Projects for PHYS 331/580

Spring 2012 Semester

Robert Ehrlich

Last Modified 12/13/11

An approved project is required for all students as described on the syllabus.

Funding of projects: A budget is available to pay for projects costing less than $200 for supplies and materials. Be sure to save original receipts for all purchases. A number of possible projects will require considerably more funds. If you are potentially interested in working on a project that might involve a significant amount of money (more than say $250), you are very strongly urged to apply for funding through the Mason Sustainability Office, which considers proposals for projects costing as much as $10,000 to $20,000 through their “Patriot Green Fund.” In this case you are very strongly urged to put in a two-page “preliminary proposal” as soon as possible (before the class starts), and if they like it follow it up later with a complete proposal. Don’t worry about the listed deadlines for proposals on their website. The form for the proposal can be accessed by the link at the bottom of the web site for the “Patriot Green Fund.”

Some suggested projects:

I – solar water heater Build a solar water heater for your roof using available plans on the web & monitor its day-by-day performance so as to evaluate its efficiency.

II – solar cooker Build a solar cooker using available plans on the web & monitor its performance quantitatively.

III – Work with Prof. Douglas Mose (dje42@aol.com)(Chemistry Dept) at his Culpepper farm on either one of these

(a) Wind turbine: Install and take data for a small wind turbine, and monitor its performance. (taken)

(b) Solar panels: Over the semester, at several intervals, determine the capacity of the solar panel installation, knowing that the advertisement for each panel says 60 watts. Compare this to actual electrical production. Evaluate the effect of latitude of N VA, inclination of the sun, loss via the system electronics, etc. ... Do experiments with loads, to determine time of useful service using no batteries, and some batteries (up to 8).

IV – Solar cell simulation Develop a sophisticated simulation giving a clear explanation of how PV cells work & how they differ from batteries. Here is one example of a very nice simulation on solar PV cells, but don’t merely copy it! http://org.ntnu.no/solarcells/applet/applet.php

V – Work with Dr. Len Annetta (lannetta@gmu.edu) in developing a sophisticated educational game relating to energy.

VI – Make a video to be posted on youtube. (Must be under 10 min in length) – see guidelines below

Here are a few possible topics:

(1) Interviews with random Mason students to see what they know about renewable energy

(2) How to prepare for a career in renewable energy (interviews with experts in industry & government)

(3) Explain with the aid of animations some difficult-to-understand concept in the course.

(4) Make a recruiting video that might attract prospective students to come to Mason to study renewable energy

Here are some important guidelines on making a video.

(1) Consult with a Mason expert on how to conduct interviews & structure questions, such as Gary Kreps, Melinda Villagran, Jim McAuley, Carl Botan, Xiaomei Cai, and Tim Gibson in the Communication Department.

(2) Carefully prepare a list of interview questions (with ideas for follow-up questions), and a subject release form, and let me see them.

(3) Prepare a list of people to interview unless they are randomly selected students.

(4) Practice the taping with stand-ins just to see how it looks.

(5) Be aware of the need to make the final edited video no more than 10 min long.

VII – (a) LEED software. Using the LEED software design some energy efficient houses

(b) Work with Homer Tool software: The HOMER energy modeling software is a powerful tool for designing and analyzing hybrid power systems

VIII – develop JAVA applets (suitable for a group)

Overall goal To develop an online (web-based) JAVA applet that allows users to make a direct cost/feasibility comparison between supplying a home with electric power based on (1) PV solar cells on the roof, (2) a wind turbine, and (3) conventional electric power. The whole class will work on this project, with different groups of individuals tackling different pieces of it. Who does which piece is up to you, but I will want to see that each person is making a significant contribution. At the conclusion of the project class members will also be asked to evaluate the contributions of both the individual members and the sub-groups, and these evaluations will be combined with my own. A beautiful example of such a simulation that explains the operation of solar cells done by students at a Norwegian l University can be found here.

A. Wind potential.

The numbered tasks below might be suitable for individual subgroups.

(2) Analyzing the wind data. Use day-by-day wind measurements on the web for a nearby location, and the known shape of the distribution of wind speeds (the Weibull distribution -- see text), use the “maximum likelihood” method to obtain numerical values for the average wind speed, and the uncertainty in the average value. (This will require writing a computer program.) Make an appropriate seasonal adjustment to get an annual average, and an uncertainty in that value. (See web for monthly variation of average wind speed.) Compare your measured results with online resources that show the average wind speed at the same location.

(3) Developing a JAVA Applet. Develop a JAVA Applet modeled after the “Small Wind Economic Model” EXCEL spreadsheet that yields the economic feasibility for any particular site & model wind turbine (see the “cash flow” graph in the spreadsheet.), and supply the Applet with the measured wind probability distribution to see the curves that result. Be sure to use a graphical interface so that each parameter can be varied using a “slider,” which causes the graphs automatically redrawn instantly when the various sliders are changed. Ownership of the end product will be public, and be posted on the web for anyone to use freely. All class members and the instructor will be listed as being the developers.

B. Solar potential Using a graphical interface like that in http://www.roofray.com/ write a JAVA applet that allows the user to digitize the four corners of an image of the roof of his house (using google earth), which then uses his estimates of the angle of the roof, and the average amount of shading, and the average daily insolation for this location in watts per m² so as to calculate the solar potential for this particular actual house. (Average solar insolation values for any location can be found on the web.)

Develop a JAVA applet similar to the one used to assess the wind potential feasibility (see previous section) that yields the economic feasibility of solar cells for this or any particular roof. The output of the Applet should be curves like those shown here: http://www.solarbuzz.com/Consumer/Payback.htm

Be sure to use a graphical interface so that each input parameter can be varied using a slider, and the graphs automatically redrawn instantly. The input parameters of the model include:

· Installed price of solar system in cents per watt

· Discount (interest) rate

· Cost of conventional electricity in cents per kw-hr

· Size and geometry of the roof – see first paragraph above

· Average solar insolation at this location – figure may need to be adjusted if the roof is shielded by trees or other structures.

Ownership of the end product will be public, and be posted on the web for anyone to use freely. All class members and the instructor will be listed as being the developers.