Part II/ACS projects (2023)

A solar PV layout and sizing tool: Residential solar PV is rapidly being deployed on rooftops around the world. In prior work we have studied the sizing of solar and storage (i.e. how many panels and how much storage to purchase) to meet a certain level of grid independence. We have also looked at optimal placement of panels on sloping roofs. This work, however, does not apply to flat roofs, where self-shading between rows of panels is a problem. The goal of this project is to come up with optimal algorithms/heuristics for placement of panels on flat roofs, subject to self-shading and shading from both roof elements, such as satellite dishes and soffits, and nearby trees.

3D wind velocity field and CO2 sensing: Flux towers are used to measure the exchange of carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and the biosphere. These are typically very expensive. At their heart, they have a CO2 sensor and a 3D wind velocity field sensor. These days, both can be built using off-the-shelf components, such as this CO2 sensor and this airspeed sensor, with three airspeed sensors place on orthogonal axes. This means we can put together a quick-and-dirty flux tower for well under £200 (as opposed to the £80K they charge now). We can also get access to a flux tower near Ely to compare the measurements from a top-of-the-line system to something less expensive. The goal of this project would be to build, deploy, and calibrate this sensing platform.

Projectlist