A. Wind Generator: The Southwest Windpower Whisper H40 Wind Turbine provides up to 900 Watts of 3 phase variable voltage, variable frequency AC.
B. Charge Controller: The EZWIRE II is an intelligent SCR-based shunt-type controller that rectifies 3 phases from the wind turbine. This controller converts the AC from the wind turbine into DC electricity to charge the 24 Volt battery bank. It also houses electronics to control the battery charge current to help prevent over charging, and improve battery life.
C. Battery Bank: Our system uses eight Universal Battery UB121100, 110ah, 12V, Sealed Lead Acid / AGM Lead Acid Storage Batteries. These batteries are connected in a series - parallel combination for a total of 440 amp-hours at 24 Volts.
D. Photovoltaic Array: An array of four 150 Watt 24VDC PV modules are mounted on a solar tracker for a total of 600 Watts at 24VDC. We are using BPSX150S multicrystalline silicon solar cells. These modules are very durable, and can handle golf ball size hail storms. The PV modules are mounted on a Four Module, Single-Axis, Linear Actuator Drive manufactured by Wattsun. The solar tracker moves the PV array into maximum sunlight all day long.
E. Charger Controller: The Trace C60 was selected to regulate the charge from the PV panels to the battery. The C Series controllers use Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) charging profiles which are designed to provide a full charge to a battery while, at the same time, minimize gassing which can shorten battery life.
F. Inverter: The OutBack Power Systems GVFX 3524 sine wave inverter/charger has been selected. The inverter can produce 3.5 kWAC at 120V 60Hz. This inverter also houses the electronics necessary to monitor the system. For example there is a computer interface that reports battery voltage, charge current, kWhr (kilo-watt-hours used), and more. The AC inverter produces a true sign wave, is connected to the school's utility grid, and provides switching for battery backup to AC loads in the lab.
G. The RE Lab provides the power from the wind and sun into the utility grid. The grid-tie system has a battery backup and work is in progress on monitoring and displaying real-time system data on the energy.cfcc.edu website.
This site is maintained by the Electronics Engineering Department at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, North Carolina.
A lot of work has been completed, and we are continuing to develop the lab. We are looking for student volunteers in the Engineering Program to help develop the lab and get their hands on this technology. If you are a CFCC student and you would like to get involved, simply complete the form below.