The Solar PV & Wind Training Cart developed and sold by IMT Solar, along with sister division Starboard Sun, is a highly functional electrical cart which utilizes a combination of solar PV and a micro wind turbine to charge a 24VDC battery bank. An onboard inverter allows users to power a small amount of AC loads (up to 500 watts). For a school or other training institute it also allows students to study the effects of things like solar irradiance, wind speed, wind turbulence, shading, etc on power production via the onboard monitoring system.
Preparing the cart for full deployment
The cart is easily rolled out to wherever you want it set up. It can be pulled at slow speeds by an ATV, utility tractor, gator, etc. When folded up, the cart easily fits into most small enclosed trailers for transport.
When on site, deploy the four outriggers for stability, raise and pin the mast, and close the four finger safe fuse holders in the control enclosure to let the solar PV and wind turbine start to produce power. The wind turbine will automatically feather it’s blades in high winds to prevent overspeed conditions and the solar panels used are non-glass, marine grade units to withstand the vibrations that might be associated with rolling it around without the worry of breaking glass.
The REVTOS monitoring and control panel mounted right on the cart
The REVTOS monitoring and control panel mounted right on the cart. It includes a PLC for connecting to all the sensors, the solar and wind charge controllers for charging the batteries, the dump load resistors for dumping power from the wind turbine when the batteries are fully charged, a turbine shut down switch to ensure the turbine will not spool up while being raised or lowered, and a long range 900 MHz radio to transmit the data to inside your facility. The battery bank is comprised of four Trojan T-105RE batteries in a 24VDC configuration inside a lockable battery box. The control panel runs right from this 24VDC power source, so there is no need to bring AC into the enclosure. The monitoring enclosure is also lockable. This is a professionally manufactured control enclosure built to UL508 standards.
We mount a color touch screen and long range, 900 MHz radio in a pelican case. There is nothing you need to set up or configure. Just turn the power on and it automatically starts to communicate to the cart, up to about 1/2 mile away, depending on local terrain. This complete box also runs off 24VDC. When utilized indoors, we provide a power supply that plugs into a wall receptacle to power up the box. When in use at the cart, we provide a cable and connector set that connects it right to the 24VDC feed from the battery bank. The system comes with a complete set of screens which display all aspects of the wind and solar power production as well as battery voltage and current information. This data is also data logged in an Excel format so you can look at long term historical data retrieved from the system.
