Masters Theses
Abstract
"In the field of innovative power sources, photovoltaics are playing an important role as a clean energy source. Because performance is dependent on instantaneous weather conditions, all stand-alone photovoltaic (PV) systems require an energy storage device. Batteries are not suitable for PV source applications due to depth of discharge restrictions, maintenance requirements and minimal power density availability. However, ultracapacitors (UCAPs) have a high power density, require little maintenance, and can be used in sequence with a dc-dc converter to maintain power output at an increased depth of discharge. This paper describes a PV-UCAP power system used to collect and compare solar radiation dependent charge rates over two voltage ranges: the traditional battery range from 35V to 48V and a longer, UCAP-specific range from 13V to 48V. A dataset of 800 charge cycles over 10 days was collected and analyzed. Using the Mann-Whitney hypothesis test, we found that the charge rates collected over the smaller voltage range are systematically different from the charge rates collected over the larger voltage range. The following three methods were used to estimate the variable instantaneous solar radiation during a given charge cycle: Simple Model of the Atmospheric Radiative Transfer of Sunshine Version 2.9.5 (SMARTS) method, vector angle of incidence (i vector) method, and direct beam solar radiation on collector (Ibc) method. The Ibc method shows the best correlation between charge rate and solar radiation estimation. The SMARTS method is preferred over the i vector method"--Abstract, page iv.
Advisor(s)
Elmore, A. Curt
Committee Member(s)
Cawlfield, Jeffrey D.
Crow, Mariesa
Department(s)
Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering
Degree Name
M.S. in Geological Engineering
Publisher
Missouri University of Science and Technology
Publication Date
Spring 2010
Pagination
ix, 29 pages
Note about bibliography
Includes bibliographical references.
Rights
© 2010 Jenna Sue Vujic, All rights reserved.
Document Type
Thesis - Open Access
File Type
text
Language
English
Subject Headings
Energy storage -- Equipment and supplies -- AnalysisPhotovoltaic cellsSolar radiation -- MeasurementSupercapacitors
Thesis Number
T 9631
Print OCLC #
680528629
Electronic OCLC #
911203609
Recommended Citation
Vujic, Jenna, "Field analysis of photovoltaic ultracapacitor energy storage system" (2010). Masters Theses. 113.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/masters_theses/113
minitab input m2.xls (33 kB)
6-25-2009 RAW.xls (179 kB)
6-29-2009 RAW.xls (71 kB)
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7-1-2009 RAW.xls (1856 kB)
7-2-2009 RAW.xls (1725 kB)
7-6-2009 RAW.xls (1229 kB)
7-8-2009 RAW.xls (1950 kB)
7-9-2009 RAW.xls (2059 kB)
7-28-2009_RAW.xls (2973 kB)
7-29-2009_RAW.xls (2532 kB)
SOP.doc (573 kB)
Comments
A CD-ROM is available at the Missouri S&T Library in the back pocket of the thesis. The CD-R contains the standard operating procedure (SOP), all raw sensor data, and y/x transformed data collected while the system was operational. All documents have been prepared as Microsoft Word 97-2003 document files. The raw sensor data was prepared as text files. The scatterplots were prepared as Grapher 6 files.