The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), Government of India set up The Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology (RGIPT) through an Act of Parliament (RGIPT Act 2007). Under the privileged guidance and association, Energy Institute, Bengaluru (EIB), Centre of Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology is operating since 2018 in transit campus in Bengaluru.
The institute is set-up with the mission to create a dynamic state-of-the-art learning and working environment, where intellectual ideas are nurtured and new ideas creatively flourish, from which will emerge research scholars and graduates, with the ability to be the leaders and innovators of tomorrow.
Under the same vision Ecosense installed Renewable Energy Lab in November 2022.
The lab consists of the following equipments:
1. PV Training and Research System
Solar PV Training and Research system is a compact miniaturised version of an actual Solar PV standalone power plant. The system enables user to study wiring and interconnections of different components involved in the system to develop basic understanding of working and operation of a Standalone PV system. Through the help of experiments a student can understand underlying principles of solar PV, its applications in standalone system and challenges like sizing of system, MPPT, installations etc. by doing various experiments. The system also provides scope for further research.
2. Grid Tied Training System
Solar PV Grid Tied Training System is a compact version of an actual Solar PV Grid Tied power plant. The system enables user to study wiring and interconnections of different components involved in the system to develop basic understanding of working and operation of a Grid connected system. A user can understand underlying principles power electronics, its applications in power system and challenges like harmonics and grid synchronisation by doing various experiments. The system also provides scope for further research.
3. Solar PV Emulator
PV Emulator is a programmable power supply designed to mimic the characteristics of Solar Panels. With fast transient response, the emulator responds to change in load conditions and maintains the output on IV characteristics of the panels defined by user for a given ambient condition.
It is a flexible instrument designed to emulate the output of solar panels, with adjustable parameters such as Voc, Isc, shading, coefficient of temperature etc. The PV Emulator uses an internal algorithm to adjust Voc (Open circuit voltage) and Isc (short-circuit current) so as to match the solar panel selected by the user based on user defined parameters such as Irradiation, temperature, Voc, Isc, temperature coefficient etc. The Emulator makes sure the response matches that of the actual panel under all the load conditions within range. The user is presented with a complete set of information with tables and plots on user application.
4. Solar Thermal Training System
Solar Thermal Training System is a small model of real time water heating system and can be used for the characterization and different heat transfer analysis. Different aspects like efficiency, overall heat loss coefficient and heat removal factor and their corresponding calculations can be demonstrated with the help of this system. Special feature of this system is to perform experiments with different wind speeds, different fluid temperatures and different flow speeds.
5. Solar Concentrator Training System
The Solar Concentrator Training System is a compact and miniaturized version of Solar parabolic trough collector-based water heating system. The 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 on 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 installs Renewable Energy Lab at RGIPT, Bangalore
6. ETC Characterisation System
An ETC characterization system for thermal analysis of fluids is a mini closed-loop Evacuated Tube Collector system to study the thermal characteristics of various fluids. The system uses an artificial sunlight source to illuminate evacuated tube collector so that it can be used inside a lab and is independent of the natural climate. The system includes header storage tank, ETC tubes and a pump which make it suitable for the system analysis and evaluation of thermal characteristics. Different sensors such as pressure, temperature, flow etc. at different branches of system is used to collect data and then can be used in calculation for evaluating different parameters. A chiller is connected to the system to cool down the hot fluid immediately and study the thermal characteristics of heating as well as cooling.
7. Thermal Energy Storage
This system 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.
8. Wind Turbine Emulator
Wind turbine emulator mimics the behaviour of wind turbine for hardware level simulations. This system has a DC motor coupled with the Induction generator/Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator, speed of which is controlled as per the speed reference calculated by solving the mathematical model of wind turbine. An induction generator is coupled to the DC motor and bidirectional inverter is connected to the terminals of the generator. Researcher can execute the mathematical models of their newly developed or modified wind turbine and can simulate the speed/power of profile of turbine on hardware environment directly for different wind speeds & pitch angle.
9. Fuel Cell Training System
Fuel Cell unit receives dry hydrogen from the Hydrogen gas cylinder at preset LPM. The generated power can be used directly by a DC load but as per the V-I curve of Fuel cell system, the voltage reduces as we increase the load, therefore, the power generated by fuel cell system cannot be used directly hence the output is connected to a charge controller which charges the battery and maintain output as per the battery voltage. The battery bank is further connected to a home inverter so that home utilities can be used as a load for the fuel cell system.
By using the Fuel Cell training system, a user will be able to understand characteristics of fuel cell with the help of resistive load or DC-DC converter, output power variation of fuel cell with change in hydrogen supply, fuel cell performance with DC/AC load and output variation of fuel cell with a change in temperature.
Ecosense installs Renewable Energy Lab at RGIPT, Bangalore
Masters Training Conducted
After Installation a masters training and demonstration session was conducted by Ecosense’s Engineers. During this session, the complete scope, working and research possibilities of the system was discussed.The faculty members enjoyed the demo and training session. They along with students work on the equipment to conduct their research.