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Green Engineering Applications

NI Oceania/South Africa

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Alternative Energy Projects

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Application: The CETO wave power converter is the first unit to be fully-submerged and

to produce high pressure seawater from the power of waves. By delivering high pressure

seawater ashore, the technology allows either zero-emission electricity to be produced

(similar to hydroelectricity) or zero-emission freshwater . It also means that there is no

need for undersea grids or high voltage transmission.

•Products: CompactRIO and LabVIEW for data logging and Control

Carnegie – Wave Energy

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BT imaging – Solar Cells

Application: Development of Control, Analysis and

Reporting for Luminescence Imaging System that

enables manufacturers of silicon blocks, wafers and solar

cells to increase manufacturing yields and improve

product value and manufacturing process.

Products: LabVIEW, 2 x M-Series DAQ Cards

The software was developed entirely in LabVIEW, and

controls the system pneumatics, laser and camera using

National Instruments data acquisition (DAQ) devices. It

also measures various cell parameters such as I-V

curves, photoluminescence and electroluminescence,

which are used to determine the quality and lifetime

characteristics of cells.

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Solar Systems – Solar Concentrator

Solar Systems has developed an ultra powerful solar module

using their Heliostat Concentrator Photovoltaic

(HCPV) technology, which can produce about 1500

times more power than a typical solar panel. In an HCPV

system, sunlight is beamed from mirror collectors, or

‘heliostats’, to the solar modules, which convert the

concentrated light directly to Megawatts of power.

Applications and Products:

• PXI and LabVIEW for ATE for Validation of Ultra-High

Efficiency Solar Concentrator Module

• CompactFieldPoint and LabVIEW for Remote

Acquisition and Data Logging for R&D.

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Optimal Energy - Joule Electric Car

Application: Designing and Prototyping Africa’s first electric car -Optimal Energy are working together with Stellenbosch University and the South African Gov, through the Innovation Fund to develop, build and sell an electric vehicle by 2010

Products:

• LabVIEW and CompactRIO for designing and prototyping the first Joule Electric Car

• LabVIEW for Monitoring USB-CAN and USB-DIO

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UNSW - Green Engineering Research

Projects• Photovoltaic Department

Application: Control high speed pulsing of lasers to treat silicon

Products: PXI, HSDIO

• Chemical Engineering

Application: Fuel Cell Testing

Products: PXI, DMM, Switches

• Chemical Engineering

Application: Aluminium production uses 10% of Australia’s energy

Application: Measurements to understand high to optimise process

Products: CompactRIO

• Mechanical Engineering

Application: Power monitoring of manufacturing machines

Products: CompactDAQ

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Water/Waste Management Projects

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Aquamill - Water Recycling ProjectHOT VAPOUR WATER PURIFICATION

Application: A distillation device for treating liquid to be purified,

Want to manufacture systems to purify water 95% clean

Products: LabVIEW and PXI/SCXI for Simulation and Prototype

Development

Next stage: production of the treatment plants; perfect fit for NI

Deployment Curve