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SOLAR POWERED HYDRO PUMP
This project was designed and programmed by myself, Grace Whitaker, Jacob Whitehouse, and Sam Vander Missen.
TASK
Our design team was tasked with developing a model for a solar-based hydropower storage unit. This solar-hydropower system is designed to maximize the use of solar power by storing and using solar energy during the day to pump water uphill into a reservoir. Then at night, this reservoir releases the water pumped throughout the day and the water falls through hydropower turbines that produce electricity before the whole process starts over again.
DESIGN PROCESS
We coded a model for the system that accepts parameters for the hydropower system as inputs, such as pump efficiency, pump flow volume, reservoir depth, and turbine efficiency, and calculates and outputs the necessary mass, area, and energy input into the system. It also outputs the final efficiency of the system and the time taken to fill and empty the water used for energy generation. The model code then runs through a second process of optimization. The code runs through all of the possible given part configurations based on the parts available to order. The code searches for specific configurations that have an energy efficiency above 80%. Then, for each configuration, the code outputs the required efficiency for each part in the system. From these, our team selects the option with the highest energy efficiency to cost ratio.
RESULTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS
The design we chose in the end based on our optimization program can be seen above. My main roles on the team throughout this project mainly consisted of research, technical writing, and algorithm work. This project was done as part of the first year honors engineering program at Purdue University.