College of Engineering Unit:
The Electric Roots team was interested in completing a senior design project focused around agrivolatic’s; which is a combination of photovoltaic (PV) panels on traditional agricultural land. The team was focused on the operation of a rangeland agrivolatic system as the introduction of livestock to a PV array would need more consideration than a static crop system. After the team looked over five different agrivolatic designs, it was agreed that the RUTE SUNTRACKER was the design worth further consideration due to its high ranking in a created decision matrix.
After a couple of client meetings, it was decided that the team would focus their experimental efforts on the distribution of wind forces on the RUTE SUNTRACKER array. The experiment required the team to first create ballpark calculations on the forces they expect on the PV panels. Next was the actual modeling of the wind forces, which was done on the computation fluid dynamic program Ansys Fluent. Once modeling was completed calibration and validation were unable to be performed due to time constraints but the team was able to model results that aligned with their original hypothesis and the general trends expected.
The results of the model were promising and additional efforts in creating models and prototypes could show that the RUTE SUNTRACKER could potentially reduce the cost of material by reducing the amount of steel needed on some of the inner panels.
After the team's experimenting time concluded they shifted their attention to some of the economic, environmental, and social considerations of the RUTE SUNTRACKER. These considerations are important factors in hypothesizing the system's overall success and practicality.
Industry Sponsor(s):
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Experimental Report | 2.8 MB |
| Project Poster | 612.7 KB |