Executive Summary
With concern growing over the consumption of non-renewable fuel sources, demand has risen over the last 30 years for "green" power technologies. Utilizing renewable energy sources like wind, water, and sunlight to displace the use of fossil fuels has become a rich market for innovative technologies. Small-scale applications typically look to solar arrays to provide this energy, while small-scale turbine applications have been largely ignored. The goal of the Wind Solar Project at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is to develop an outdoor lighting system that is autonomously powered by wind and solar energy.
The current Wind Solar Senior Design Team of the 2004-2005 academic year will perform the ground breaking on a commercially viable product by designing and building a functional prototype. The prototype will both make substantial inroads toward an autonomous system as well as allow for continuous development and testing of future vertical axis turbine designs. This prototype will include the instrumentation necessary to evaluate the performance of its power generation system. As an investment into emerging technologies, the prototype will feature a high intensity LED array designed to substantially decrease the amount of power required to light an area. The prototype will allow for the addition of a solar panel and energy storage system as neither will be tested by the prototype.
1. Recognize and Quantify the Needs
The following section will provide an introduction to the Wind Solar Team and its mission. The history of the project will be discussed. The necessary and desired elements of the project will be presented; these elements reflect the end goal of bringing the lighting system into the market. There will be discussion of the business goals associated with bringing the lighting system into the market. There will also be discussion of the primary and secondary markets, as well as other potential applications of the technology. Finally, the team resources and project plan will be discussed.
1.1 Mission Statement
The mission of the Wind Solar Team is to develop an outdoor lighting system that is autonomous and uses wind-solar hybrid energy. The power generation system should be economically feasible, scaleable, and reliable. The target market is walkway or pedestrian lighting applications. This mission statement has been approved by the sponsor, Dr. Venkataraman.
The original target market was parking lot lighting, but following the feasibility assessment this was changed to walkway or pedestrian lighting.
1.2 Project Description
Over the past 30 years, concerns over dwindling non-renewable fuel sources have created a market for “greener” technologies that are both more efficient and utilize renewable energy sources. Small scale applications typically look to solar arrays to provide this energy, while small-scale turbine applications have been largely ignored. The goal of the Wind Solar Project is to develop an autonomous outdoor lighting system that is powered solely by wind and solar energy.
The project is sponsored by the Mechanical Engineering Department, with Dr. Venkataraman serving as the team’s sponsor. The project began as a New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) funding proposal prepared by Dr. Venkataraman last year. The project was not picked up by NYSERDA, but, due to department and student interest in alternative energy, it has been continued as a senior design project.
The NYSERDA proposal involved a street light powered by wind and solar power designed and prototyped by 5-8 senior design students. The proposal addressed “the design, development, deployment, and manufacture of small-footprint, combined wind and solar power generators that will provide sustained and independent operation of low powered devices. The actual application to be demonstrated is a new generation of street lamp.” (Venkataraman & Hensel) A vertical axis Savonius turbine was proposed for wind generation.
The long-term goal of this project is to create a marketable wind/solar hybrid power generation system that can be applied to streetlights as well as other applications. The Solar Wind Team will be taking the first step in this process by creating a working prototype to demonstrate the viability of such a system.
1.3 Scope and Limitations
The Wind Solar Team’s research suggests that current technology cannot yet provide a market-competitive autonomous lighting system. Therefore, the team will be creating a prototype that can be easily modified to create a marketable product when such technologies become available. The prototype will focus on the aspects of the design that are not currently available off-the-shelf; these include the wind turbine, the electrical systems, and a high efficiency lighting device. The team will be exploring the solar panel and battery technology that would be needed to support a fully autonomous system, but will not necessarily be integrating these systems into the prototype at this time due to budget constraints.
The team will be developing an initial prototype of their design by the end of Senior Design II, which cannot exceed $3000 to construct. The prototype will be tested at RIT, during the spring of 2005. The team’s primary design concern is the wind turbine, since there is a lack of literature on small vertical axis turbines and the team will be building the turbine. Whenever possible, commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) parts will be incorporated into the final design. The design must comply with campus and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) safety regulations. Finally, the design must also not infringe on any existing or pending patents.
1.4 Qualitative Qualifiers
Technical
The final design will incorporate wind and solar power generation. The light will be autonomous and run without grid power. The lighting assembly will incorporate existing technology whenever possible, especially for components like the light, energy storage, generator, and solar panel. The system must be free standing and safe.
Budget/Economical
The prototype must be constructed with the existing budget. The final product, if introduced into the market needs to be competitively priced. Finally, the lighting system needs to be shippable at a reason cost.
Performance
The light output must be comparable to existing grid powered lighting systems. The lighting system will need to operate in a range of environmental conditions. The system must reliably provide consistent light during the dark periods of the day. The system also needs to be easy to install and maintain. The final design of the system must comply with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Underwriters Laboratories (UL) regulations before the product is able to enter the market.
Schedule
The design must also be prototyped by the end of Senior Design II. There needs to be ample time available to prepare a preliminary patent proposal, if necessary.
1.5 Qualitative Winners
Technical
The final design should allow for easy construction and repair. The number of moving parts within the final design of the lighting system should be kept to a minimum, in order to reduce reliability issues. All exposed parts should be weather proofed and as many systems as possible should be protected from the environmental elements.
Budget/Economical
All custom parts should be manufactured at RIT; outsourcing of machining should be limited. The design should incorporate recycled or recyclable materials wherever possible. Finally, the final design should be easily mass produced if the lighting system is introduced into the market place.
Performance
The design should be aesthetically pleasing. The lighting system should have minimal energy consumption. The light should have minimal glare for people near the light while it is in operation. The light should also produce a low level of light pollution. The wind turbine should create minimal noise pollution or at least create minimal perceived noise to persons traveling near the lighting system. The design should be vandal or tamper resistant to avoid any potential safety or reliability concerns.
Schedule
If possible, the prototype should be built before a preliminary patent application is submitted.
1.6 Quantitative Qualifiers
Technical
The system must provide 150 watt*hours per day (the power drawn by the light on the longest night of the year). The power generation system must fit on a 6”x6” post and have a structural safety factor of 3.
Budget/Economical
The prototype budget is $3000. The combination of production and installation costs needs to be equal or less than existing products in order to be competitive.
Performance
The system needs to operate for one year without requiring any component replacement. All major components, like the generator, solar panel, and battery need to be able to operate for 5 years before needing service. The lighting system needs to operate in the field for at least 20 years. The light generated by the system needs to be as bright as products currently available. The system will need to generate constant reliable light for up to fifteen hours straight depending on the time of year.
Scheduling
The preliminary design for the light system must be completed and finalized by the 10th week of Senior Design I. All non-locally available parts need to be selected and ordered by the end of Senior Design I. The prototype needs to be started by the 1st week of Senior Design II. The preliminary patent application needs to be submitted by the 5th week of Senior Design II, if the product is patentable. At least one turbine design will be tested by the end of Senior Design II.
1.7 Quantitative Winners
Technical
The cone of the light should be no more than 150o to maintain current light pollution (Matt’s light pollution ref). The solar and wind turbine should each occupy no more than a 1 square meter area.
Budget/Economical
All parts not commercially available should be producible by the team and using machining resources available at RIT. The preliminary design should cost no more than 80% of the total budget. This will provide funding for any changes that need to be made during prototyping and testing. When manufactured commercially, each unit should cost less than $1000 to produce.
Performance
The wind turbine and generator system should produce less than 40 decibels of sounds at a distance of 1 m from the source (Aaron’s sound reference). The turbine should harness about 35% of the available energy in the wind, or be a “good” turbine.
Scheduling
The preliminary design should be finalized by the beginning of February. All parts should be delivered within the first week of spring quarter. All custom parts should be able to be manufactured by the members of the team within one week. Build and test multiple vertical axis turbine designs by the end of Senior Design II. Commercially viable units should be able to enter the market by the spring of 2006.
1.8 Key Business Goals
The final design must be scalable and able to be adapted to future variations of the initial product. When introduced commercially, the product should be profitable. There will not be minimal order quantities when the product is made commercially available. If the lighting system were to be introduced into the market, all manufacturing for the products would occur where the business is established, not at RIT. There needs to be the ability to customize the system for various lighting needs the costumers may have, such as various light angles, pole heights, and luminance of light on the ground.
1.9 Primary Market
When the team was developing a parking lot system, the product was to be marketed to owners of commercial properties with parking lots. Some of the primary customers the team planned to target were malls, banks, supermarkets, drug stores, car dealers, and others that required outdoor parking lot light during the dark hours. Now that the team is focusing on building walkway or pedestrian lighting, the product will still target commercial customers with walkways that need to be lighted during the dark hours of the day as well as colleges, office complexes, communities and others that may require walkway lighting. Both products would also target civil firms responsible for site plans. The product will ultimately be targeted to those with a vested interest in renewable or green power options.
1.10 Secondary Market
Some other possible markets for the lighting system include secondary lighting at sports venues. This could include lighting for walkways at community fields, lights near the bleachers, and other area lighting. The product could also be marketed directly to architects, especially those focusing on pedestrian lighting, since it is the architect that selects the lights that line many small downtowns and buildings. The lighting system could also be marketed to developing countries where grid power is still not available in all locations. Other potential applications include: temporary lighting on construction sites, or when power needs to be cut for construction and emergency lighting after disasters.
The product will not be targeting any lighting markets currently owned by the utility companies including: highway lighting, roadway lighting, and rented poles. The lighting system will also not be designed to sell power back to the grid. One of the key benefits of this lighting system is that it will be autonomous and therefore not connected to the grid, which will reduce installation cost and make it impossible to sell any excess power back to the grid.
1.11 Innovative Opportunities
There are several applications the power generation system could be applied to as well as modifications that could be made to improve on the lighting system and expand it into other markets. The power generation system could be applied to other autonomous applications, like emergency lighting, billboard lighting, and back-up power generation. The lighting system and power generation could be applied to a range of pole heights and lights with varying intensities, in order to cover the spectrum of outdoor lighting applications.
If the product is introduced into market, there is the added opportunity to develop branding for the product. In addition, the product could be marketed to personal consumers as well as commercial customers. Some personal application the lighting system could be targeted for include: light near barns, driveway lighting, pool lighting, and other personal outdoor lighting applications that may exist.
1.12 Team Resources and Project Planning
The team is comprised of a team leader and six mechanical engineering students. Dr. Hensel serves as a mentor and advisor. Dr. Walter serves as Project Coordinator. The project sponsor is Dr. Venkataraman. An organizational chart is located in Appendix A. A Work Breakdown Structure was created to generate the tasks necessary for a successful build. A project timeline is located in Appendix B to track progress of the project.