Solar roofs are sought after by homeowners and industries in Malaysia to provide clean and cost-effective energy. However, local manufacturers are struggling to find a reliable testing system to rate the energy efficiency of roof products in the market.
To counter this, we were appointed by Rauda Technology Sdn Bhd to lead the system integration of a solar roof testing rig. This testing rig is a project of the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) of the National University of Malaysia (UKM).
Here’s a breakdown of the system integration:
- The Scope of Work includes all the electrical wiring, creation of the control box panels, design and programming of the simulator software suite.
- Starting with a bare mechanical frame, a control system was made of a distributed network of Arduino that spread across the large surface area of the test rig. Arduino was chosen for its easy interface, cost-effectiveness, and reliability.
- The 9.5kW Halogen Lighting system also had to maintain a stable rate of radiation for maximum efficiency. To obtain this, the control system would automatically adjust its brightness level according to the monitored radiation readings.
- Last but not least, tracking the performance of the control system was done using a simulator software that graphs the readings of the control system.
