After acquiring the proper experience on lab kits students are ready for more complicated and creative work (Fig.15). One of the authors has a positive experience of teaching students of Oregon Institute of Technology using small scale real photo-thermal stationary concentrator created at University of Oregon. At the same time it should be remarked that teaching during a research project is time consuming activity and can be used in framework of special projects. It is better to involve students in such research projects after training them on the developed lab equipment.

Educational activity on solar energy at universities and schools is very important for popularization of active using solar energy and for training high qualified professionals and for people of all levels and ages from politicians to consumers.

Value and advantages of developed lab equipment are the next:

• Good publicity among young generation,

• Clear demonstrations of variety solar cells, solar modules, fuel cells, elecrolyzers, solar concentrators, etc.,

• Producing data for evaluation of system elements, defining component parameters, and studying how the systems work,

• Enabling ray tracing for different concentrating configurations,

• Versatile using for laboratory work in a variety of courses at the different levels,

• Simplicity to use and capability of a wide variety of research activities of student and postgraduate students,

• Easiness to modify lab equipment on consumer requests,

• Interactive demonstration how GIS systems work and how they can help in estimating of solar radiation.

References

[1] A. Smirnov, I. Tyukhov (2007) Simulating of Sun’s path for shadow analysis of solar buildings, Northsun 2007, 11th International Conference on Solar Energy at High Latitudes, CD, 4 pages.

[2] I. Tyukhov, M. Schakhramanyan, D. Strebkov, S. Mazanov, F. Vignola Combined solar PV and Earth space monitoring technology for educational and research purposes Proceedings Solar 2008, American Solar Energy Society Conf., San Diego, CA. (2008).

[3] I. Tyukhov, F. Vignola Discussion of PV Lab Equipment and Photovoltaic Systems for Teaching the Science of Photovoltaics. SOLAR 2007, Proceedings of the 36th ASES Annual Conference, July 7-12, 2007, Cleveland, Ohio. ISBN: 0-89553-179-8. Proceedings of the Solar 2007, Vol. 2, American Solar Energy Society Conf., pages 751-758.