Research and Innovation April 2010

Brought to you by the students from the Electromechanical Technician program

Gil Amdurski, Brian Li and Mark ValdmanisWith the assistance of the Mechanical Design team

Geodi Noble, Andrew Stuart and Kevin LamUnder the supervision of

Leo Salemi, Professor CCET

And the mentoring provided by

David Nixon, Kortright Centre

Achieving a Net-Zero Lighting System for Achieving a Net-Zero Lighting System for the Classroom or Lab Environmentthe Classroom or Lab Environment

BackgroundBackground

• This project was a spin-off from the primary research project at the Kortright Centre and the solar tracker installed on the roof at Casa Loma

• The objective was to determine whether it is possible to collect and store enough solar energy to power the lights in a lab or classroom without the use of hydro

• The solar tracker installed on the roof would be used to produce the electricity, an intelligent switching battery bank was designed to store the energy

Research ObjectiveResearch Objective

• Use solar panels from the roof to charge a battery bank

• Convert the stored energy to power the lights in the lab

• Test various light bulb technologies to determine most efficient bulb that can run off batteries

MethodologyMethodologyThe solar tracker was designed, built and installed on the roof of

Casa Loma Campus as part of the main research project to collect the solar electricity required for the battery system

Geodi Noble, Kevin Lam, Andrew Stuart,

MethodologyMethodology

Brian Li• Set up all the manual controls and ran all the wiring

from the roof to the lab• Built the switching circuits for battery unit

Gil Amdurski• Worked on the automatic control system for the

tracker

Mark Valdmanis• Assisted with the software development and data

acquisition system• Tested the various bulb technologies

David Nixon, Kortright Centre• Provided insite on how to build an intelligent battery

charging system (work in progress)Control system for the tracker

MethodologyMethodology

Comparisons were made against 4 x 25W incandescent bulbs (This is equivalent to one 4-Tube light fixture in our lab)

Different light bulb technologies were tested to determine light level vs power consumption

MethodologyMethodology

Each bulb set was run off battery power to determine how long it would last

12 Volt to 120VAC Inverter

ResultsResults

Light bulb Rated light power

Actual power consumption

Cost per bulb

Light level

(as sensed by the eye)

Length of time on one battery charge

Incandescent 100 Watts 100 Watts < $1 Low 1 hour

Compact Fluorescent

100 Watts 30 Watts $3 - $4 Good 3 hours

LED (Round Bulb)

100 Watts 35 Watts $30 Best 3 hours

LED (Strip) 110 Watts 12 Watts $25 N/A N/A

Halogen 100 Watts 100 Watts $5 Brightest To be tested

Lessons LearnedLessons Learned

To run the four fluorescent fixtures in the lab 24 hr/day using solar power we would need:

3 - Solar Panels (total 500 Watts)1 - DC to AC Power Inverter (and 377 V transformer)1 - Battery Bank System (4 Batteries @ 100 AHr per battery)

Cost to run 1 small room < $5000 (worse case)

   

Lessons LearnedLessons Learned

Recommendations to optimize the efficiency and reduce costs

• Switch to a LED light bulbs• Incorporate an intelligent charging system for

battery bank (use David Nixon design)• Use Building Automation technology to control

the lighting system only when room is occupied

Future ResearchFuture Research

• Join the EMerge Alliance to learn more about the proposed DC infrastructure standard for lighting systems

• Set up an energy monitoring and building automation system (See TED example)

TED Live DashboardTED Live Dashboard

TED can display real time data or store data for later retrieval

It can monitor different loads at a time e.g. stove, fridge, HVAC

Easy to install for around $200

TED on Google Power MeterTED on Google Power Meter

TED data can be viewed via an iGoogle web browser

Thank YouThank You

Many thanks to

for supporting our team and Ontario’s futurefor supporting our team and Ontario’s future

David Nixon – Kortright Centre

Ed Evans – Sylvania Osram