Innovative classes on renewable energy sources

Located on the South campus, the laboratory consists of five workstations:

• A photovoltaic panel test bench equipped with a sun-tracking mechanism, and a camera showing the degree of cloud cover, among other things.
• Test bench for energy conversion and management systems, equipped with charge regulators, microwaves, and a 4kW bidirectional AC/DC converter. The solution facilitates the delivery of any energy management programme, including those relying on artificial intelligence.
• A test bench for energy storage and cell packs, presenting both how to manage the cells and how to monitor their condition.
• A test bench for storage technology components (Li-ion batteries and supercapacitors) for characterisation of commercial cells using DC and AC methods.
• A test bench for heat pumps operating in different modes (water-water, water-air, air-air) facilitating ongoing data analysis.

The created workstations allow students to conduct diverse and unique experiments. The scope of the prepared classes facilitates cooperation between different faculties and their topics relate to solid-state physics, electrochemistry, electrical power engineering, computer science, as well as automation, and electronics, among other things.

“The main objective of the project was to create interdisciplinary classes, including elective courses,” says Anna Kalbarczyk, PhD, from the Faculty of Physics of the Warsaw University of Technology. “We have created scripts containing proposals of activities to be performed at the stations, but we are open to other ideas. The purchased equipment provides us with many opportunities for cooperation in educational and scientific projects.”

Members of the team implementing the teacher grant:
Anna Kalbarczyk, Michał Marzantowicz, Przemysław Wacławik