ECE Master of Engineering Student Project

Introduction

This new project will emphasize practical approaches to sustainable energy generation, control, and use in an electrical engineering context. I am particularly interested in solar electric generation, battery technology, small scale (domestic) cogeneration and battery backup, thermoelectric devices, and low power lighting. Participation in the Cornell Solar Decathlon House project will be highly encouraged. For more information contact Bruce Land.

The renewable/sustainable energy project is primarily aimed at Masters of Engineering designs, but undergraduate independent study courses will be considered also.You can infer the level of the course from the course numbers on each finished design. Some of the student designs from this page and from other courses have been published. Links to other ECE, CS and Neurobiology student projects from the last 15 years are on a seperate page.

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Design Ideas

World oil production

Domestic communcation/control/backup

• Cornell Solar Decathalon control/battery systems
• Insteon to Automated Logic bridge
• Home power project -- Focusing on the integration of battery, inverter, and solar panel (or wind turbine), plus information sources like NOAA weather. Also, real field test and performance evaluation will be emphasized.

Vehicles

• Plugin hybrid charging station for domestic or public use
  • car-to-charging station communication protocol -- identification, configuration, driving history (WiFi?, Zigbee?)
  • car as battery backup for house
  • security/billing for public use

Batteries

• Battery control -- The development of a new mechanism for solving the cell balance and state of battery health evaluation problems. This project will focus on the software development (especially for the microcontrollers) and making prototypes.

Possible Installations

• Phillips ECE solar array: esthetic, political, economic, technical aspects, maybe run the big hall displays?.
• Appledore Island/Shoals Marine Lab solar, wind, hydrogen?
• Other Cornell research locations?
• Design lighting control (shades, lights, etc) for ECE Director's office (Lutron homeworks?)
• Converting some of Cornell's electric vehicles to lithium batteries.

Instrumentation

• Sunpower 4000 watt inverter, wireless monitor, perhaps with web interface.
• Solar cell shade tracking and dynamic panel isolation. Dynamic reconfiguration of panels for I-V control.
• MPPT using data telemetered from solar panel.
• Passive solar panel cooling for higher efficiency in hot climates: computation/simulation/testing
• Solar cell I-V, full power simulator.
• Solar hot water energy monitor, rs232 to RESOL controller + custom interface to flow meter.
• Solar hot water/secondary heater control and circulator
• Energy use monitor with near field communication readout or with powerline communication
• Remote solar water pump controller -- tanks 100 meters from pump

Education

• Energy video game -- 'run the grid' (board game)
• power grid simulation
  • PSOC
  • linux
• power grid simulation in Second Life
• motors, lights, watt meters, etc.

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Resources

US Electrical Use (LLNL)

• Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy
• Renewable Energy (Elsevier Ltd)
• Renewable Energy Annual 2005 (DOE)
• NREL (DOE)
• EERE (DOE)
• Energy Information Administration (DOE)
• Home Power magazine
• Solar Today
• Renewable Energy World
• Science Daily
• Domestic control systems
  • HomePlug
  • Power Line Transceivers
  • Insteon
  • A low-cost Home Automation System based on Power-Line Communication Links

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Completed Designs

CUSD control systems
by Joshua De La Rosa
REU, August 2008

HomeNet - A Wireless Network of Household Appliances
by Eric Holmberg-Weidler andDavid MacLeod
ECE691, May 2005

Secure Solar Power
by Vladimir Kozitsky
ECE693, May 2004

See also ECE 4760 final projects page:
2008 #1,
2006 #15, #16,
2004 #7, #24,

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