CEWA Technologies

Experience

CEWA Technologies designs and manufactures concentrated solar power units that are capable of harvesting 30 kW thermal power. As a small company filled with mostly engineers, I completed various engineering projects while learning how a start up company operates. I knew I wanted to work for a renewable energy company going into summer 2017 and CEWA Technologies provided the opportunity to gain hands on experience with a less known type of solar power.

Mechanical Engineering Technician

During my summer as an intern the company was searching for a new adhesive to manufacture the CSP units with. Knowing that these units were being shipped all over the world, I was tasked to find an adhesive that had exceptional mechanical strength, could withstand extreme hot and cold environments, and take only minutes to cure. Using technical data sheets to fit the application I ordered several polymer adhesives. I fabricated hundreds of test samples (seen below) and performed loading tests to evaluate sheer and peel stress then created reports exemplifying the results.

Aluminum test sample I fabricated using neoprene rubber with Loctite 414 adhesive

Solar Resource Assessment

Utilizing NREL’s System Advisor Model (SAM) and solar resource data, I calculated thermal power outputs for potential clients depending on the location of where the units would be placed. This assessment included historic irradiance data, efficiency of the units, and heat transfer losses to accurately predict power generation from one or multiple concentrated solar power units. I also performed economic payback analysis with NREL’s System Advisor Model (SAM) and accounted for shipping costs as well tariffs.

Source: CEWA Technologies

30 kW CSP unit with heat exchanger attached (Source: cewatechnologies.com)