1.1 The Growing Dome: History and Overview of Purpose
The geodesic dome greenhouse was originally designed for regions like Colorado in the US, with cold winters and warm summers. It allows farmers to grow and consume fresh organic food all year long, providing alimentary independence and self-sufficiency. It is produced by the company Growing Space (http://www.geodesic-greenhouse-kits.com/). This report describes the installation of the first greenhouse of its kind in Nova Scotia, Canada. The project was supported by the Nova Scotia department of agriculture under the Energy Pilot program.
The System:
As maybe you remember , our hybrid system is composed by 3 wind turbines with 960 W + 6 panel with 200 W. Nominal value 4.2 KW.
This is connected to a an Magnum MS-PAE Series inverter. The battery bank is composed by 16 Surette S-600. With a capability of 44 Kw/H.
|
Company |
Model |
volts |
Ahr |
Wh |
Price $ |
Ahr / $ |
Number required |
KwH |
|
Surrette |
S460 |
6 |
350 |
2100 |
325 |
$0.93 |
16 |
34 |
|
Surrette |
s-530 |
6 |
400 |
2400 |
370 |
$0.93 |
16 |
38 |
|
Surrette |
s-600 |
6 |
460 |
2760 |
415 |
$0.90 |
16 |
44 |
|
Deka |
6 |
235 |
1410 |
158 |
$0.67 |
32 |
45 |
|
|
Interstate |
12 |
210 |
2520 |
129 |
$0.61 |
32 |
81 |
|
|
Trojan |
L16 |
6 |
370 |
2220 |
309 |
$0.84 |
20 |
44 |
If the battery reports 24.4 V immediately after the start of the generator goes to 26.4. the Inverter display a “bulk charging” with 110 V. After 3 hours, when reach ~28 V, the inverter goes to “absorb charging”. It remain to absorb up to 28.5 . Then goes to “float charging” down to 26 Volts. If I read the voltage while the system is only charging with solar + wind it never surpass 26.8. At this point the controllers stop to charge the battery. At 24 V the controllers report that the battery bank is half full. Our original consume, reported by Nova Scotia power was between 20 and 30 KW/H per day. We reduced it to the 11 KW/H per day
|
Appliance |
amp |
Watts |
H/day |
W/day |
|
|
Hair Dryer |
1200 |
0.14 |
171.43 |
||
|
Monitor Noemi |
30 |
2 |
60.00 |
||
|
Netbook N |
40 |
2 |
80.00 |
||
|
Netbook S |
36 |
2 |
72.00 |
||
|
Radio |
15 |
0.1 |
1.50 |
||
|
Keyboard |
15 |
0.1 |
1.50 |
||
|
TV |
2 |
100 |
3 |
300.00 |
|
|
Playstation 3 |
250 |
3 |
750.00 |
||
|
Monitor G1 |
100 |
0.5 |
50.00 |
||
|
Monitor G2 |
100 |
0.5 |
50.00 |
||
|
PC G |
300 |
0.5 |
150.00 |
||
|
printer |
15 |
1 |
15.00 |
||
|
Link Station |
25 |
0.1 |
2.50 |
||
|
Router |
0.1 |
11 |
24 |
264.00 |
|
|
Stereo |
26 |
1 |
26.00 |
||
|
Bread maker |
650 |
0.01 |
7.74 |
||
|
Toaster |
750 |
0.01 |
7.50 |
||
|
Coffeemaker |
8.64 |
950 |
0.1 |
95.00 |
|
|
Fritteuse |
1600 |
0 |
1.60 |
||
|
Fridge |
8 |
880 |
1 |
880.00 |
|
|
Water pump |
4 |
440 |
1 |
440.00 |
|
|
Washer Laundry |
50 |
5500 |
1 |
5500.00 |
|
|
Vacuumcleaner |
1400 |
0.01 |
16.67 |
||
|
Mixer |
160 |
0.01 |
1.90 |
||
|
Lights |
4 |
440 |
4 |
1760.00 |
|
|
solar hot water |
2 |
220 |
2 |
440.00 |
|
|
Consume KW/Day |
11,144.34 |
||||
so in theory we should have 3 days of reserve without sun or wind.
The problem:
This is the problem: We have a big deal of humidity and we need to circulate the air all day long. The circulation system should consume 200W (see http://www.venmar.ca/DATA/DOCUMENT/187_3_en~v~Specification_Sheet.pdf) but really takes 1100 W (10 amps).
The dehumidifier Danby ddr 2611 is labeled with 1400 W but takes 18 amps (1980 W).
Adding the dehumidifier and the air circulation system to the equation , we need 33 Kw/H per day. I’m not sure that the system is set properly, It was installed by an electrician without experience on this field. The actual performance of the system seems to be way below the expected ones. Especially the 3 wind turbines don’t seems to produce much electricity with summer winds.
One part of the issue is that the roof, where they are installed, is separated by a ridge so that the 3 turbines perform together only with winds from north por south.
In a good day with wind and sun we come up to 26 Volts of charge. But strangely the next day we are with a very low charge also we have used no electricity at all.
Still is enough to run our home without a dehumidifier or air circulation system. What do you suggest?
would make sense to expand the solar panel array?
Eastlink TV will feature a show segment about Eliopoli late September.
