In This Issue: Welcome to the Tests and Measurements Newsletter The POWIM-PD is a product for alternative energy uses A MISO is a POWIM-PD in a special enclosure Contact Us: Plane Space Design 139 McIntyre St, Savannah, GA 31415 Phone: (912) 376-3448 Email: [email protected]

tests and measurements Welcome to the POWIM-PD & MISO Products Tests and Measurements Newsletter This newsletter will report the results of the tests and measurements on the POWIM-PD and MISO products; including discoveries made about them, about batteries, and about alternative energy systems and their components.   In this issue you will find the articles that were published in the last three issues; the setup for the tests and measurements on the MISO units under test, and the tests that were performed on the MISO while it was connected to the system as a load earlier in the test period. The newest addition to the newsletter is the results of tests performed on the MISO while it is connected to the source side of the system. Read more... At present, as the period of time exceeds one year, the MISO unit is still connected to the source side of the alternative energy system between two battery banks. The first part discusses the test system setup; the same article that appeared in the last issue Read more... The second part of this issue is a repeated article that will describe the observations recorded for the performance of the MISO, as it operated as a part of a renewable energy system's load. Read more... The POWIM-PD is a Product for Alternative Energy Control and Laser Driving (Reprinted from previous issues)  What is a POWIM-PD?! That is a good question about an acronym for a new product. It stands for a Power Integrating Module with Pulsed Driver; a product designed for the purpose of making alternative energy more useful in a variety of ways. It is a power controller, a laser driver, and so much more. Read more... A MISO is a POWIM-PD in a Specialized Enclosure   (Reprinted from previous issues) Got a Power Integrating Module and you want to use it as a power controller? Then you can get that done fast by puttinig it inside of a Multiple-Input Single-Output enclosure designed specifically for the POWIM-PD circuit boards. MISOs can be purchased already assembled into a complete multi-purpose power controller as well. Read more...

February 10, 2012

PERFORMANCE OF THE MISO ON THE SOURCE SIDE

The MISO unit under test is currently on the source side of an alternative energy power system. There are two battery banks, each comprised, primarily, of two six volt golf cart batteries. Other batteries of smaller ampere hour rating are added to or removed from these banks sporadically. A 13.5 volt connection to a generator is connected in parallel to a 45 Watt solar power system. Another solar power system of 60 Watt capacity operates in tandem to these other sources. The purpose of the MISO in this system is to provide switching between sources under a variety of connection strategies. For example, at present the two batteries in each of the banks are connected in parallel to one another and thus form two banks that can each charge to six volts. This was done as part of a procedure to exercise the memory effects out of the batteries and restore them. The MISO was used as the connection hub for this procedure. The pulsed driver continued to operate at these low voltages (even down to under 5 volts) and the brightness of the LED indicated that more current was being driven to it than was driven when the batteries in the banks were in series. This is possible because of the lower bank resistance in parallel connection.

Prior to this reconditioning exercise the MISO was functioning as a switch between the various sources. At times it was used in single-sided mode to increase voltage and current from the batteries (whose voltage and current are waning due to aging effects) to the load. There were periods when all the solar panels and the battery banks were connected to the secondary terminal of the MISO (see MISO Manual) and then the generator was turned on also. The secondary terminal has withstood voltages as high as 20 volts or more from the generator and batteries with the possible 8 amperes that the generator can provide possibly passing through. Both input terminals and the output terminals have occasionally been subjected to such excess electrical stress and survived. Meanwhile, the LED connected to the pulsed driver has not been damaged.

Statistical Measures

Variation in the environment in which the MISO was tested makes the measured parameters random variables. The only variable that was measured explicitly was performance and it could take on the values operating or failed. These measured values were influenced daily by the following parameters for approximately the given percentages of time, where d is the estimated number of days a condition was present on the MISO.

Under these conditions the MISO produced the following statistical results:

With n=365 days and on each day the variable for performance, x, could take on the value 1 for passed and 0 for failed, the mean performance was x-bar = Sigma x/n = 365/365 = 1.0 = 100%

The MISO tested to be 100% reliable under the conditions of the test on the source side of the alternative energy system.

Evaluation of the Usefulness of a MISO

When the MISO was utilized as a source switch with one battery bank on the secondary terminal and the other battery bank on the primary terminal, the generator was connected to the  primary switch parallel to the battery bank. The battery banks are so old now that the bank on the primary terminal rarely drove the load after sundown. The primary terminal was active only during the daytime when the solar panels provided enough voltage and current to switch this channel on. That is, more than 13.5 volts. However, at night when the generator was turned on, the primary channel was switched on to drive the load. The ability to do this without having to manually rewire the system each time I turned the generator on or off was one great advantage of connecting the sources through a MISO.

Eventually both battery banks and  solar panel banks were connected in parallel to the secondary terminal so that all energy stored during the day time would be available at night from the batteries. This worked well for boosting the ampere hours available from the aged batteries. The generator stayed on the primary so that it would be the source of power whenever it was on.

There were several other ways that the components of the alternative energy system could be connected; all made possible by the presence of the MISO in the connection configurations on the source side. Some advantages enabled by the MISO were the ability to capture the most energy in the storage batteries as possible. The best solar source could be routed to either bank. The weakest batteries could be placed where the got the least use or the longest charge time. The worst times during solar storage could be compensated for by the generator, and so on. This flexibility is the primary reason for using a MISO on the source side of an alternative energy system. Also, the load is relatively unaffected by all of the switching and reconfiguration if the difference between voltages on the various sources are not drastically different.

In conclusion, the MISO passed its year long test with flying colors in terms of reliability and utility.

December 27, 2010
POWIM-PD & MISO Tests and Measurements Performance is Good

Over the period of the past months, for nearly one year, the Power Integrating Module with Pulsed Driver (POWIM-PD) has been undergoing tests to verify its safety, its durability, and its utility. Housed in a Multiple-Input Single-Output (MISO) enclosure, the product was tested on the load side of an alternative energy system and on the source side of the system.

At present, as the period of one year draws near, the MISO unit is still connected to the source side of the alternative energy system between two battery banks. This newsletter will report the results of the tests and measurements on the POWIM-PD and MISO products; including discoveries made about them, about batteries, and about alternative energy systems and their components.

The Test Setup

The system in which the multiple-input single-output unit is testing is an aged solar power system providing 105 Watts of power maximum. The solar panels are partitioned into two subsystems of 60 watts and 45 watts that do not receive the same illumination. The 45 watt panels face southeast and the 60 watt panels face southwest. The wires from the two sources come to the same junctions inside of a building and can be connected in series or parallel to each other. A 3000 watt gas generator is also part of the system. Its 13.5 Volt DC output terminals replace the connections to the 45 Watt solar source when the generator is running. The generator provides up to 8 charging amps of current, while the solar panels provides less than 3 amps peak from the 45 Watt source and around 3 amps peak from the 60 Watt source.

The storage batteries in the system are lead-acid golf cart batteries, that are now at or near the end of their 5-year useful life period. There are two brands of batteries; Werker GC110 from Batteries Plus that are rated at 110 minutes of current at 75 amps when discharged down to 5.25 amps. They have a reserve capacity of 390 minutes at 25 amps of discharge current. The other brand, Stowaway model GC2 from Exide, is rated to have 110 minutes of current at 75 amps. The Stowaway batteries are now over 5 years old. The Werker batteries are about 4 1/2 years old.

In general the alternative power test system is aged to late in its useful life for the type of system that it is. It represents a worst case scenario condition for the MISO to operate under, and is ideal for testing the product's functions, durability, and reliability.

The results of the tests are summarized by stating that the performance of the POWIM-PD and MISO unit under test meets and exceeds all expectations for the products, for the uses which they were designed for. In this newsletter the details of how they perform, tips and tricks for their use, and discoveries that we make along the way will be provided to our readers. You may not want to miss a single issue.

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The MISO as an Alternative Energy Load

The first months of testing the POWIM-PD and MISO products involved placing the MISO in the load section of the alternative energy test system described in the last issue (reprinted above). The purpose of the test was to insure that the light emitting device connected to the pulsed driver output of the POWIM-PD circuit was energized and light intensity behaved according the the design specifications. It was also tested to confirm that the supply of power to the LED by the driver was done robustly in the presence of a varying load and in the presence of fluctuations in the power available from the renewable energy system or the generator.

These tests followed the preliminary tests that were made with a laser and a LED to verify operation of the circuit board, and to determine its operating characteristics that are provided in the data sheet for the product.

The Load

There were some other power consuming devices connected in the load section of the system with the MISO. These included a 1000 Watt inverter; a 3 amp charge controller with with the following features- a voltage level display... 3, 6, 9, and 12 Volt plug output... a 12 volt automotive output ...and a 5 volt USB output. To the 12 volt automotive output of the charge controller is connected a 4 outlet automotive power distribution adapter. The adapter enables 4 devices to be connected to the 12 volt output. The automotive adapter provided power from the alternative energy system to a cell phone charger, a portable DVD player, a NiMHD battery charger, and a security alarm system. The 1000 W inverter was used for providing AC power to the parts of the load that required it. These were an analog to digital TV signal converter, a portable DVD player, and 5 W stereo speakers.

The Performance of the MISO

The multiple-input single-output power controller was placed in the load parallel to the charge controller and shared the connection to the storage battery system with it. This meant that it would be powered by the batteries, the solar panels, the generator, or any combination of these. The input voltages would vary from 10 V to 13.5 V with this configuration on the MISO. The source was connected to only the secondary input of the MISO making it a single-ended configuration of the product.

The LED in the output of the POWIM-PD driver is a green T-1 3/4 Ultra Brite LED model from Jameco Electronics. It is rated for 3V forward voltage maximum and 20 mA of current. These are the limits for continuous operation of the LED that must not be exceeded. The pulsed voltage and current provided by the POWIM-PD are much higher than these ratings. The test was supposed to confirm that this LED would not be destroyed even though it was being driven by the same voltages that appeared at the input of the MISO from the batteries, the solar power system or the generator. The LED was also supposed to vary in brightness to indicate the level of voltage that appeared at the input, as the driver is designed to cause happen.

The results were that even at voltages from 10V to 15V, very far above the threshold of operation of this average type of LED, the LED was not destroyed by the POWIM-PD. The LED remained lit independent of what was happening to the other devices in the load. The LED also was a reliable indicator of the voltage level at the input to the MISO, dimming when the voltage was low and brightening when the voltage was high. Similar good performance should be expected from a laser diode that has similar voltage and current characteristics to this LED. This robust performance makes the MISO a good choice for optical security applications. Also applications that have to overcome the challenges presented by the unpredictable nature of renewable energy systems would benefit greatly from using the MISO in the load to supply power to the optics.

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The POWIM-PD is a Product for Alternative Energy Control and Laser Driving

What is a POWIM-PD?! That is a good question about an acronym for a new product. It stands for a Power Integrating Module with Pulsed Driver; a product designed for the purpose of making alternative energy more useful in a variety of ways. It is a power controller, a laser driver, and so much more.

The age of alternative energy is here to stay, but the question of which type to use and its companion question of what uses can it be applied to are very much on the minds of energy suppliers and of energy users. A lot of projects are getting hung up on these questions. The power integrating module is a product that will allow you to go past these questions, and begin to use some type of alternative power source, with the promise that you can add other types on to your system later, if you choose to. The POWIM- enables the integrating of power sources that may be as different from each other as night and day. Whether you prefer to get started with wind or solar, fuel cells or something exotic out of a sci-fi novel; you can always add another type of power to your system, in the future, in the most manageable way using the POWIM-PD modules.

A feature that is very exciting on the POWIM-PD is the pulsed driver front end. That is the PD in the acronym. Its uses come in great variety in the Light Emitting Devices domain. It is powerful enough to drive laser diodes with high current, but gentle enough to drive LEDs, even at the unaltered storage battery voltages, without any additional circuitry. Both types of devices have been tested on the POWIM-PD. They worked fine in these initial tests.

The POWIM- is also a power switch that is pre-programmed to switch between power sources, in an exchange that is based on the conditions of available power from each source. There are models of the POWIM-PD that are programmed to switch the power source on the most common power conditions that occur in the automotive industry (POWIM-PD 13.5-12); and there are models that reflect the needs in the storage battery section of an alternative energy system (POWIM-PD 12-10 and POWIM-PD 100MV). In the future, models for other power conditions and uses may be manufactured. The switching behavior of this product has been demonstrated during tests. The results of those tests and future test results will be reported in this newsletter. But in summary, the POWIM-PD switches as it is specified to in the specs and data sheets.

As for quality, the POWIM-PD is manufactured using a lead-free process using components the are ROHS compliant. You will hear in these reports that the device is almost unbreakable. It cannot be destroyed by common human errors in connectivity, electrical disturbances, or normal use. Further, it enables some problems that occur in alternative energy systems to be fixed by placing it in the right place in the system. In the tests that were done, a complete discharge of both battery banks was reversed by placing the POWIM-PD, in a MISO, on the source side the system.

Where is this product going then? It will be included everywhere there are sensitive and delicate lights to be driven, where a healthy dose of power is required to get the light flowing, or where alternative energy is the power of choice. That is to say, where you want to have a choice of power for your light emitting devices. From the probable shape of energy to come, that means that the POWIM-PD will be everywhere.

A word on the acronym. The letters have a meaning in hip-hop lingo, and after reading the results of these tests and measurements you will agree that everything that has this product in it is "POWIM-PD to the max". However, if you have different tastes, the pronunciation PI (as in the Greek letter π pronounced "pie") MPD (as is metro police department) is a good way to remember the product's name. Or try something like PI (pie) MOPED (as in the motorized bike) to really tame the acronym. No matter how you choose to remember it, you must remember. The acronym helps to make that chore easy.

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A MISO is a POWIM-PD in a Specialized Enclosure

Got a Power Integrating Module and you want to use it as a power controller? Then you can get that done fast by putting it inside of a Multiple-Input Single-Output enclosure designed specifically for the POWIM-PD circuit boards. MISOs can be purchased already assembled into a complete multi-purpose power controller as well.

The MISO is a solution for enclosing the power integrating module with pulsed driver, that provides flexibility and convenience to almost any application. A MISO has terminals for both of the inputs and for the output, that are weather resistant. These terminals have several ways in which connections can be made to them. These include ring spades and lugs, banana plugs, and wire leads. The connections can be securely fastened down with the plastic screw caps that are supplied with the terminals. The current capacity of these terminals is 15 amps continuous current.

Looking at the MISO face-on the terminals for inputs are on the right and left side of the enclosure . The output is set between the inputs in the center of the unit. The placement of the terminals is useful because they resemble the placement of ears and eyes on the face. This is a convenient way to help the user grow accustomed to knowing what source they have connected to which input in their system, in an intimate and easy to remember way. This memory boost occurs almost unconsciously.

The enclosure provides an opening for the light emitting device to radiate through, if one is attached. It is a round hole that is centered below the output near the end of the enclosure.

To access the internal connections the end caps can be slid off of the enclosure. While capped the enclosure is water resistant because of the tight fit of the poly caps. The opening for the light emitting device and the terminals are only moisture resistant. The MISO can be made water tight by applying a sealant around the terminals, the LED lens, and the end caps.

The best part of the enclosure is the fixture system that supports it. It is constructed from PVC, and it is in one of the standard form factors that this material is made into: 3 inch parts. This means that the great variety of fixtures and caps that can be purchased for any PVC system can be used for the MISO as end caps and connectors. If you think that Lego can be fun, then imagine the power system aficionado you can become with these MISO units. Or think about how you can construct laser arrays on the fly with them, that rotate or sit on top of towers made from pipes. That is totally the spirit of the enclosure design choice.

The sticky issue in this enclosure is the fact that PVC is not a recycled material. The literature on the subject suggests that it is cheaper to use fresh material to make PVC, and that the recycling process for it is dangerous. Yet, since PVC is so widely used, there are some efforts to find a way to add it to the list of recycled plastics; particularly in Japan. Further, it is a long lasting material that is conducive to reuse. So PVC does have some green characteristics that helped it to become the enclosure material used for the MISO. The debate on this is not over yet, however, as it is definitely the aim of the designer to make the MISO an even more environmentally friendly product. The end caps that are supplied at purchase are made from recyclable polyethylene.

                           TAKE ME TO IT NOW!!