The EGEN SWATeam held their fourth meeting for the Fall 2016 semester. Topics covered include:
The EGEN SWATeam held their third meeting for the Fall 2016 semester. Topics covered include:
Niharika Kishore, masters in Urban Planning (MUP) student, and Corey Weil, sophomore in Electrical and Computer Engineering, are working with Morgan Johnston on the iSEE objective for on-campus solar. Niharika will continue her efforts for promoting rooftop solar to meet the iCAP objective for 12,500 MWh/year of on-campus solar energy generation as part of a MUP capstone project this year. Corey will volunteer in various efforts to support the development of solar solutions for campus, from the Net Zero Energy ECE efforts to advocating for solar energy funding.
After the August 5th presentation by Niharika Kishore to College of Engineering facilities contact Greg Larson, Greg spoke with Mechanical Engineering facilities contact Damon McFall about roofotp solar for the Mechanical Engineering Building (MEB). Morgan Johnston explained that MEB had been left off the list Niharika worked on because of the upcoming Capital Programs project in that facility. Greg indicated that they are interested in pursuing rooftop solar for MEB. Potentially the design could be included in the Capital Project design effort, and the installation would need to be funded separately. This roof could hold approximately 130 kW array.
Niharika Kishore will send an email to potential facilities for adding rooftop solar, in support of the 2015 iCAP objective. The draft email is attached and the list of potential facilities is as follows:
| Building | Estimated Yearly Output (kWh/yr) |
| Physical Plant Services Building | 791,522 |
| Activities and Recreation Center | 725,562 |
| Law Building | 395,761 |
| Ikenberry Dining Hall | 382,569 |
| Abbott Power Plant | 263,841 |
| Digital Computer Library | 263,841 |
| Plant Sciences Laboratory | 164,900 |
| Timothy J. Nugent Hall | 164,900 |
| Institute of Genomic Biology | 158,304 |
| Richard T. Ubben Basketball Complex | 151,708 |
| Oak Street Library | 151,708 |
| Bousfield Hall | 145,112 |
| Garage and Carpool | 125,324 |
Illini Solar Car was established last year with aims to design, build, and race a commercially-viable, solar-electric vehicle to compete in the 2019 World Solar Challenge. To meet this long term goal, the organization has the interim goals of building a lighter, single-seat vehicle to allow for competition in the 2016 American Solar Challenge, 2017 World Solar Challenge, and 2018 American Solar Challenge.
Illinois Solar Car has already received two small grants of under $5,000 each to work on prototyping aspects of their system. Though they have received significant donations of equipment such as solar panels and motors from outside companies, basic supplies to manufacture the car itself still must be purchased.
The full project funds the remaining costs associated with completing Solar Car’s first full-sized vehicle, with the expectation that having one completed vehicle opens the door for expanded funding opportunities from other sponsors.
Today, Morgan Johnston met with Niharika Kishore to discuss the rooftop solar iCAP objective. Niharika is going to review the work already done, in the iSEE solar box folder, and draft a proposal for getting the engineering design work done for a set of building. She will be working towards meeting the FY20 on campus generation goal of 12,500 MWh/year, and possibly additional installations for FY25.
A group of seniors completed the attached report for the Art and Design Building, for rooftop solar. They recommended a flexible solar material, with micro-inverters. The Art and Design department is interested in working with a student in the fall to seek funding for the rooftop solar from the Student Sustainability Committee.
Eric Heineman (former Sustainability Director for Governor Pat Quinn) is now working at Nissan. He said, "We are interested in setting up some Ride and Drive (test drives), some sort of university employee/alumni discount for all employees, and just raise greater awareness of Electric Vehicles in Urbana-Champaign."
This project is to build and test a scaled-down prototype of the electrical system of a solar car. The major parts of this prototype are the solar array, maximum power point trackers (MPPT), rechargeable batteries, and a load. The solar array will be made of flexible silicon crystalline solar cells encapsulated (to protect from debris and enhance performance) and mounted on a contoured composite panel that mimics the surface of our car body. The applicant will design and build our own MPPT which is a variable DC/DC boost converter that raises the voltage of their array. The MPPT has a feedback loop control to ensure maximum output from the array under different insolation and temperatures. The rechargeable batteries will be Li-ion batteries that will act as a buffer energy source when sunlight is not available or is insufficient to power the system. Although Li-ion batteries have a high energy density, they require a battery management system to ensure safe and optimal operation. Thus, they will purchase a battery management system that is suitable for our car. Lastly, the energy generated by the solar array will power a load, which will be a motor planned to be borrowed from another team.
Award Letter - Solar Car.pdf EN - Solar Car Prototype Full Project CS Letter.pdf EN - Solar Car Prototype Full Project EDC Letter.pdf
EN - Solar Car Prototype Full Project Step 2.xlsx
EN - Solar Car Prototype Photos.docx EN - Solar Car Prototype Small Project Support.docx EN - Solar Car Prototype Small Project.xlsxBrendan McDonnell is working with F&S to identify the best buildings on campus for rooftop solar. Brendan is a MechSE graduate student working toward an MS in ME with a certificate in Energy Systems Engineering, and this is his summer capstone project. Professor Elif Ertekin is his advisor for the project, and Morgan Johnston is his supervisor at F&S. The files Brendan is collecting are stored in the iSEE Solar box folder at https://uofi.app.box.com/files/0/f/2802975201/iSEE_-_Solar_Working_Group....
As part of the Lighting Retrofit #5, 862 T-12 fixtures in the Printing and Photographic Services Building were replaced with more energy-efficient T-8 fixtures. This switch will incur an Annual kWh Savings of 151,916 hours. The simple payback for this project is 3.15 years.
As part of the Lighting Retrofit #5, 436 T-12 fixtures in the Agriculture Bioprocess Lab were replaced with more energy-efficient T-8 fixtures. This switch will incur an Annual kWh Savings of 68,289 hours. The simple payback for this project is 3.62 years.
See files
As part of the Lighting Retrofit #5, 50 T-12 fixtures in the Animal Sciences A/C Center were replaced with more energy-efficient T-8 fixtures. This switch will incur an Annual kWh Savings of 7,884 hours. The simple payback for this project is 3.56 years.
As part of the Lighting Retrofit #5, 488 T-12 fixtures in the University Press Building were replaced with more energy-efficient T-8 fixtures. This switch will incur an Annual kWh Savings of 76,948 hours. The simple payback for this project is 3.64 years.
As part of the Lighting Retrofit #5, 547 T-12 fixtures in the Transportation Building were replaced with more energy-efficient T-8 fixtures. This switch will incur an Annual kWh Savings of 86,251 hours. The simple payback for this project is 3.56 years.
As part of the Lighting Retrofit #5, 471 T-12 fixtures in Temple Hoyne Buell Hall were replaced with more energy-efficient T-8 fixtures. This switch will incur an Annual kWh Savings of 74,267 hours. The simple payback for this project is 3.56 years.
As part of the Lighting Retrofit #5, 47- T-12 fixtures in the Speech and Hearing Clinic were replaced with more energy-efficient T-8 fixtures. This switch will incur an Annual kWh Savings of 74,110 hours. The simple payback for this project is 3.08 years.
As part of the Lighting Retrofit #5, 335 T-12 fixtures in the Shelford Vivarium Greenhouse were replaced with more energy-efficient T-8 fixtures. This switch will incur an Annual kWh Savings of 52,823 hours. The simple payback for this project is 3.53 years.
