Development of Lab Activities for an ECE Undergraduate Renewable Energy Course

Lin Zhao; Yuzhe Zhang; Jiawei Zhang

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Conference: 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Publication Date: June 15, 2014
Start Date: June 15, 2014
End Date: June 18, 2014
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: New ECE Courses
Tagged Division: Electrical and Computer
Page Count: 10
Page Numbers: 24.427.1 - 24.427.10
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--20318
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/20318
Download Count: 431

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Lin Zhao Gannon University

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Lin Zhao received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada in 2006. She received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering from Shandong University, Jinan, China, in 1993 and 1996 respectively. From 1996 to 2002, she was a Faculty Member with the School of Control Science and Engineering and the School of Electrical Engineering, Shandong University. From 2002 to 2007, she was first a Research and Teaching Assistant and then a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Applied Electrostatic Research Center, the University of Western Ontario. Since 2007, she has been with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Gannon University, Erie, PA, where she is currently an Assistant Professor. Her research interests include electrical machinery design, modelling and analysis of electric drives, and control of electric drives.

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Yuzhe Zhang Gannon University

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Jiawei Zhang Gannon University

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Abstract

Development of lab activities for an ECE undergraduate renewable energy courseAbstract: This paper presents the development of lab activities for an ECE undergraduatecourse, integration of renewable energy into electrical power systems. ECEundergraduate students can take this course in their junior or senior years. This coursecovers variable topics including different types of renewable energy resources and theirintegration into electrical power systems, the basic concepts of electrical power system,and power electronics application in renewable energy technology. Hands-onexperiments have been designed as integrated part of the course. The lab activitiesconsists of five experiments covering wind, solar, fuel cell, a stand-alone electric powersystem with solar and wind, and power electronics converter applications. Theexperiments are designed to be focused on the ECE aspect of and contribution to therenewable energy integration.The wind energy lab was based on the wind turbine-generator-control panel unit asshown in Figure 1 (a). Students will measure the generator performance with variablewind speed and direction. The converted wind energy can be used to charge the battery,power external DC load and external AC load through an inverter. The solar energy labwas based on the roof-top solar panel system as shown in Figure 1 (b). Acontrol/monitoring panel box was designed and fabricated by students to allowconducting different energy flow projects. The solar panel control box can be combinedwith the existing wind energy control box to emulate a stand-alone wind-solar hybridpower system. In one of the labs, students are asked to first understand the layout of thehybrid system (including wind and solar sources, six different meters, four differentswitches, eight pairs of outlets, batteries, inverters, voltage regulars, and internalprotection circuits), and then design their switch/meters/outlets logics to allow differentpower flow paths. Finally they are asked to set up the circuit, trouble-shooting onsite, andrealize the power flow. The fuel cell experiments utilize the setups as shown in Figure 2.The lab is design for students to learn what the real structure of a fuel cell is and toexperience how the fuel cell works to drive an electric car. The power electronics lab isdesigned to be focused on DC/DC converters and DC/AC inverters which are widelyused in renewable energy integration. Figure 3 displays part of the lab setup.The knowledge linkage between these labs and to the rest of the courses in ECEcurriculum will be discussed to show the teaching/learning focuses at different level.Besides the hands-on enhanced learning experience, this paper also presents thefeedbacks from students, the assessment and evaluation of the courses with direct/indirectassessment data from both the students and peer faculty members. (a) (b) Figure 1. wind and solar systems Figure 2. fuel cell lab setupsFigure 3. part of the power electronics lab setup

Citation
Format

Zhao, L., & Zhang, Y., & Zhang, J. (2014, June), Development of Lab Activities for an ECE Undergraduate Renewable Energy Course Paper presented at 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana. 10.18260/1-2--20318

TY - CPAPER
AB - Development of lab activities for an ECE undergraduate renewable energy courseAbstract: This paper presents the development of lab activities for an ECE undergraduatecourse, integration of renewable energy into electrical power systems. ECEundergraduate students can take this course in their junior or senior years. This coursecovers variable topics including different types of renewable energy resources and theirintegration into electrical power systems, the basic concepts of electrical power system,and power electronics application in renewable energy technology. Hands-onexperiments have been designed as integrated part of the course. The lab activitiesconsists of five experiments covering wind, solar, fuel cell, a stand-alone electric powersystem with solar and wind, and power electronics converter applications. Theexperiments are designed to be focused on the ECE aspect of and contribution to therenewable energy integration.The wind energy lab was based on the wind turbine-generator-control panel unit asshown in Figure 1 (a). Students will measure the generator performance with variablewind speed and direction. The converted wind energy can be used to charge the battery,power external DC load and external AC load through an inverter. The solar energy labwas based on the roof-top solar panel system as shown in Figure 1 (b). Acontrol/monitoring panel box was designed and fabricated by students to allowconducting different energy flow projects. The solar panel control box can be combinedwith the existing wind energy control box to emulate a stand-alone wind-solar hybridpower system. In one of the labs, students are asked to first understand the layout of thehybrid system (including wind and solar sources, six different meters, four differentswitches, eight pairs of outlets, batteries, inverters, voltage regulars, and internalprotection circuits), and then design their switch/meters/outlets logics to allow differentpower flow paths. Finally they are asked to set up the circuit, trouble-shooting onsite, andrealize the power flow. The fuel cell experiments utilize the setups as shown in Figure 2.The lab is design for students to learn what the real structure of a fuel cell is and toexperience how the fuel cell works to drive an electric car. The power electronics lab isdesigned to be focused on DC/DC converters and DC/AC inverters which are widelyused in renewable energy integration. Figure 3 displays part of the lab setup.The knowledge linkage between these labs and to the rest of the courses in ECEcurriculum will be discussed to show the teaching/learning focuses at different level.Besides the hands-on enhanced learning experience, this paper also presents thefeedbacks from students, the assessment and evaluation of the courses with direct/indirectassessment data from both the students and peer faculty members. (a) (b) Figure 1. wind and solar systems Figure 2. fuel cell lab setupsFigure 3. part of the power electronics lab setup
AU - Lin Zhao
AU - Yuzhe Zhang
AU - Jiawei Zhang
CY - Indianapolis, Indiana
DA - 2014/06/15
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Development of Lab Activities for an ECE Undergraduate Renewable Energy Course
UR - https://peer.asee.org/20318
DO - 10.18260/1-2--20318
ER -