The symposium will be held in UCF’s Student Union from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Vincent Dolan, president and CEO of Progress Energy Florida, will deliver the symposium welcome.
Senior undergraduate students in all departments of UCF’s College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS) designed the projects which all focus on renewable and sustainable energy.
“In this era of global uncertainty, the world needs engineers to continue creating innovative alternative energy solutions,” said Marwan Simaan, dean of UCF’s College of Engineering and Computer Science. “The Senior Design Symposium helps prepare our students to become future engineering leaders with skills that allow them to tackle the world’s energy challenges.”
The UCF solar farm, initiated by UCF’s Department of Sustainability and Energy Management, involves three multi-disciplinary teams of CECS students. Mechanical Engineering students have created a mounting system that provides easy installation of solar panels to reduce the labor costs associated with constructing a solar farm. The mounting system also holds panels at an angle to maximize sun exposure. Industrial Engineering students are providing a cost-benefits analysis and Electrical Engineering students have created a system to monitor energy production and flow.
Among the many other exciting symposium projects: a solar-powered water heating system that makes water safe to drink in areas where it is unavailable; an automated system that monitors abandoned oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico using a sensor cap that, when a leak is detected, sends a wireless signal to a central location; and water turbines that would create energy using the power from ocean waves.
Engineering students exhibiting at the symposium have worked during their senior year with their faculty advisors to develop innovative project proposals, conduct the design analysis, design and build prototypes, prepare engineering reports and give a presentation and demonstration at the symposium.
“Progress Energy is proud to support the University of Central Florida’s energy education curriculum and its ongoing efforts to research and develop sustainable, promising renewable energy technologies,” Dolan said. “This partnership is a natural extension of our strong commitment to this great university and to the continued pursuit of cleaner, better ways to meet our customers’ evolving energy needs.”
Progress Energy Florida and Workforce Central Florida are sponsors of the event.
For more details about the symposium, click here.