Ecosense established a Solar PV and Solar Thermal Lab at Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jabalpur Engineering College, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.

Jabalpur Engineering College is second Engineering College in India established in 1947 and is a premier institution of engineering education in Central India.

Under Solar PV and Solar Thermal Lab, Ecosense installed following seven equipments at the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

A. Solar PV Lab
1. Solar PV Training and Research System
2. Solar PV Grid Tied Training System
3. Solar PV Emulator
B. Solar Thermal Lab
4. Solar Thermal Training System (Flat-plate collector based)
5. Solar Concentrator Training System (Parabolic Trough collector based)
6. ETC Characterisation system (Evacuated tube collector based) and
7. Thermal Energy Storage System (Thermal battery)

A. Ecosense’s Solar PV lab enables users to learn about Solar PV Technology in a very easy and interactive manner. Sola/r PV Lab educates users in three different branches of Solar PV Technology that are Solar PV characteristics, Solar PV Standalone/Grid Tied configurations and Solar PV Research Area.

Ecosense’s Solar PV Training and research system enables user to learn about Solar PV standalone technology. Using this system, a user gains knowledge in three fields of Solar PV Standalone system:

1) Physics of Solar PV Panels — I-V and P-V characteristics, series and parallel connection of solar panels effect of irradiation, effect of temperature, effect of shadow, effect of tilting of panels, effect of geographical location etc.

2) Components and Assembly of standalone system — use of blocking diode, use of bypass diode, use of solar charge controller, use of solar inverter, difference between MPPT and PWM charge controllers, AC load, DC load, battery charging/ discharging characteristics, assembly of several components and power flow calculations in each branch.

3) Research in PV systems — Ecosense separately provides a research unit along with standalone experimental system. User can initiate research in the area of maximum power point tracking using this unit. It has provision of providing automatic as well as manual gate signals to charge controller. User can use his/ her own MPPT algorithm with any of the controller to provide manual gate signals.

Ecosense’s Solar Grid Connected Training system enables user to learn about Solar Grid -tied technology. Using this system, a user gains knowledge of connecting an auxiliary grid (Solar PV) to the main grid, its essential components and transfer of power between the two grids. Using this system user gains knowledge in the following areas:

1) Effect of different types of loads on Electrical Grid
2) Effect of capacitance and inductance in Transmission lines
3) Interfacing requirement of an auxiliary Grid to main grid
4) Concept of anti-islanding

Ecosense’s PV Emulator can be understood as a variable Solar PV panel where a user can define the parameters of Solar panel and see its working in real time. It is essentially a DC supply which simulates the characteristics of a solar panel. PV Emulator allows to alter the characteristics of a PV panel in real-time and user can also see shading effects up to 4 peaks. This system facilitates a user to conduct research in the field of Solar PV.

B. Ecosense’s Solar Thermal Lab enables user to learn about Solar Thermal technology in a very easy and interactive manner. Solar thermal lab educates user about the usage of different Solar thermal technologies such as flat plate collector-based systems, parabolic trough-based systems and evacuated tube collector-based systems, their efficiencies and applications. It also educates user about thermal storage where a user can store thermal energy for later use similar to how we store electrical energy in batteries.

Ecosense’s Solar Thermal Training system is a replica of the solar flat plate collector-based water heating system designed in a form of experimental setup to help students learn and experience different parameters of performance of Flat Plate Collector System. This system helps students in practical understanding of various technical parameters such as Overall Heat Loss Co-efficient, Heat Removal Factor and Efficiency at different flexible input parameters like radiation, wind speed etc. The system has in built sensors which measure parameters like pressure, temperature, flow rate etc., mounted on a control unit.

Ecosense’s Solar Concentrator Training system is Solar Parabolic Trough Collector Based System consists of parabolic reflectors, absorber tube, sun tracker, piping, storage tanks and a heat exchanger. A control panel would control different devices and also measure the different parameters of the system. The system can be used to perform experiments in heat transfer, parabolic trough characteristics and heat loss at different parts of the system. The system is highly flexible – it can be used with different working fluids, different absorbing materials, different piping insulation thickness and different types of storage tanks. This gives a lot of scope for research in heat transfer and related fields. Wind speed variation and flow velocity are other parameters which can be changed to show their impact on heat transfer and heat loss.

Ecosense’s ETC Characterisation system is for thermal analysis of fluids is a mini closed-loop ETC system to study the thermal characteristics of various fluids. It uses an artificial sunlight so that it can be used inside a lab and is independent of the natural climate. A chiller is also connected to the system so that once fluids get heated, students will be able to cool it down immediately and study the thermal characteristics of heating as well as cooling. This system helps students in practical understanding of various technical parameters such as efficiency and heat transfer at different flexible input parameters like radiation, wind speed, etc. The system has inbuilt sensors that measure parameters like pressure, temperature, flow rate, etc., mounted on a control unit.

Ecosense’ Thermal Energy Storage has been designed to perform TES related experiment by using PCM materials. As there are several types of PCM, the system has been designed to perform experiment with at least two PCM separately. Provision is also kept to examine the combine (known as cascading) effect of two PCMs in thermal energy storage. To visualize the phase changes in the material another set of arrangement are there in the system.

Demonstration of equipments

2-day workshop on “Renewable Energy Systems: Hands-on Training” conducted

Ecosense also successfully conducted a 2- day workshop on “Renewable Energy Systems: Hands-on Training”. Engineers of Ecosense trained the staff members, students and Professors at the institute to work on these Renewable Lab facility.

Flyer for intimation of Workshop

Token of appreciation for Ecosense’s Engineers during workshop

Program Outcomes

The faculty members and students really enjoyed our two-day training programme and loved to work on our lab equipment. Professors will conduct experiments on the system to understand it more deeply and incorporate this lab set up as part of their regular curriculum.