DC Inverter no longer used in the project Panels with SunDrum

TIGO-Data Acquisition Three pieces of Tigo equipment Maximizer Module Management Unit (MMU) Gateway Not part of Tigo but we also need a laptop

Example Output

Completion of electrical system Issues with the available inverter Nonversatility of the inverter Needing to “Dump” the power New design, new solution-Resistors and new setup Working with electronics technician for new solution Rewiring the system to utilize varied resistance heat sinks (resistors). Grounding the system...working with Facilities.

Completion of Plumbing/Water System Installation of flexible piping between Sundrums Connection of pump to closed loop system Pump leakage issues Installation of hot water tank as heat dump System filled and pressurized.

Forecast: Testing and Modifications Data to be collected during testing Surface temperature of the panels Power output of the panels Heat recovered by SunDrum Proposed modifications Improved insulation Surface color of SunDrum

Questions?