Posted: September 13th, 2017

Technical memo sample : Renewable energy project

Technical memo sample: Renewable energy project

Can we help you complete the paper? Place your order here

sample

Introduction:

The benefits that we can get from producing mass hydrogen power are priceless. Approximately, 71% of the earth is water, and this would give the vast amount of power keeping in mind that hydrogen is environmentally safe. This project required students from Nepal to create a pumping station with fuel cells as a source of energy to meet 15000 people’s water consumption of 50 liters/pay. The students were needed to design a station that is self-sufficient i.e. without external power supply. The station had a tank of base 12.15 meters and a height of 1.57 meters, calling for use of only one pump to supply water for three days straight without depletion from the tank.
Main body

Apart from Hydrogen being harmless, it is found abundantly in the water. This gas has a high level of energy, and this is why liquid hydrogen has been used to power machines and engines. A fuel cell facilitates extraction of hydrogen from water through electrolysis. It involves pulling out hydrogen that is formed in the process by use of solar energy supplied by a panel. However, after acquiring its startup energy, it uses hydrogen as an energy source.
Systematics diagrams can present the main concept of the pumping system. These are the functional flow block, System Context and Hierarchical system diagrams. The functional flow block diagram shows the sequence involved in operation of the pump. Solar cells in the panel gained light that they converted to solar energy. This solar energy was then converted to electrical power to power the electrolyzer that then separated hydrogen from oxygen. It converted the hydrogen to electrical power that powered the pump to push water. The System Context diagram shows the external factors to be put in place when planning and analyzing the pump station. Sunlight was the first key factor whereby the solar panels harness power from the sun and converts it to electrical energy used by the fuel cell. It was ensured that the landscape was set up, such that the pump was far away from people and animals to ensure their safety is intact. Weather was the last external factor to be accounted for. Lastly, the Hierarchical system diagram showed the internal components of the system in a systematic way starting from the whole system itself.
Three experiments were done before the design process. First a solar panel, a protractor and a load measurement box were used to find out the average current for orientation of a certain degree, measured by the protractor. An average of 0.091 Amps was measure for a 100 angle. Secondly, we connected tubes, light and a solar panel to the electrolyte cylinders filled with water. This was to show how energy would be stored in the electrolyzer. Lastly, we had a tube connected to the electrolysis to extract oxygen and a tube that pulled hydrogen from the electrolysis then convert it to mechanical energy. Fuel consumption efficiency was then calculated.
We came up with calculations to produce a supply of 2250000 Liters to 15,000 people for three days, given that each person consumed 50L/day. Assuming a tank base of 14 meters, it was found that the cross-sectional area of 153.94 m2 was required. Using the total volume and cross-sectional area, the height of the tank was found to be 7.16 m from the formula Volume= Cross-sectional area x height. The mass of water was found to be 2250000kg from mass = density x volume. Potential energy of 395 watts was calculated from P.E= Mgh. Finally, Total power was calculated by using the Power/Efficiency of the pump.