Engineering Commons^™

Bringing Electricity To Alafiarou: The Solar Microgrid Project, Nicolas Metais, Jacob Leatherberry

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

Despite the great technological advancements and discoveries that have been made throughout the last century, 1.2 billion people still live without access to electricity, 95% of which live in Sub-Saharan Africa and developing Asia.1 In this paper, we discuss how we designed and implemented a self-sustaining, affordable and highly replicable solar microgrid in order to accelerate the electrification of rural communities in the most environmentally conscious way possible. Our project focused on developing a microgrid for a small community of 10 households in rural Benin that previously had no access to electricity. We travelled to this village in December of …

Navigation And Illumination For Skateboards, Nathan Depew

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

Skateboarding is not a hobby for the faint of heart. It is a treacherous mode of transportation. One small stone could lead to a face plant. These dangers are magnified at night, when previously visible objects become practical invisible. There is also the issue of distracted skating. Just like distracted driving leads to accidents, distracted skating can result in similar problems. When a skateboarder is distracted, the safety issues inherent in skateboarding are magnified and reaction time slows.

The most perilous time this is when skateboarders are skating while distracted at night. Although the simple answer would be to put …

Reactive Power Compensation, Kimberly Meyers, Martin Prado

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

Reactive power compensation serves to increase the power factor of large industrial loads and increase the efficiency of power transmission. In doing so, reactive power compensation decreases overall energy consumption and has lasting economic and environmental impacts. This paper discusses a simulation to model power consumption in a multitude of different loads, which gives industrial consumers a solution to increase the power factor of their systems to a more desirable level. The MATLAB simulation that we built successfully calculates and displays how much energy can be saved and it shows how that energy can be saved. If physical implementations of …

Smart Thermostat, Matt Allen, Sam Billett, Kevin Read

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

The current thermostat marketplace is dominated by programmable thermostats that are engineered to give the user as much control as possible. However, not all users program these thermostats optimally. Some prefer comfort over energy efficiency and will heat an empty house. Others do not care to program their thermostat and leave it at a set temperature. The Smart Thermostat that we have created is engineered to optimize the temperature for the user, using the common sense of the engineer to lower energy consumption. It uses a Raspberry Pi as a platform to implement a fuzzy logic control System. By removing …

Dynamic Capacitor Bank, J. Daniel Mendoza, Peter Roguski

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

Low power factor systems run inefficiently and cause power companies to lose thousands of dollars with wasted power. Correction systems currently implement static capacitor solutions to offset this power factor; however, companies where the power factor varies significantly need a better solution. In this paper, we discuss a reactive power factor correction system that could greatly benefit companies with this problem. The system is in its prototype state, which comprises of a capacitor bank, sensing circuit, a switching circuit and a microprocessor; we named it the Dynamic Capacitor Bank. During our project, we were able to get a sensing circuit …

Supercapacitor Power Management Module, Michael Brooks, Anderson Fu, Brett Kehoe

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

The purpose of this senior design project is to create a charge management and output converting power module incorporating an array of supercapacitors as the energy storage medium. Conventional energy storage components, such as lithium-ion batteries, use electrochemical reactions to store and release electrons into a system. These batteries are slow to charge, highly toxic to the environment and delicate compared too many of the systems they are used in. Supercapacitors are noticeably more rugged and last hundreds to thousands of times longer than the average chemical reaction-based batteries we are used to using while capable of charging in less …

Cubesat Electronic Power System, Benjamin Lynch, Callie Wallace

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

Cube Satellites are small satellites used by NASA and other non-governmental space companies as a cost-effective means to get a payload into space to perform research and develop new technologies. The Robotic Systems Lab at Santa Clara University has designed and launched several Cube Satellites over the last ten years. We will be continuing the design of a 3U CubeSat began by a senior design team last year. The goal of this project is to design and build an electronic power system (EPS) for the CubeSat. The EPS must be able to power all system components, including the communication board, …

Greenmission: An Off-Grid Energy System, Richard Dobbins, Andrew Izawa, Tyler Marting, John Nolan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

In alignment with Santa Clara University's sustainability ideology, the outdoor science school WaldenWest desired to further its students' education through a greenhouse with working electricity. Following greenhouse purchase and assembly, underground wiring for AC, DC and Ethernet lines were sized and installed. A substation was then designed and built in a designated shed, integrating wind turbines and photovoltaics rom past capstone projects. New charge controllers, batteries and circuit breakers were urchased and configured for the system. Worst-case electrical load and solar shading analyses also revealed that these older energy sources were collectively inadequate, so a secondary solar array was designed …

Pb: Project Battery - A Portable In-Home Power System, Devin Blaney, Brian Fahey, Amanda Tran

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

Renewable energy resources are abundant in most developing countries. These sources include solar energy, wind power, geothermal energy, and biomass. Even though these sources are readily available, most villages in these developing countries do not have access to power in their homes because electricity grid extensions are often not affordable. This leaves the people in developing countries lacking resources that most of us take for granted here in the US. They don't have access to electrical power and light. This forces the people of these areas to use toxic kerosene lamps, which pollute the environment and increase health issues. This …