Welcome to DSECS! Feel free to explore the materials complimentary to the course, Design of Solar Energy Conversion Systems.
Scope of Education:
Solar Energy
A ubiquitous resource available for energy conversion that supports life, industry, and society.
Course Overview:
This course establishes foundations for most solar energy conversion technologies, emphasizing the goal of solar energy engineering: to 1.) maximize the solar utility 2.) for a group of clients or stakeholders 3.) in a given locale. The course also works to explain concepts and implementation of solar conversion processes.
Context for Solar:
Solar energy conversion is a field containing systems thinking, applied science, and engineering; there are a lot of linked components in the system to keep track of in the design, implementation, and maintenance processes. To design technologies relevant to each region requires knowledge of the social context, the energy demands and economic constraints of a client or stakeholders, as well as knowledge of the specific locale or region, considering the quantity and character of the solar resource.
Contact Information if you need to contact me for questions.
LaTeX Templates
The following *.tex files are for use in the course. All of these files can be downloaded to your own folders, and then uploaded to ScribTeX (or better, edited on your favorite TeX editor with line numbers). Keep in mind that these are ASCII files, but they are not to be re-saved as "*.txt" files, because then you aren't signaling to the editor that the LaTeX markup should be highlighted.
- The Official LaTeX Sample Document
- This template is relatively simple, and does not require additional packages for compiling.
- Maxwell's Equations'
- This template shows us quite a few ways to enter the math environment in LaTeX. The math environment is essential to producing consistent, legible equations.
- Main Homework Template
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This is the bare bones of the Homework Template for the course. There is false text inserted into the various examples of modifying the template for your own use. This means that you must delete the false text and insert your own (surprisingly, some people miss that step). Search for "Homework Specific Information" and insert your name, ID, homework number, and deadline into the markup slots.
Next, search for "This is the BEGINNING of the DOCUMENT", and you can start editing the file below "\begin{document}". The template contains lots of examples of naming your homework problems (so they match the book numbering), creating aligned equations, inserting equations in-line with the text, and creating different types of lists. Please experiment, and try different things!
- Athens.sce: SEEPS example 2.3
- Scilab code by Professor Brownson with GUI interface (x_mdialog) and formatted output (mprintf).
- SunChart.sce: all the data for a collector
- Scilab code authored by Mr. Jeff Rayl and Professor Brownson. Code describes GUI interface for data entry, and multiple plotting examples at the end. Southern hemisphere plots are still a graphical work in progress, but the information is correct. Output file called "output.txt" is delivered to the base folder where Scilab exists. This folder contains all the data in an ASCII file (can be opened in a spreadsheet program for easier reading). Type "SCI" and enter into the console to find out where your Scilab is installed.
- Parametric Equation Solver: fsolve_radiative_heat.sce
- Scilab code by Professor Brownson that uses the powerful function "fsolve" to address two equations for two unknowns. Fsolve could be used to answer Problem 2.12 in Homework 2.