Grid-C: Green Research for Incorporating Data in the Classroom

Interdisciplinary (99) This project is developing curricula to teach science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) concepts using data collected from renewable energy technologies at the NC Solar Center. A feature of the project is that data from multiple systems at a single location are being collected and stored enabling faculty and students to analyze, synthesize and evaluate data in a variety of instructional contexts. Working together, the Departments of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, and Pitt Community College, are developing courses and laboratory activities that have broad application in undergraduate STEM education.

The Solar Center hosts several facilities including a Solar House, an alternative fuel vehicle (AFV) garage and a technology demonstration area. A monitoring system provides students with energy and power readings from the photovoltaic (PV) system to reference against meteorological data such as wind speed, sun's irradiance, ambient temperature, and module temperature, all of which can affect the performance of the photovoltaic system. In addition, numerous other renewable technology systems throughout the site are integrated into the monitoring system allowing students to compare performances of different technologies and products. These systems include: energy and power from two other photovoltaic systems; energy, power, and wind speed from a 1 kW wind turbine; BTU production from two solar thermal hot water systems; and temperature obtained from passive design house features. The systems themselves are designed to accommodate upgrades of additional sensors for the collection of even more readings, offering the students added data to use in classroom projects. Data from all systems are collected, averaged over 15 minutes, and uploaded to a Heliotronics data acquisition system, an Internet-capable educational software package, where daily, monthly, and yearly information can be viewed graphically, or downloaded in a spreadsheet form for easy use. Recording all of this data over time is useful in creating undergraduate research opportunities, as well as developing realistic data sets that can be used in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and statistics classes.