While at the NJEA Convention last week, a few teachers asked about the wind turbine model design that was on our table at the Great Ideas Forum. We told them that we would post the instructions and drawings on our blog. I have completed the drawings and a cost estimate – if you have any questions, feel free to post them. Click on the drawings below to enlarge.
Here’s a photo of us at Convention. Wes is the devastatingly handsome man on the left; Dave is the devastatingly handsome man on the right.
Convention was a whirlwind, but we’ll be updating the blog over the next few days with our insights and experiences, including the Hipp Celebration on Friday, November 7.
The first quarter is starting to approach the end; the following is a list of some of the topics that were covered during this quarter.
1. Anatomy of a solar cell – the electron flow provides the current, and the cell’s electric field causes a voltage. With both current and voltage, we have electrical power.
2. Basic structure of a generic silicon photovoltaic (PV) cell
a. Single-crystal silicon
b. Polycrystalline silicon
3. Alternative energy vocabulary list.
4. Calculating payback for a photovoltaic system
5. Energy loss in a solar cell.
6. How do solar panels work?
7. Types of panels
a. Monocrystalline silicon panels
b. Polycrystalline silicon panels
c. String ribbon or thin-layer silicon panels
d. amorphous silicon panels or thin film
8. Enhanced panels
a. building-integrated PV panels
b. concentrator systems
c. high-efficiency multijunction devices
9. Typical costs for photovoltaic solar systems
The aforementioned areas shall be expanded on during the 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarter classes. In addition to expanding the subject matter, we will complete the construction of the second solar lab structure and install the solar panels, batteries and solar panel mounting racks.
