Solar/Wind Powered Instrumentation Module Development for Polar Environmental Research

该奖项为独立的可运输模块的开发和测试提供支持，该模块将为标准的机架式设备提供一个受保护的温度控制的内部环境。 电力将由太阳能电池板和风力发电机提供，并由可供几天使用的电池提供支持。 该模块将为内部和外部使用提供交流和直流电源，并将包括数据记录和通信能力，以满足极地环境中的实际应用。在南极站、麦默多站和南极洲几乎所有其他有人居住的营地，飞机、直升机、地面车辆、柴油发电机和其他来源都会排放废气，所有这些都对环境产生潜在影响。 收集下风向位置的实时污染数据可用于评估污染量和改善空气质量的努力的有效性。 目前，测量仪器的最佳放置受到电力和遮蔽的严重限制，该模块旨在克服这一限制。 虽然设计该模块是为了便利在南极进行测量，但它也可用于其他各种情况，即利用远程设备对环境现象进行长期监测。该模块将具有零排放，因此不会影响其设计研究的环境：并且可以根据研究需要放置在任何位置。

This award provides support for the development and testing of a self-contained, transportable module that will provide a sheltered, temperature-controlled interior environment for standard, rack-mounted equipment. Electric power will be provided by solar panels and a wind generator, backed up by batteries of several days' capacity. The module will offer both AC and DC power for internal and external use, and will include datalogging and communications capability for practical application in a polar environment. At the South Pole Station, McMurdo Station, and almost all other inhabited camps in Antarctica, exhaust is released from aircraft, helicopters, ground vehicles, diesel generators and other sources, all of which have a potential impact on the environment. The collection of real-time pollution data at downwind locations can be used to assess the amount of pollution and the effectiveness of efforts to improve air quality. At the current time, optimal placement of the measuring instruments is severely limited by the availability of power and shelter, a limitation that the module is intended to overcome. Although designed to facilitate measurements at the South Pole, the module will be of use in a variety of other situations where remotely located equipment is to be used for long-term monitoring of environmental phenomena. The module will have zero emissions, thereby not affecting the environment that it is designed to study: and it could be placed at any location as called for by the research need.