Internships

Carolyn Hartzell ’11

At United Solar, rather than having one large project, I had several smaller ones, and contributed to many more. I ran several experiments on a solar simulator called the Spire in order to optimize its performance and also yield results that correspond more closely to the solar spectrum. I also established and wrote an operating procedure for the calibration of the Spire. I helped install twelve solar modules outside the Troy facility and developed a program to facilitate the download and analysis of data from the modules. I analyzed the performance of these experimental solar modules as well as other modules from the roof of the Auburn Hills facility under various conditions, including different irradiances, times, and shadow coverage. In addition to these, I helped employees of United Solar with their projects or tasks when they needed an extra pair of hands.