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Project Report
Project Report
Abstract – This paper shows the Shown below is the LED and
specifications and acquired data by the Solar microprocessor current usage with different
Road Warriors regarding Solar Roadway LED colors and intensities provided by Solar
panels. Roadways.
I. INTRODUCTION
The University of Idaho Facilities
Services Division proposed a Capstone
Design project to implement Solar Roadway Figure 2. SR LED Intensity and Microprocessor Current
panels at the University of Idaho. Solar Consumption
Roadways is a company located in
Sandpoint, Idaho. They are working towards B. Solar Cells
building modular, easy to produce, The solar cells that are implemented in Solar
programmable solar panels that will Roadway panels are from Motech Industries,
generate renewable energy and replace INC. Here is the current and voltage
asphalt. characteristic curve of the solar cells.
Shown below are the properties regarding Listed below are the numbers of injuries
solar performance of the glass material. found around the University of Idaho provided
by Environmental Health and Safety.
D. Inverter
Enphase Energy provides the Solar
Roadway panel inverters to transform the DC
power generated from the solar cells to AC
power to be transported to the grid. The
specifications on the electrical aspects of the
inverters are shown below.
Results are shown below for a one hundred Testing steps for current – voltage characteristic
panel installation. curve formulation:
1) Place SR panel flat on UI Steam
Plant near direct sunlight exposure.
2) Connect SR panel to resistor.
3) Connect Digilent board to laptop.
4) Connect Vin pin to SR panel blue
wire and connect ground pin to SR
panel white wire.
5) Connect voltmeter pin to resistors
and measure voltage across resistor.
6) Sample voltage across panel (Vin)
and voltage across resistor (Vr)
using laptop and Digilent meter.
7) Calculate current by subtracting
voltage of Solar Roadway panel by
the voltage across the resistors and
divide that value by the resistance.
8) Calculate power by multiplying
voltage across resistor by the current
across the resistor.
Resistive components:
Resistor Resistance Power Rating
RA 214.75 Ω 50 W
RB 99.815 Ω 50 W
RC 51.313 Ω 50 W
RD 1.621 Ω 50 W
RE 1.614 Ω 50 W
RF 1.632 Ω 50 W
Figure 7. PVWatts data and MATLAB plot
The results of the current and voltage Location: University of Idaho Steam Plant
characteristic curve test and resistive When: November 8th, 2018 from 12-1 PM
combinations are shown below.
Materials:
1) Solar Roadway Panel
2) Digilent Board
3) Laptop for data sampling
4) Fluke IR FlexCam Thermal Imager
5) Pool
6) Ice and Water
Infrared camera testing steps:
1) Plug in heating and LED boxes
Figure 10. Current-Voltage characteristic curve formulation connected to SR panels.
test results.
2) Weigh the amount of ice used in
test.
3) Fill up pool with water and ice.
4) Place panel inside pool.
5) Plug in and place thermal imaging
camera above panel.
6) Connect ground V+ and V- wires
from Heating and LED box to
Digilent board.
7) Sample voltage across pins and
voltage across resistor (Vr) using
Figure 11. Current-Voltage Characteristic curve laptop and Digilent meter.
8) Calculate current by subtracting
voltage of Solar Roadway panel by
the voltage across the resistors and
divide that value by the resistance.
9) Calculate power by multiplying
voltage across resistor by the current
across the resistor.
The setup and results from the infrared camera During the infrared camera test, the
test and infrared image captures are shown Digilent board failed to save the data captures
below. from the test. This test showed that the heating
element did not turn on as explained on the Solar
Roadway website.
Discussing the heating element design
for the panels purchased by the University of
Idaho with Solar Roadways showed that the
panels LEDs and heating element can be
controlled by the software provided by Solar
Roadways. A similar test will be conducted to
show the effect of the heating element with
snow/ice conditions.
IV. SR PANEL COMMUNICATION
AND HEATING ELEMENT
OPTIMIZATION
The Solar Road Warriors visited the
Solar Roadway manufacturing facility located in
Sandpoint, Idaho towards the end of the spring
semester. Solar Roadways gave us the task of
optimizing the heating element of their panels.
A. Engine Boards
Solar Roadways provided custom made
engine boards that have the exact components as
the microprocessors located inside the Solar
Roadway panels and have the same functionality
as the panel communication between other
panels implemented in the field.
Shown below is the engine board
schematic and component list.
V. ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
This section describes the benefits from
a monetary standpoint that Solar Roadway
panels can theoretically provide for the
University of Idaho.
A. Power Generation
One-hundred panel installation generates
48,476 kWh using Moscow Idaho residential
rate of electricity at 9.56¢/kWh gives a total of
$4,132 annually. Per panel, it would generate
484.76 kWh at $41.32 annually.
B. Cost per panel
Solar Roadway panels cost $2000 per panel
(includes installation, inverter, wiring, etc.)
C. Optimized Heating Element
Using humidity sensor along with
Figure 15. SR Engine Board Component list temperature sensing capabilities of Solar
Roadway panels could reduce heating element
Understanding the communication power consumption by 30%.
between the microprocessor board and the panel D. Safety
components, any design can be implemented on Summing the total amount of only ice and
the engine boards provided by Solar Roadways. snow related injuries between 2014 and 2018
Thus, the optimized heating element design can cost the University of Idaho a total of
be implemented onto the engine boards and $475,824.86.
programmed. E. Environmental
The University of Idaho Facilities Services
B. Optimization of Heating Element Division provided information regarding the
Currently, Solar Roadway panels have a cost of snow removal and asphalt repair around
heating capability that operates any time the the University of Idaho campus for the parking
outside temperature is 32°F or below. To lot next to the University of Idaho Steam Plant.
improve this design, the Solar Road Warriors
propose to add a humidity sensor and barometric Asphalt (Parking lot near U of I Steam
sensor in order to sense the amount of moisture Plant)
in the air and atmospheric pressure. By adding Snow removal cost - $22-$48/space, or
these sensors, one could program the heating about $3500 annually.
element to operate only when given specific
moisture content and pressure and’ed with Labor and materials associated with
temperature. This added logic would decrease crack repair, seal-coating, and striping -
the amount of heating because the heating $4500 every 3 years.
element would only operate given all specifics Full rebuild cost - $190k should be
are met. These specifications would be modified factored in every 25 years.
to account for certain locations if they have
significant differences in moisture and pressure Overall, there are many benefits of Solar
Roadway panels that the University of Idaho
contents.
could use. The high price of the panels makes
the investment difficult to offset with the
benefits. But with the right price and some
improvements to the panels, it could be a solid
match.