Background
The Mobile Energy Operation Wagon or MEOW is a trailer that has mounted solar panels that generate renewable energy and stores that energy in batteries. The MEOW lives on the Humboldt State University campus at the Campus Center for Appropriate Technology or CCAT. The MEOW was constructed in 2003 to be transportable renewable energy source for a variety of events [1]. Sadly in 2010 the MEOW was stolen and stripped of all valuable materials and the solar mounting rack built in May of 2005 was ruined [2] [1]. Fortunately, funding was able to be gathered to help bring the MEOW back on its paws! In May 2012, a new mounting rack for the solar panels was constructed and attached to the MEOW[3]. In November of 2012, a group students rejuvenated the MEOW’s solar energy system [3].
Three Humboldt State University students, Destinee McGuire at User:Desimac100, John Cylwik, and Wilson Franca de Souza at User:Wilsinn92, are tasked with the job of repairing the charging system and the batteries on the MEOW. There is a visible issue with the batteries housing units which appear to be bulging. Since the batteries contain hazardous chemicals, there is a possibility of damaging the environment, humans, and the MEOW. The first goal of our project is to see what is causing the batteries to expand in their housing units and properly dispose of the old batteries. Then, if we discover the problems and buy new batteries, we will continue to work on the MEOW's system. Our project is going to be from January 26 2015 to about Mid-May 2015. We will be working at CCAT where the MEOW is located.
Problem statement
The objective of this project is to restore the Mobile Energy Operation Wagon (MEOW) to working condition by assessing the problems with the solar system and potentially hooking up a bike energy generation component.