ELTR 2324: Introduction to Small-Wind Technology

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

• To give the students the requisite skills and knowledge to work safely when installing, troubleshooting, and maintaining Small-Wind power systems.
• To give the students a solid understanding of atmospheric wind dynamics, and how to use that understanding to properly perform a site analysis, and system performance estimates, for a Small-Wind power system.
• To give the student a working understanding of wind-harvesting principles, and Small-Wind generator construction and operating characteristics.
• To give the student experiential knowledge of all routine Small-Wind BOS (balance-of-system) components, including: inverters, batteries, charge controllers, engine-generator sets, metering, data logging and reporting equipment, circuit protection hardware, etc.
• To give the students the requisite skills and knowledge to properly size a Small-Wind system to a specific application, and to select appropriate system components to be included in the system.
• To give the student the sufficient understanding of Small-Wind system structural and mechanical considerations, making the student sufficiently aware of the need to properly account for variations in soil load-bearing properties, tower siting constraints, and potential seismic concerns, etc.
• To give the students the requisite skills and knowledge to analyze and troubleshoot Small-Wind systems that are not operating properly, or are completely non-functioning; and, to affect proper corrections and repairs to make the system safely and properly functional