Specifications

3
also feel that both Waseda University as well as UCF will be able to benefit greatly from
this.
Waseda will be given the resources needed to continue to function as a university and
UCF will be given exposure to one of the most prestigious universities in Japan that
could sway many potential graduate and PHD students to want to attend UCF for their
degrees and contribute to the many research opportunities ongoing on campus as well
as research park. Not to mention that engineering students here at UCF will be given a
chance to gain hands on experience to put what they have learned here at UCF to good
use towards a very tangible application.
What we intend to do for a senior design project is to build on this initial design of this
initiative by trying to improve the design so that once the power grid of Japan bounces
back the existing generators can be upgraded to improve efficiency at a minimal cost
per unit.
The upgrades that we will try to implement will be of the sort that require little to no
interaction or maintenance so that these generators will remain to be self sufficient and
autonomous. One of the upgrades will be to add reflective panels to collect as much
radiant sunlight as possible to direct them back towards the PV cells so they receive
more sunlight than they would otherwise. Another simple upgrade will be to add a pivot
and rotating system to the micro wind turbine so that it may orient itself in the direction
of incoming wind gusts to gain maximum gain from wind energy.
However much of the knowledge that will be gained from this project will be in the
understanding of what it will take to build this generator even without the upgrades.
Displays to monitor power usage will need to be developed that will be able to record
and display power levels being obtained by the generator and display them to a screen.
And an understanding of power systems will need to be utilized to combine the DC
output of the PV cells to the AC output of the wind turbine. Convertors will need to be
constructed and utilized so that both the wind turbine and the PV cells will be able to
deliver their power to charge a battery.
The results from this project will be combined with the ongoing research being
conducted for this project to make these generators sustainable for the people of Japan
in the near future.
2.2 Goals and Objectives
The main objective of this project is to create an energy source to provide power for the
major necessities in holding a normal class. Most of the goals and objectives for the
main sub-systems were defined specifically for such a device. These goals and
objectives will be discussed in detail and compared to the overall goals of this system in
the sections following.