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Development of a Low-cost, Portable, and Programmable Solar Module to Facilitate Hands-on Experiments and Improve Student Learning

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Conference

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

New Orleans, Louisiana

Publication Date

June 26, 2016

Start Date

June 26, 2016

End Date

June 29, 2016

ISBN

978-0-692-68565-5

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Solar and Wind Energy-System Initiatives

Tagged Division

Energy Conversion and Conservation

Page Count

11

DOI

10.18260/p.26800

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/26800

Download Count

1823

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Paper Authors

biography

Sandip Das Kennesaw State University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-7336-9568

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Sandip Das is currently an Assistant Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department at Kennesaw State University. Dr. Das received his Ph.D. and M.E. in Electrical Engineering from University of South Carolina, Columbia, in 2014 and 2012 respectively. He earned his B.E. in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST, Shibpur, India) in 2004. His current research interests include photovoltaic solar cells for sustainable and renewable energy generation, semiconductor thin-films and nanocrystals for photonic and optoelectronic devices, applied electronics for measurement and instrumentation, and development of technology enhanced teaching tools and pedagogical framework for improved engineering education in the core electrical engineering areas.

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Abstract

Solar energy has become one of the major renewable energy sources to meet a significant portion of the global energy demand in the near future. The photovoltaic (PV) industry is growing at a fast pace and is predicted to reach tera-watt scale power production capacity by 2050. Thus, creating highly qualified engineers by providing effective hands-on education is of primary importance. This paper discusses on the design, fabrication, and implementation of a low-cost, portable, and programmable solar module to improve the student learning outcomes of a solar power and renewable energy course by facilitating hands-on experiments. Solar cells within the smart module can be electronically interconnected in various configurations and I-V characteristics of the resulting module or any individual cell can be measured using integrated microcontroller and measurement circuits interfaced by a LabVIEW-based interactive data acquisition software. The developed plug-and-play smart solar module is an affordable and effective teaching tool that can be used for in-class demonstrations or to perform hands-on experiments. An experiment-based project was included into the course syllabus where students perform solar cell I-V characterization and extract the cell parameters by analyzing the experimental data. Student perception on the learning outcome and the impact of the project were measured based on student feedback. All of the students found that the experiment-based project helped them to reinforce the theoretical knowledge and a majority of the students believe that the learning outcomes of the course would be incomplete without it.

Das, S. (2016, June), Development of a Low-cost, Portable, and Programmable Solar Module to Facilitate Hands-on Experiments and Improve Student Learning Paper presented at 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana. 10.18260/p.26800

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