Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Construction of a small scale laboratory for solar collectors and solar cells in a developing country

Gentile, Niko LU ; Davidsson, Henrik LU ; Bernardo, Ricardo LU orcid ; Gomes, Joao ; Gruffman, Christian ; Chea, Luis ; Mumba, Chabu and Karlsson, Björn LU (2013) In Engineering 5(1B). p.75-80
Abstract
In the field of renewable energy, self-provided research in developing countries is barely present, but most welcomed. The creation of know-how and self-development of technologies should reduce the dependence on industrialized countries for both materials and knowledge. This work presents technological and social issues related to the construction of a low budget solar laboratory in Mozambique. The goal is to demonstrate that scientific level research can be carried out in developing countries by using affordable solutions without sacrificing quality of the results. For this investigation, a solar laboratory was built in 2011 at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane of Maputo. The laboratory enables measurements to evaluate solar thermal and... (More)
In the field of renewable energy, self-provided research in developing countries is barely present, but most welcomed. The creation of know-how and self-development of technologies should reduce the dependence on industrialized countries for both materials and knowledge. This work presents technological and social issues related to the construction of a low budget solar laboratory in Mozambique. The goal is to demonstrate that scientific level research can be carried out in developing countries by using affordable solutions without sacrificing quality of the results. For this investigation, a solar laboratory was built in 2011 at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane of Maputo. The laboratory enables measurements to evaluate solar thermal and photovoltaic-thermal hybrid collectors. Thanks to the flexibility of the system, students and teaching staff can add/remove equipment and develop customised local research programs. In addition, a course on the principles of solar energy and collector simulation for local students was taught. The needed data acquisition devices usually used in Europe were compared with cheaper and easy-maintenance ones. Calibration and estimation of the uncertainty were successfully performed. Approximately 9% of inaccuracy in the measurement was introduced by the cheaper equipment, but the investment cost was reduced by more than 90%. Other issues, results and future recommendations are shown. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
solar thermal, solar hybrid, small-scale laboratory, scientific research, developing country, Mozambique
categories
Higher Education
in
Engineering
volume
5
issue
1B
pages
75 - 80
publisher
Scientific Research Publishing (SCIRP)
ISSN
1947-394X
DOI
10.4236/eng.2013.51B014
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
5df68592-926b-417d-a57c-bd2b8e22b285 (old id 3365123)
alternative location
http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=26608
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:44:09
date last changed
2024-06-11 12:00:27
@article{5df68592-926b-417d-a57c-bd2b8e22b285,
  abstract     = {{In the field of renewable energy, self-provided research in developing countries is barely present, but most welcomed. The creation of know-how and self-development of technologies should reduce the dependence on industrialized countries for both materials and knowledge. This work presents technological and social issues related to the construction of a low budget solar laboratory in Mozambique. The goal is to demonstrate that scientific level research can be carried out in developing countries by using affordable solutions without sacrificing quality of the results. For this investigation, a solar laboratory was built in 2011 at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane of Maputo. The laboratory enables measurements to evaluate solar thermal and photovoltaic-thermal hybrid collectors. Thanks to the flexibility of the system, students and teaching staff can add/remove equipment and develop customised local research programs. In addition, a course on the principles of solar energy and collector simulation for local students was taught. The needed data acquisition devices usually used in Europe were compared with cheaper and easy-maintenance ones. Calibration and estimation of the uncertainty were successfully performed. Approximately 9% of inaccuracy in the measurement was introduced by the cheaper equipment, but the investment cost was reduced by more than 90%. Other issues, results and future recommendations are shown.}},
  author       = {{Gentile, Niko and Davidsson, Henrik and Bernardo, Ricardo and Gomes, Joao and Gruffman, Christian and Chea, Luis and Mumba, Chabu and Karlsson, Björn}},
  issn         = {{1947-394X}},
  keywords     = {{solar thermal; solar hybrid; small-scale laboratory; scientific research; developing country; Mozambique}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1B}},
  pages        = {{75--80}},
  publisher    = {{Scientific Research Publishing (SCIRP)}},
  series       = {{Engineering}},
  title        = {{Construction of a small scale laboratory for solar collectors and solar cells in a developing country}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/eng.2013.51B014}},
  doi          = {{10.4236/eng.2013.51B014}},
  volume       = {{5}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}