Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Special topics in sustainable energy engineering. Students may repeat this course for further credit under a different topic.

COURSE DETAILS:

For Spring 2023 only, SEE 476 will focus on renewable energy systems and their grid interfacing technologies. The class will learn about wind, solar, tidal, hydrogen fuel cells and hydroelectric energy conversion systems, their grid interfacing technologies and economics of distributed generation. Some of the systems are explored in more details through experiments as well as the course project.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

Intended Learning Outcomes                           

At the successful completion of SEE 476, students are expected to be able to: 

1. Describe the operation principles of conventional steam-cycle power plants, the differences in their Carnot efficiency and function in the power system as baseload, intermediate or peaking power plants
2. Describe the operation principles of major renewable energy systems, including wind, solar, hydro, tidal and Hydrogen fuel cells
3. Identify different wind turbine classes, compare their power tracking system and determine the type of power conditioning interface they require based on their generator type and speed control mechanism
4. Estimate the wind energy density of a site based on its historic wind data for Weibull and non-Weibull wind profiles, and modify the wind power estimates based on the type of site train, turbine tower height and site topography.
5. Explain the difference between tidal-wave, tidal-stream and tidal-barrage energy conversion systems, and their operation principles
6. Create a mathematical model for estimating the tidal height/speed of a given site based on its historic tidal data and astronomical frequencies
7. Estimate the power potential of a hydro resource, explain suitability/application of different hydro-turbines, and compare their power-flow, torque-speed and power efficiency characteristics
8. Analyze the major PV system configurations and explain the grid interconnection requirements
9. Use the I-V characteristic curve to explain the effect of shading, temperature change and the system electrical configuration on a PV modules power output and ways of maximizing the overall array systems power  
10. Explain the essential steps in economic calculation of a distributed resource, use load factor to characterize the cost of power, and perform payback period and rate of return calculations
11. Design a preliminary grid-tied hybrid electric system for a small community or a residential place using one or a combination of different energy systems.

Materials

REQUIRED READING NOTES: