Advanced Photovoltaics
Information related to the PV field can be found at Heliotactic Press, and I recommend visiting Photovoltaics CDROM, a web education tool for solar energy conversion.
Brownson Group Research:
Solar Energy
From Materials to Systems to Networks: The Brownson Team focuses on photovoltaics (PV), the materials and systems that allow the direct conversion of sunlight to electrical energy.
Present and Future
Natural Fusion · Solar Decathlon
The Natural Fusion project at Penn State has seen a very successful experience on the National Mall in in Washington D.C. this October 2009! Congratulations to the team for taking 3rd place in both Engineering and Lighting Design! What an amazing design-build process for all of us.
Visit the Natural Fusion Facebook and Twitter Pages:
We also experienced a fantastic visit by Mr. Ed. Begley Jr. on Sept. 25th of 2009. Mr. Thomas Rauch and I got to take Mr. Begley around State College via bicycles, and then capped off the day with a tour of the NF home and a wonderful speaking engagement on sustainability. He even stopped by the home at the Mall in October!
TRNSYS · Training Workshop
Date in the Summer of 2010 TBD. Contact us if you are interested in attending the workshop!
Contact Information if you would like to contact our group for outreach, consulting, or otherwise.
Graduate Research
More and more Team Members!
Mr. Ramprasad Chandrasekharan
(PhD Candidate F07-present): Ram has been developing new light absorbing materials as thin films on transparent conductive oxides, and then characterizing them by electrochemical and photoelectrochemical techniques in our new lab space at the Materials Research Institute.
Mr. Oladipo Ositelu (MS Candidate F08-present): Ladi is working on photovoltaic systems implementation and economic strategies for deployment in Africa.
Mr. Lucas Witmer (MS Candidate F08-present): Luke is developing transient energy simulation models and computational fluid dynamics models of convective and evapotranspirative cooling for solar energy systems in the Natural Fusion home. Luke's work also includes being a Project Manager for the 2009 Penn State Solar Decathlon competition.
Mr. Charith Tammineedi (MS Candidate Sum09-present): Charith defected to our group from the Mechanical Engineering Department. Other Mechanical Engineering students are welcome! Charith is developing his research scope and we will be posting an update soon.
Mrs. Mesude Bayrakci (PhD Student F09-present): Mesude has recently joined us from Turkey! She is developing her research scope and we will be posting an update soon.
Undergraduate Researchers
Mr. Jeffrey Rayl
(BS Candidate in Electrical Engineering): Jeff has developed simulations for better network integration of grid-tied PV systems. His ongoing research will lead to graduate studies with our group after his graduation in Spring 2010. Jeff's work also includes being a Project Manager for the 2009 Penn State Solar Decathlon competition.
Ms. Joelle Buczynski (BS Candidate in Materials Science and Engineering, Metals): Joelle has been working with Ram in developing new materials. She is currently exploring a senior research topic in pulsed electrochemical deposition for copper metal and metal oxide nanoparticles. She graduates in Spring 2010. Joelle's work also includes being a Project Manager for the 2009 Penn State Solar Decathlon competition.
Research Scope
The Brownson Team's research achieves a unique vertical integration of expertise within the field of solar energy conversion by supporting a multidisciplinary environment for:
- Materials Research,
- Integrative System Design,
- Grid-tied Energy Simulations.
Materials Science
Current materials research is focused on synthesis and characterization of tin monosulfide (SnS); a promising light absorbing material for thin-film solar cells due to its favorable light absorption properties, stable nature and the inexpensive availability of the raw materials tin and sulfur.
Integrative System Simulation
Our system-scale research is pursuing the efficiency improvements for PV with systems integrated photovoltaics (SiPV). Rather than replacing one element in a home with PV and sacrificing performance in both components, we focus our integration of PV into a wall or roof system, we arrive at interesting synergies that maximize performance of all the system components. Our active research into Green Roof integrated PV (GRiPV) is a complement with the Natural Fusion project at Penn State.
Simulations for Network Deployment
We are also exploring innovative integration of PV systems for grid-tied (net-metered) homes and developments. PV system configurations were simulated using TRNSYS program, importing State College weather/radiation data to calculate power output (gains) given a variety of unconventional orientations. Given a system with no centralized storage capacity, we find that panels can be mounted with specific orientations to integrate intervals of energy gains from the PV system with periods of high demand for electricity in a building. Furthermore, we have analyzed the new systems for a time-of-use purchasing scenario, matching orientations and electrical gains with periods in the day when it is economically beneficial to sell to the grid.
Outreach
Teachers of high school and middle school interested in developing educational material for solar energy and renewables, please feel free to contact us.
My efforts include outreach and recruiting for the undergraduate programs of the Department of Energy & Mineral Engineering. Interested candidates (new undergrads, high school students and parents included) should feel free to contact me by email or phone with questions, or to discuss the exciting and diverse undergraduate opportunities within EME.