3C TecnologÃa. Glosas de innovación aplicadas a la pyme. ISSN: 2254 – 4143 Edición Especial Special Issue Noviembre 2020
51
ROADSIDE VERTICAL SOLAR-WIND ENERGY TOWER
Mirsad Hyder Shah
Student, Technische Universitat Dortmund.
Dortmund, (Germany).
E-mail: Itsmirsadhyder@yahoo.com ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2476-5887
Gasim Othman Alandjani
Assistant Professor, Computer Science and Engineering Department. Yanbu University College, Yanbu
Industrial City, (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia).
E-mail: Alandjanig@rcyci.edu.sa ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0321-7013
Recepción:
01/09/2020
Aceptación:
29/09/2020
Publicación:
13/11/2020
Citación sugerida Suggested citation
Hyder, M., y Othman, G. (2020). Roadside vertical solar-wind energy tower. 3C TecnologÃa.
Glosas de innovación aplicadas a la pyme. Edición Especial, Noviembre 2020, 51-63. https://doi.
org/10.17993/3ctecno.2020.specialissue6.51-63
3C TecnologÃa. Glosas de innovación aplicadas a la pyme. ISSN: 2254 – 4143 Edición Especial Special Issue Noviembre 2020
52
https://doi.org/10.17993/3ctecno.2020.specialissue6.51-63
ABSTRACT
Fossil fuels and Nuclear power is responsible for about 82% of the current Energy Production
in the US. While a small part is still being met by renewable energy sources, engineers are
working hard on nding new sources of Energy. Another approach to the global clean
energy crisis is that instead of looking for a new energy source, we should become Energy
Eî™»cient. Road power generation is a new technology where the wasted energy of a moving
vehicle can be extracted and converted to useful work done. This paper presents such a
technology which when employed at the corner of a road can send power directly to the
grid or run streetlights depending on the mode of operation. This is done by constructing a
Savonius Wind Turbine and then converting the wasted wind energy produced by a moving
vehicle. In addition, a solar panel can also be placed on the top of the turbine and produce
more energy. A microcontroller decides how Energy is to be sent to the grid or stored to be
used for street lighting load. While the power production may vary depending on the traî™»c
and conditions of the city, the S-rotor and solar panel have a maximum voltage of 19.1 V
and 19.65 V respectively.
KEYWORDS
Savonius rotor, Inverter, Solar Panel, Wind turbine, Road Power generation, Charge
Controller.
3C TecnologÃa. Glosas de innovación aplicadas a la pyme. ISSN: 2254 – 4143 Edición Especial Special Issue Noviembre 2020
53
https://doi.org/10.17993/3ctecno.2020.specialissue6.51-63
1. INTRODUCTION
The need of alternate energy sources is not a debate but a necessity in this modern era.
The demand of clean and aordable energy sources led to the breakthrough of renewable
energy sources (Shah, Alandjani, & Asghar, 2020). Such is the scope of renewable energy
sources that Road Power Generation (RPG) Technologies are being researched upon. One
of the technologies involves extracting the wind gushes produced by nearby vehicles. The
rotor design is a challenging design and many dierent types of rotors can be employed.
2. METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH
This paper discusses an experimental work done to harness the wind energy produced by
moving vehicles on a road and extracting the solar potential with a solar panel along with it.
This is achieved by designing a Savonius wind turbine and placing a mono-crystalline solar
panel together. The system takes input from both renewable energy sources and voltage
sensors provide voltage values to the Arduino. This Microcontroller is programmed with a
code which will be discussed later. The extracted voltages are sent to a nearby grid in the
day and at night are used to power streetlights.
When the solar panel is operational, the voltages are sent to the MPPT (Maximum Power
Point Tracking). This MPPT is connected to a reference battery which powers it. The
MPPT stabilizes the voltages from the solar panel and charges the main battery. The power
from the battery is then provided to the inverter which then converts DC to AC and sends
it to the grid or streetlight as necessary.
When the wind turbine extracts the wasted wind potential from nearby vehicles, power is
generated by the PMDC generator. The voltages from the PMDC generator are provided to
the Buck/Boost converter which are either bucked or boosted depending on the situation.
This DC power will then charge the battery and converted to AC by the inverter for any
load.
The Vertical solar wind energy tower is a power generation unit which harnesses the wind
potential of moving vehicles and the solar potential of the sun. It has the following parts:
3C TecnologÃa. Glosas de innovación aplicadas a la pyme. ISSN: 2254 – 4143 Edición Especial Special Issue Noviembre 2020
54
https://doi.org/10.17993/3ctecno.2020.specialissue6.51-63
2.1. SOLAR PANEL
After careful observation and survey of the site where the power generation unit is to be
installed; it was decided that a mono crystalline solar panel will be used. Since the selection
of a solar panel depends upon heat tolerance and since the average temperature in Karachi
usually remains in between 27-30°C, the choice made was the best available.
Figure 1. Graph of average temperatures in Karachi. Source: (Climate-Data.Org, n.d.).
2.2. S- ROTOR
A detailed discussion on the design and construction of Savonius rotor has been discussed
in Shah and Alsibiani (2020).
2.3. INVERTER
An inverter is a circuit that changes DC to AC. The following components were used in its
construction:
• IC CD4047, Transistor 2N3904, eight tip 35C transistors, Diodes, Transformer,
Capacitors and Resistors.