Solar Hi-Tech Batteries
Battery placement built into house design
Photo by Hugo Mendoza
Chris McCarthy, an electrical engineering
student at Lawrence Technological
University, talks about the battery bank
his team implemented.
by Hugo Mendoza
American University Interactive Journalism Program
Fall 2007
Thousands pushed their way between two rows of solar powered homes on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to see homes designed and built by university students from the U.S., Puerto Rico, Spain, Canada, and Germany.
The homes took two years to make. Upon completion, each university disassembled their houses, and shipped them to Washington, where they were reassembled as part of the competition.
Each home was graded in ten areas, and the judges looked closely at everything from the home’s overall appearance to the placement of the battery bank, a critical part of the overall engineering solution.
Photo by Hugo Mendoza
General information and solar
workshops were held throughout the
event at the main tent.
Battery placement is taken into consideration during the design stage and some thought also has to be put into the type of battery that is ultimately put into service.
Michigan’s Lawrence Technological University selected a lead-acid battery called Absorbed Glass Mat, or AGM, because they are maintenance-free; the older lead-acid batteries had to be topped off with distilled water periodically, said Chris McCarthy, who is an engineering student at the university.
The batteries are not needed on sunny days and used only at night or when there is overcast, he said.
Photo by Hugo Mendoza
Students used home-generated solar
power to charge electric mini-cars,
which they used to get around the
National Mall.
Forty batteries filled one side of the storage unit, which was placed behind the home because the batteries release some hydrogen, said McCarty.
Solar homes use batteries to provide power that does not come directly from the solar panels, and each university followed strict safety guidelines and industry best practices during the installation process.