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As part of a senior design course, a group of electrical and computer engineering majors developed an energy storage system that has been installed in Acopian Engineering Center.
The course, which is being taught by William Jemison ’85, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Christopher Nadovich, lab director for electrical and computer engineering, allowed the 22 students to design, develop, fabricate, test, demonstrate, and document the project from beginning to end.
The project consists of an energy storage system located in room 401, which will provide extra energy for Acopian; an energy delivery system, which transfers energy from a solar panel array on the roof; and a SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system to monitor performance. The students were required to synthesize what they learned in all stems of the curriculum, learn new material, manage complex issues, and work together as a team. The design was subject to a variety of professional technical, project management, sustainability, safety, documentation, and reporting requirements and specifications.
“The experience of mentoring a student design team to achieve success in a project that is initially overwhelming to them ranks among my most rewarding and challenging experiences as an educator,” Jemison says. “It is fascinating to watch how students respond to the challenges of these projects and how and in whom leadership qualities manifest.”
According to Jemison, this is a new approach to a senior design course for the electrical and computer engineering department. “The department has abandoned the traditional senior design project model that involved either a single or a small number of students working on a design,” says Jemison. “In its place we have adopted a significantly more ambitious team-based, requirements-driven senior design course. This new model provides our students with the opportunity to synthesize the information they have learned through a real-life design project experience and to build team and leadership skills.”
Students in the course are John Acevedo (Easton, Pa.), Derek Alley (Hummelstown, Pa.), Alyssa Batula (Cleona, Pa.), Michael Cazzola (Oyster Bay, N.Y.), Michael Cuomo (Wyckoff, N.J.), Charles Donaldson (Riegelsville, Pa.), Rupesh Gajurel (Kathmandu, Nepal), Sriram Gopalakrishnan (Madurai, India), Michael Greenawalt (Whitehall, Pa.), Andrew Jameson (Hagerstown, Md.), Stephen Lockett, Eric Martocci (Bangor, Pa.), John Mikitsh (Bethlehem, Pa.), Jason Mills (Stony Point, N.Y.), Jacob Moore (Sterling, Va.), Clive Ntuli (Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe), Peter Paone (Philadelphia, Pa.), Tyler Pelton (Toms River, N.J.), Robert Schmid (Ellicott City, Md.), Colin Tareila (Brooklin, Maine), Anthony Yesenofski (Allentown, Pa.), Brian Yesvetz (Allentown, Pa.).