Specifications

77
To begin with the wind turbine power system will be described. The system starts with
the Sunforce model 45444 micro wind turbine mounted on the zenith of a converted
speaker stand that utilizes slip rings underneath the turbine so that the Sunforce 45444
will be free of obstruction and able to move and rotate freely. From there insulated
wiring travels down the speaker stand inside the sealed enclosure where the output
from the wind turbine is dumped into a charge controller. This charge controller takes
the output from the wind turbine and allows it to be safely supplied to the battery.
Next is the solar array power system. Utilizing flexible thin film solar arrays reflective
mirrors are to be placed at the base of the arrays so as to collect stray sunlight to
convert into energy. These solar arrays will be placed in parallel so to add the currents
together to charge the battery faster. From here the wiring travels into the enclosure
where it is connected with the Solar Regulator 30Amp charge controller. Similar to the
wind turbine system this charge controller allows the output from the solar arrays to be
safely dumped into the battery.
Thirdly is how all of these systems interact with each other at the battery to supply
power to the load. At the battery there are a few systems working simultaneously. The
previously aforementioned power systems are dumping their outputs to charge the
battery via their respective charge controller but MSP 430 electronics are also
collecting data and sending it to an LCD display where the user can view it. Such things
collected are power usage power generated and power still available in the battery.
After the energy is stored in the battery it needs to be taken out and used in a form that
the load can utilize. In order to do this the 12 volt DC input from the battery is sent to a
pure sine-wave inverter where the 12 volt DC input can be converted to a usable 120
volt AC output. From here the power from the inverter is sent to power the MSP 430
electronics as well as GFI outlets exposed to the outside of the enclosure where a user
can plug into and utilize the power generated from the two wind and solar sources and
stored into the battery.
7 Testing
7.1 Introduction to Testing
Testing is a very important concept when designing a device. You might have
everything worked out correctly for it to work but will have an issue with implementing it
in real life. Testing is one the most important processes when designing a project
especially when someone‟s life depends on it. It must meet many requirements dealing
with safety as well as functionality. There are many international specifications that we
will need to take into consideration for power and fire safety. This is one of the main
reasons we will be buying a power inverter because it needs to adhere to specifications
if we had to make would take a very long time and the cost benefit ratio would be to
high. In the next couple of section we will be describing testing techniques for testing
our system. We will be testing many components of the system individually and then
testing them together with the parts of the system that interacts with them.