EECE 690: Alternative Energy Systems Design


A solar "farm" provides power to Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany	Skystream 3.7 wind turbines at NREL's Wind Research site, Boulder, CO.

Spring 2008

Lectures W 7:30 am, F 8:00 am. Lecture/lab/project time W 5:30-8:00 pm.

Instructor:

Ruth Douglas Miller, rdmiller@ksu.edu, RA 280, 532-4596
Office hours: Wednesday, Friday 1:30-3:00pm

Texts and Resources:

RA Messenger & J Ventre, Photovoltaic Systems Engineering, 2nd ed., CRC Press, 2004.
L Castaner & S Silvestre, Modelling Photovoltaic Systems Using PSpice, Wiley, 2002.
J. F. Manwell, J. G. McGowan, A. L. Rogers, Wind Energy Explained: Theory, Design and Application, Wiley, 2002.
P. Gipe, Wind Power: Renewable Energy for Home, Farm and Business, Chelsea Green, 2004.

Course Objectives and Description

I have several goals I'd like you to accomplish in this class:

Understand the physics of photovoltaic cells at least at the level of EECE 525.
Know the basics of design of a PV system: the name, purpose and operation of allparts, and how to compute the size and/or number of each part needed for a given specified application.
Understand the physics of wind turbines at an introductory dynamics level
Know the basics of wind turbine selection and siting criteria.
Have some idea where alternative energy technologies might go in the future.
Have a realistic idea of the current global energy situation from both physical and political perspectives.

I look forward to hearing your own goals and fitting them in to the class.

Course Schedule:

Week	Dates	Special notes	Readings	Topics and Due Dates
1	22 - 25 Jan	Martin Luther King Day	Ch 1	introductions, background, interests; global need & desire for alternative energy
2	28 Jan-1 Feb
3	4-8 Feb
4	11-15 Feb
5	18-22 Feb
6	25-29 Feb			project designs, Gantt chart. Gantt chart due this wk
7	3-7 March
8	10-14 March
		Spring Break
9	24-28 March
10	31 Mar-4 Apr
11	7-11 April
12	14-18 April	Open House 18-19th
13	21-25 April			future of renewable energy technologies
14	28 Apr-2 May			project design
15	5-9 May			project demos?

Final	12-16 May			final project due

Expectations

I will assign reading and homework at least weekly, and expect you to come to class having completed the assigned reading. This will help you greatly in understanding the lecture. I expect you to spend about two hours outside class per lecture hour on work for this course. Please let me know if the workload greatly exceeds that level--I don't know until you tell me.

Evaluations

Tentatively, there will be two hour-long exams, one early and one just after midterm; and in lieu of a final examination, a major project will be due at the scheduled time of the final. If circumstances necessitate your absence from a class with a scheduled exam, you must notify me beforehand, by phone, e-mail or through the Dean's office, in order to reschedule the exam. Progress reports, a presentation, a final report, and a demonstration if applicable will all be graded parts of the project. You may work singly or in teams depending on interests and project scope. Tentative grade breakdown is as follows: two hourly exams: 20% each; final project, 50%, graded homework, 10%.

KSU Honor System

Kansas State University faculty and undergraduate students work together under the KSU Honor System, expecting honest effort from eachother and accepting eachothers' word as true. The detailed policy is on the Web. A summary is on my homepage. To remind us all of the atmosphere of trust KSU is encouraging, I ask that you sign the following pledge on all course work, assignments, or examinations done for this class: "On my honor as a student I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this assignment." Whether explicitly stated or not this pledge is assumed by all KSU undergraduate students and faculty. In this course, I expect and encourage you to work together on assigned homework, but to turn in your OWN work for credit, and to complete all quizzes and exams on your own without assistance in any form from anyone except me. If you are ever uncertain as to what aid on an assignment is or is not authorized, please ask me for clarification!

KSU Final Examination Policy

No major projects may come due, or major exams be scheduled the last week of classes (5-9 May.) Students may not be required to take 3 exams in one 24-hour period. Should a student have 3 exams scheduled within 24 hours, it is the student's responsibility to seek relief, and the instructor of the highest-numbered class is responsible to reschedule that exam when appealed to. Students must have scheduling conflicts for the final exam resolved no later than seven days prior to the final exam period (4 December, this semester).

This page last updated 7. February, 2008 by Ruth Douglas Miller