CoolBot CoolRoom: The Solar Array Construction

CoolBot group members Mike and
Daniel with faculty collaborator
and D-Lab instructor

 Henceforth known as the D-Lab CoolBot group, Ariana Rundquist, Daniel Sheeter, Wu Jingyan (Dora), and Michael Cunningham decided to address the most pressing problem for the Uganda CoolBot Coolroom project: the large up-front cost of a solar array. 

 Mike Cunningham working
on inverter

In collaboration with Horticulture Collaborative Research Support Program (Hort CRSP), the D-Lab CoolBot group set about assembling a model standalone photovoltaic array in order to power the demonstrative CoolBot Coolroom at the UC Davis Student Farm.

Ariana and Mike assembling solar
 array with faculty collaborator

The array consists of the following: four 220 volt solar panels, four wooden frames built by Dr. Michael Reid, four 6 volt deep cycle batteries in series, and a control board. The control board, that is, a breaker panel and charge controller, an inverter and a plug outlet to the AC load (the air conditioner and CoolBot) was assembled by Dr. Reid and Ariana Rundquist on April 15^th.

CoolBot group installs
solar array

Ariana, Sheeter and Mike all helped assemble and successfully connect the photovoltaic array to the CoolBot Coolroom on April 18^th and 19^th, just in time for a visit from the touring Hort CRSP conference!

-- 
Ariana Rundquist, D-Lab Student 

International Agricultural Development 

Graduate Group
University of California in Davis