Help needed for an environment project from engineers or people with experience

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  • December 28, 2011 at 12:00 AM #63006
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Hello,

    I am a highschool student, doing an environment project for a science fair,

    my plan was to make a 220/240 Volts water cooler work using a solar panel. Although, being new to this concept, I am not sure how many Volts solar panel I should use. And also, I was told that I’ll need a transformer to convert solar energy in to electrical energy and then using that to charge a battery and the BATTERY will make the 220/240 Volts water cooler work.

    I’m still working on the theory part of the project but I’ll soon need to purchase the equipment needed and, honestly, I’m lost, lol..

    So it’ll be GREAT if someone gives me an informative and elaborate response to my inquiries. Your co-operation will be much, much appreciated.

    Regards,

    Maryam J Syed

    December 28, 2011 at 12:00 AM #65852
    retired profile of WrethaOffGrid
    Spectator

    How much are you supposed to make or manufacture yourself? You can buy what you need off the shelf, solar panel, charge controller, battery, inverter and a few wires/cables…, if it isn’t going to be left alone for long, you could skip the charge controller, if you are planning on making some of the components, then that requires other things… please give us more details and you might get some more pertinent answers. :)

    Wretha

    December 29, 2011 at 12:00 AM #65858
    gordo
    Participant

    do you have a budget. this sounds like an expensive undertacking for a school project. just the proper transformer is 500, you shouldnt need a charge controler if this is just a short term situation (if you choose to have one to show a complete system) you could probibly get by with a small morningstar charge control for about 70. ideal for inverters is a pure sinewave. but not necessary for this project. your inveter should be a minimum of 4000watt. when you intially flip the switch the transformer will draw alot of power for the capasitor. then if your water cooler has a capasitor another significant load. before the cooler actually gets power. the size of the solar pannel isn’t important. it will depend on the amount of time you have to charge your battery bank. how long would you like to run the water cooler??????. this experiment could cost thousands of dollars. maybe look into sterling engine, endothermic reactions(make ice cream) make a wind generator from a ceiling fan. think cheep..

    any particular reason for picking 220 volt. for a school project i would stick with 12v.

    cheers gordo

    December 29, 2011 at 12:00 AM #65860
    elnav
    Member

    I agree with Gordo. Exactly what is the project supposed to demonstrate?

    Is the production of chilled water a stipulated requirement of the project or can you define your own objective?

    how much power/work/energy must you produce or is this only required to show proof of a concept where scale of the project is not defined. Lastly will this science project be set up indoors or outdoors. If outdoors you need to consider packaging to protect from occasional inclement weather.

    Stick to 12V because playing with 220V while standing on moist ground could be a shocking experience.

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