This week, Team Solar Safe finalized our plans for an upcoming trip to a solar site in Georgia, focusing on additional testing and site scoping for soil and grounding. With our rental car and hotel bookings sorted, we’re set to hit the road bright and early next Thursday morning at 7 a.m., aiming to arrive faster than lightning but prioritizing safety above all else. The journey is roughly a 5-hour drive, and we’re eager to gather valuable insights to inform our work.
During our QRB presentation, sparks of praise flew our way as we received glowing feedback on our presentation skills, igniting a sense of accomplishment. However, amidst the thunderous applause, there was some confusion regarding the intricacy of soil parameters in our project. It seems some found themselves in a bit of a shock when trying to connect the dots in our soil-related discussions, making us realize the importance of this detailed explanation we neglected to include. Nevertheless, we’re charged up to address these concerns and ensure clarity strikes like lightning in future explanations. Moreover, our a dazzling recommendation to build a scaled-down model for testing lightning strike dissipation and grounding sparked both curiosity and amusement. We are now considered finding some systems to shock our model and validate our works. We’re grounded in our commitment to shed light on this electrifying topic and cultivate a fertile understanding among our audience, rooting our efforts in solid science and sparking a surge of excitement in the realm of lightning research.
In other news we are charging ahead with our plans to visit the Georgia site and scheduling and booking is all currently in play, while we plan out our agenda for the site visit. We are planning to have some time with our liaisons to further discus our project in person and build these valuable connections. We will keep you all updated as we find out more details.
This week, Team Solar Safe surged forward, charging up for our Quarterly Review Board (QRB) presentation while continuing to forge connections with our liaisons in our first meeting of the semester. As we fine-tune our QRB presentation, we’re also grounding our efforts in coordinating illuminating site visits to some pivotal locations in the near future. These visits will offer some direct insights and foster stronger connections with the solutions we will be providing. Simultaneously we’re working on harnessing the power of soil in our modeling systems, essential for grounding our innovative solar solutions. Stay tuned as Team Solar Safe continues to ignite progress and illuminate the path towards a brighter future for solar energy keeping panels safe from lightning strikes.
Figure 1: Solar safe team huddle lightning graphic
Week 2 of our final semester and our Team Solar Safe recently experienced a long-awaited reunion as all our members finally came together since the semester kicked off. The focus shifted immediately to the practical aspects of our collaboration, with a primary goal of ironing out the logistics for our weekly meetings. Lightning-fast discussions ensued as we tackled the details of in-person visits scheduled for the near future, grounding our plans in reality, with a hopeful Georgia visit on the books. No shock to the system here, just a team diligently working to ensure everything aligns seamlessly. As we sifted through the tasks at hand, the atmosphere was electric, yet the commitment to getting everything back on track remained firmly grounded in our collective efforts, and we have some exciting plans for the upcoming months.
We’re back and our enthusiasm is as striking as lightning for this next semester ahead. Over the break our team had a few electrifying experiences. Philip T road tripped the Balkans and got to catch up with some old friends from high school and recorded a song called December coming out mid February! Sarah also did some traveling and went to Saint Louise Missouri with some friends to spend new years. Philip O went back home to his family for some much needed rest in Miami! Aayan also traveled overseas and spent time with his family. Finally Sasha went to Miami and got to catch up with a friend she met from her time on exchange in Denmark. While winter break is behind us our enthusiasm is as striking as ever! Cant wait to update you guys on our journey this semester, hope everyone had a restful break!
This week we had our final team SLDR presentation on Tuesday where our team did a great job and gave a great presentation! SLDR was a huge success and we had the pleasure of going out to dinner at Dragonfly afterwards where we had the opportunity to get to know our Next Era liaison some more, shout out to Ted! We had a great semester and have really been working together as a team so well, congrats to the whole Solar safe team and thank you to everyone who has helped us get to this point. See you guys in 2024, have a great break it is well deserved!
Figure 1: Aayan, Philip T, Sarah, Sasha, Philip O, Ted, Solar Safe dinner
This week we did our practice SLDR presentation this week, and it went great, our team got some really good feedback and lots of interest from our fellow classmates. We also have been having some productive conversations in our liaison meetings in the last two weeks and have been getting some great feedback from all the new next era contacts we’ve been meeting recently. Even though last week was thanksgiving and our team took a much needed turkey break we are making progress with our design concept for soil grounding and are receiving some samples this week that will soon be sent for testing. Hopefully soon we will have some concrete solutions for lightning protection that we will be presenting at our SLDR next week! Cant wait to see everyone there!
Hey there! We have excited updates from November 14th, out Prototype Inspection Day at the Reitz Union. Buckle up, because we’ve got the lowdown on our alpha prototype, the judges’ feedback, and our lightning-fast plans for the future.
The Big Reveal: Prototypes
On 11/14, we proudly unveiled our alpha prototype to a panel of discerning judges. Crafted by the coding master, Aayan, this software takes soil and site information and outputs recommendations for grounding and lightning protection. This is an important tool for ensuring the prevention of damage on solar sites.
Our dynamic duo, the Phillips, took the stage to break down the process of providing Lightning Protection System (LPS) recommendations based on inputs. After presenting our ideas and going through so excellent questions with but three rounds of judges, we gained valuable insights.
Diverse Dialogues: Judges, Judges Everywhere
One of the highlights of the day? The amazing conversations we had with the judge. We had experts in various fields sharing their thoughts and insights. These diverse perspectives gave us a fresh burst of energy and a clear direction for the next steps in our project.
Soil Sampling
But the fun didn’t stop there! We organized and planned soil sampling for other sites, ensuring our model gets all the data it needs to develop. Samples are on their way!
SLDR on the Horizon: Looking Ahead
Now we are looking ahead to the SLDR presentation. The model is still being developed and new soil and site location data is being gathered. Meanwhile, Sarah and Sasha, diving into soil analysis testing, gearing up for the incoming samples.
And there you have it, folks! Our journey from prototype reveal to constructive critique, diverse dialogues, and soil sampling adventures—it’s been a rollercoaster of excitement. Stay tuned for more electrifying updates as we continue to illuminate the path towards a lightning-safe solar future! ⚡✨
What a great week it’s been! We have delved in to the world of lightning protection and innovation. After presenting our ideas for the model to our Liaisons, we got received insightful feedback and got approval to proceed with out idea. Aayan, our coding wizard, worked his magic and created a sleek interface. This provides a great proof of concept and will be unveiled in the coming week for prototype day.
The beauty of our model lies in its simplicity and effectiveness. With easy file uploads, users can seamlessly input data for analysis, receiving a comprehensive grounding and lighting risk rating, with limited input from the user.
But that’s not all, Phillip O and Phillip T, meeting with none other than Professor Rakov, a lightning expert at the University of Florida. Who has authored or coauthored 5 books, and more than 800 other publications on various aspects of lightning.
Professor Rakov shared that building materials do not impact electric field enhancement. A big take away was that height is an important factor to consider, due to the leader process and its frequency. Additionally, not all grounds are created equal. If your ground isn’t a perfect conductor, brace yourself for secondary effects from arcs and side strikes.
However, to overcome this you should consider ground resistivity, average current, and distance between panels. Oh, and don’t forget the loop conductors – they’re the unsung heroes intercepting lightning.
What a great week it has been creating the model, talking with a professional, and gaining a greater understanding the problem. Stay tuned for more updates!
This week we’ve had an exciting week of discovery! Last week’s site visit gave the team a lot to think about and we have been hard at work.
We have discovered that our project’s solution revolves around two key parameters: grounding and lightning strikes. These elements are like the dynamic duo of solar site protection. Grounding, influenced by soil composition, and lightning strikes, dictated by geographical factors, are crucial in shaping our model. We’ve devised a system of dual ratings that will inform future sites on how to safeguard against grounding issues and lightning strikes. Thus we have come up with two options for our lightning protection model. The second option introduces a third output that combines the grounding and lightning ratings to determine the cost of implementing protective measures. This added dimension will reveal whether building on a site is a cost-effective endeavor, ensuring that NextEra’s solar sites are not just safe but also financially sound.
Above are the different model options. The diagrams represent the logic behind how the model will work.
But here’s where it gets even more exciting. Sarah and Sasha, our dynamic duo of data analysis, have rolled up their sleeves and started testing soil samples from a solar site in sunny Florida. Their mission? To see if the online data for soil parameters matches the real deal. To kick things off, they dried out 18 samples in an oven. Now, they’re using Sieve Shakers to determine the diameter of the soil particles and, in turn, their texture – whether it’s sand, clay, or silt. By calculating the percentage of each texture, they can identify the specific type of soil. Stay tuned for updates next week, to see if the data matches data online. We are excited to see what is coming next!
Sarah standing in front of the sieve that was used for soil sampling. The different bins have varies diameters. They are weighed to determine the percentage of soil in each bin, thus corresponding to the particles diameters.
