Laboratory as a supplement to the lecture on regenerative energies and fuel cells.This area will be a special focus in the future, so more facilities and tests will be newly constructed.
In each semester, various laboratory experiments are offered for VEU students (6th semester).
The individual experiments are:
Stirling engine:
Against the background of the CO2 problem and the general shortage of fossil fuels, the need for alternatives to conventional power generation is growing. The share of renewable energies in primary energy consumption and the production of renewable primary energy sources is constantly growing. Against this background, the hot-air engine invented by Robert Stirling in 1816 is gaining new importance. Many industrial companies and even more research institutions are working on the further development of this engine. The essential feature of this engine is that it runs in a closed process with external combustion and can thus be used in a wide variety of ways, including with renewable raw materials of different quality or sunlight. In the laboratory experiment, the cycle is observed and calculated on a small Stirling model.
Basics of the fuel cell:
A fuel cell trainer consisting of a solar module, an electrolyser, two fuel cells and a consumer module. The experiment serves as an introduction to the basics of hydrogen and fuel cell technology. The characteristic curves of the fuel cells in series or parallel connection and the characteristic curve of the electrolyser are to be determined. Faraday's laws as well as Faraday's and the energy efficiency of the electrolyser and the fuel cells are determined during the experiment. Special attention is paid to the production and storage of hydrogen, which should sensibly be done from renewable energies.
Solar thermal energy:
Investigation of a thermal solar system for water heating.
Measurement of all relevant measurement data to determine the radiation efficiency, radiation power, collector power on the water side, collector efficiency, storage tank and system efficiency, collector power loss, heat transfer at the storage tank, balance of the storage tank. Furthermore, the test content includes an introduction to the geometry of the sun's position.
The test system is mobile and can be operated outside or in the laboratory with the help of a solar simulator, depending on the weather conditions. A flat-plate collector and a vacuum tube collector are available for investigation.
Sun simulator:
In order to be able to carry out the solar thermal experiment even in cloudy weather, we can fall back on our spare sun. It consists of 96 70-watt halogen lamps, which approximately reproduce the radiation spectrum of the sun.
Solar cooker:
A solar cooker consisting of a parabolic mirror is used to determine the possible thermal solar yield.
