Design and Installation of 200 Watt Solar Power System
Chapter One
Objective of the Study
The general objective of the system is to provide efficiency, steadiness in the use of power appliances, by ensuring continuous availability of power supply even in the absence of mains. Uninterruptability of the system made it possible to eliminate all suspense from mains outage during the execution of an important and urgent assignment as may be required.
For better production of the system, the system was operated at a fully charged condition of the battery.
The project was rated 200W of 220V and 50Hz. It was expected that at this condition, it was favourable to carry load of the stipulated power. Loads of low power factors are not helpful since they produce spikes. Overloading is not potent to provide zero change over time and the inverter had LEDs which indicates mains failure and battery discharge and system fault.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
The use of the sun’s energy is nothing new and dates back to the beginning of time. In recent years however, the focus on energy consumption worldwide rapidly spurred growth in the research and development of ‟ green” alternative fuel source including the sun, wind, hydro, wave, geothermal,
hydrogen and other forms of energy. And today, because of that focus, the use of solar energy is expanding by leaps and bounds especially since sunlight is free, unlimited, readily available, clean and reliable.
A solar power system is one which is capable of converting the absorbed sun energy; store it in a lead acid cell to be used on the load.
In our part of the world, where power supply is not effective and efficient, the use of solar power supply is of immerse value and advantage considering the fact that we are blessed or rich in sun light i.e. high degrees of temperatures which is the main thing that feeds a solar power supply unit for uses.
It is low cost compared to other alternative sources of power supply in this society e.g. the use of generators which consume fuel or diesel and are really expensive, and its life span is better and reliable when used under or within or above the stipulated rating of the solar power device.
THE BASICS OF SOLAR POWER SYSTEM
A typical solar power supply device is comprised of solar panel (a.k.a. photovoltaic or PV panels), a charge controller, a power inverter having a meter or monitoring system which is capable of monitoring voltages and system condition and the electrical distribution system.
A solar panel is a device that is able to absorb sun rays and convert it into electrical energy precisely DC. The photovoltaic panel comprised of silicon crystals, which reacts with sun ray and under this process, converts the sun rays into electricity. They supply the electricity for charging the batteries and for use by the appliances either directly or through an inverter.
Multiple modules where used to produce more electricity and then any excess energy that was produced was stored in the batteries for use during the cloudy/ rainy weather.
The panels are available in different sizes, voltages and amperage. They can be wired in series or in parallel depending on how the system is designed.
Estimating solar panel output
This PV system produced power in proportion to the intensity of sunlight striking the solar array surface and this varied throughout the day, so the actual power of the solar power system varied substantially. There were other factors that affected the output of the solar panel. These factors needed to be understood so that there will be realistic expectation of overall system output and its economic benefits under variable weather conditions over time.
Factors affecting output:
Standard test conditions
The Solar modules produced DC electricity. The DC output of the solar modules was rated by the manufacturers under standard test conditions (STC). These conditions were easily recreated in the factory, and allowed for constant comparisons of products, under common outdoor operating conditions. Solar cell temperature = 25oc, solar irradiance (intensity) = 1000W/m2 often referred to as peak sunlight intensity, comparable to clear summer noon time intensity.
CHAPTER THREE
SYSTEM OPERATION
BLOCK DIAGRAM OF THE SYSTEM
SYSTEM OPERATION WITH BLOCK DIAGRAM
The solar panel absorbs energy produced by the sun and converts it into electrical energy. It does this by absorbing the sun rays into the modules of the solar panel hence produced free electrical charge carriers in the conduction and valence bands. The electricity produced by the solar panel was then transferred to the charge controller as shown in fig 3.1 above. The charge controller regulates the rate at which electric current were drawn in and out of the battery. It turns off charge when the battery reaches the optimum charging point and turns it on when it goes below a certain level. It fully charges the battery without permitting overcharge.
The regulated voltage from the charge controller was then transferred to the solar battery. The batteries were the key component in this solar power system. It provided energy storage for the system.
The energy stored in the batteries was then used to power the load but it was first converted to AC voltage by the use of an inverter due to they were AC loads. The photovoltaic ally produced direct current was commuted periodically by controlled oscillatory system and feed to power electronic semiconductor switches such as transistors which were connected the power transformer. Here the voltage was stepped up to the desired ac voltage. The inverter could also charge the battery when there is public power supply.
CHAPTER FOUR
SYSTEM DESIGN
LOAD EVALUATION AND POWERCONSUMPTION
Based on the table below
- The electrical appliances to power were
- The AC and Dc systems were separated and entered in their appropriate table.
- The operating watt of each load was recorded
- The number of hours per day for each item was
- The operating wattage and the number of hour per day were multiplied out to determine the watt hour per
- The total watt hour per week was determined by entering the number pf days per week the load should be
CHAPTER FIVE
PROCUREMENT AND INSTALLATION
PROCUREMENT
During the process of procuring all the materials used for this project, taking the right decision for the battery, inverter, solar panel and the charge controller was totally based on the result of their individual evaluations.
The materials; solar panel, inverter, batteries and the charge controllers where all order from Lagos with the following price list.
CHAPTER SIX
TEST AND RESULTS
The solar panel was set placed under the sun at 45o south, there the peak sun irradiation was on the panel surface and then at 39.5 volts was observed using a multimeter. While observing the voltage, the panel was slightly adjusted and the voltage varied at an angle away from the sun, the voltage depreciated.
The output from the solar panel was connected to the charge controller with respect to their polarities and when the output voltage was observed, it then read 26 volts which was right for charging 24 volts battery, since the two 12 volts batteries were connected in series. Also there was an indicator on the charge controller that showed when the battery was full by showing green light and the other LED showed red when load was connected to the system.
CHAPTER SEVEN
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
CONCLUSION
The project was intended to supply 200 watts of energy to the office of the HOD electrical electronic department. To serve as another source of alternative energy besides the diesel engine this serves the electrical utilities of the faculty.
The installation was a successful one and worked efficiently as intended. However during the design of the system requirement, it was considered to adjust the wattage of the inverter from 200 watts to 1500 watts inverter system due to an expected future expansion of the load capacity. Another change that had occurred during the design was the change from 12 volts solar panel to 24 volts solar panel and from 12 volts battery to an additional one more battery, which then became a 24 volts system to fit the solar panel that was already purchased.
The solar system worked effectively and cost no further operational cost. When compared to a 1.5 KVA petrol generator, it was costly but for the initial expenses. However it was later seen to be cheap since the system needed no petrol to operate but sunlight which was nature’s free gift. Therefore there was no need to time or limit the hour of power supply of the up and down experiences from the mains supply.
RECOMMENDATION
Solar panel with inverter would be recommended since it was a noiseless, it does not use fuel and it is environmental friendly. The solar power system was a convenient way of producing an alternative means of power supply to supplement the mains failure. It was advantageous to user who could afford its initial cost of installation. This project was recommended for expansion if the need arose. There would be need to add up more batteries to meet up with the running time and the system load capacity since the system had an adjusted wattage, more load could be added only with addition of more batteries to meet up with the capacity.
LIMITATIONS
- Space: The photovoltaic cells take up a lot space with this we can predict that with proper design can be taken care
- High cost: Currently, the cost of solar system in short term is high for average Nigerian citizen.
- Low energy efficiency: For now the commercially available have efficiency of45%.
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- Jacob, and Christos, C. (2002). Integrated Electronics, Pg. 112-113.U.S.A
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