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Team Five. Tigray Development Project. Keith Reeher Surge Kalaba Tim Goddard Mike Hanlon. ABSTRACT.
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Team Five Tigray Development Project Keith Reeher Surge Kalaba Tim Goddard Mike Hanlon
ABSTRACT Team Five was approached by GE with the dilemma of providing a reliable cellular phone service to areas with unreliable electric grids, while maintaining a green approach environmentally. We chose to implement a solar powered cell tower in northern Ethiopia, in a region known as Tigray. We plan to maintain the systems electric power with mainly solar power but to also back up the system with a generator and battery system.
Introduction It is an frustrating problem for people who live in regions with no or unreliable energy grids to half to deal with the lack of cellular service. To this end, GE is spending time and resources to help solve the solution and has reached out to some engineering students to help solve the problem. Team five has decided to focus on the densely populated region of Tigray due the high potential for solar energy.
Design Task Problem Statement In order for individuals to better themselves and allow business and economy to grow, it is important to have a reliable means of communication, which is something that the region of Tigray lacks. Designs need to be made to create a reliable cell tower that does not rely on the regions power grid. Mission Statement To create a reliable cellular tower that runs off the abundant solar power in that region that is backed by battery power and a generator.
Customer Needs Assessment The population density of Tigray stands at 87 people per square kilometer. The people that are most likely to be using cell phones are those who live in the urban environment, and Tigray has 842,723 urban inhabitants. We were able to conclude that the average power produced per day due to solar radiation is roughly 7.0 kwh/m^2 per day in Tigray, which we can assume is enough solar radiation to produce 1.2 kw of power from our 125 by 125 square foot solar panel. The most important part of this project to the consumer is to provide a reliable cellular service, so above all else we need to make sure the tower will never run out of power. In this respect we must find the most energy efficient way to work our customer base happy. Also, the company of GE wants the project to not only be efficient but green as well.
Design Specifications Team Five’s design plans to use the average of 7.0 kwh/m^2 of power that is available in the Tigray region via solar power, and convert that to electric energy using solar panels. This electric energy will then help power a cellular tower while also charging GE Durathon batteries. A backup diesel powered generator will be used in circumstances where solar power is not available.
Design Approach Gantt Chart
Design Approach Concept Generation Wind Power: Wind Power was a good green source of renewable resource, but in this region of Tigray it would be expensive to get a wind turbine sufficient enough to gain the necessary power.
Design Approach Concept Generation Water Wheel: A Water Wheel was a good source of energy and reliable due to the good amounts of rain in the region, but the limited locations for this type of power made it undesirable
Design Approach Concept Generation Solar Power: Solar Power was a good green source of energy because Tigray has a good potential for solar power and solar panels have a very flexible location possibility.
Design Approach Concept Generation
Design Approach Concept Generation
Design Approach Team Five has decided to move forward with this project with a solar powered system that is backed by a diesel fueled generator to ensure the dependability of the tower. The abundance of power from the sum in this area makes it by far the most energy efficient choice.
Engineering Analysis • Team Five’s Design Includes: • 1 Lattice Cell Tower • 125x125 Solar Panels • Custom Designed HUT • 10,000 Watt Diesel Generator • GE Duration Batteries • 12.4 kw/hr energy output from Solar panels
Summary and Conclusions • Team Five was put to the task of creating a green and dependable cell tower in Northern Ethiopia in a region called Tigray where there is no dependable engery grid. Our design includes the following: • Sustainable Solar Panels • GE Duration Batteries • Backup Diesel Generator • These things allow this cell tower to be consistently powered without any outside assistance from a power grid. The Solar panels control the solar energy and directly power the cell tower while also charging the Durathon batteries. At any point in time that there is not enough solar power to power the tower, the batteries begin to discharge their stored energy to power the tower. If at any point the batteries run out of charge, the diesel generator will kick on to keep the tower running until a point that there is enough solar energy to power the tower.
