Masters Theses

Abstract

"A stand-alone solar-powered street or area lighting system is designed and operated completely independent of the power grid. The equipment and maintenance costs associated with a stand-alone solar-powered system are compared with the cost of using electricity to run grid connected street lights. The project focused on the viability of using solar energy to power the lights in the area surrounding St. Louis, Missouri. The results had to be consistent to warrant converting new areas to independent solar powered lighting. A prototype system is constructed from equipment available on the market for the purpose of gathering data on different lighting sources. The prototype uses a 100W high pressure sodium lamp, 165W solar panel, a maximum power point tracker, an inverter, and lead acid gel batteries. The system has the design capability to last for four days of overcast skies and generate around 9500 lumens of brightness. The results are used to determine the size of the panel and the number of batteries required to guarantee that the lamp would work a preset number of days without failure. Real-life data collected by the prototype system and verified by computer simulations were used to evaluate the long-term performance of the system. An economic analysis is also performed to determine if the project is cost effective"--Abstract, page iii.

Advisor(s)

Chowdhury, Badrul H.

Committee Member(s)

Corzine, Keith,1968-
Ferdowsi, Mehdi

Department(s)

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Degree Name

M.S. in Electrical Engineering

Publisher

University of Missouri--Rolla

Publication Date

2007

Pagination

x, 92 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 88-91).

Rights

© 2007 Joshua David Bollinger, All rights reserved.

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Subject Headings

Solar cellsPhotovoltaic cellsPhotovoltaic power systemsStreet lighting

Thesis Number

T 9169

Print OCLC #

173690692

Electronic OCLC #

123202074

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