Passive Solar Home Design Project This project has taken the longest out of all the projects we've done and it has definitely been the biggest. Each group did six small projects. We learned many new concepts such as atomic structures, and heat, and we have also learned about how in the different seasons sun angles change. In groups we designed a hot water heater, where we learned about radiation, convection, and conduction, we did a daylight design activity where we had to see how much light we could get into a cardboard house we made which would heat up water and we could see the changes in heat, we did a materials testing lab where we chose three sights on campus that we thought would be best to build a house based on temperature, sun angles, seasonal variation, sun/shade percentages, etc., then we did a materials testing lab where we conducted an experiment to test all possible materials we might use for the interior and exterior of a house, a solar reflector panel for getting light and heat through the north window of the solar studio we then built and created our designs. We built models of a cold frame for allowing plant growth during the winter in the San Marin garden(approved by garden club), and my group built a stepping stone path going to the house
Hot Water Heater For this project we had to design a hot water heater, test it, and record our results. We were given 3 feet of a metal pipe and about a foot of rubber piping to use. My group attached the metal piping to a milk carton then bent the piping and laid it in a box with the top off. We sprayed the piping black since black things attract and absorb heat. We lined the box with foil so the sun could reflect, making heat. We decided to put a sheet of magnifying glass on the box and put the box at an angle so the sun would hit the magnifying glass in the spot we wanted it to, making the magnifying glass reflect onto the piping, making heat to heat up the water that went through the tubing after we poured it into the carton. We then caught the water out of the other side and poured it back in the carton again. Our water started at 20 degrees and after 30 minutes was 27 degrees! From this project, I learned what materials work best to make water hot.
Solar Angles For this part of the project we learned about all the different angles of the sun during the different seasons.
Cold Frame Me and my group have also designed a cold frame. Cold frames are used to protect plants in the winter and we made ours as efficient as we could.On the front side of our cold frame, we had a removable screen. The window allowed sunlight to come through and also made things very easy when you need to make changes to the plant. Our design also has a watering hole at the top, making watering simple. The watering hole also has a cover on it so no bugs could get to the plant and so no heat can escape. The inside of our Cold Frame is white and the outside is black. That way the heat can be absorbed on the outside to keep the plant warm, and the white can reflect light onto the plant. Our design came to a cost of $61.91.
North Window Design Last year the STEM class(sophomore now) built a solar house and right now it has no purpose. Our job as a group was to find a purpose for it. The Solar Reflector Panel is used for getting heat and light through the North Window of the Stem Marin Solar Studio. The sun is always on the Southern side and we want to get light to the Northern side. My group made it so our design has two reflecting panels. One panel is angled toward the sun, and the other is angled away from the window. The sun is suppose to hit one reflector panel, then that is suppose to reflect to another, then that will reflect into the house as you can see in the picture below and blueprints in the slide show below. In the end our design is simple and has a cost of only $171.00.
Materials Testing Lab Each group for this assignment was given three to four different materials to test. Each was placed under a warm lightbulb for a total of sixteen minutes. Every four minutes, one group member would check the temperature with a thermometer, which did not give precise data and was an issue. Once the sixteen minutes was up, we turned off the lightbulb and observed the materials for another sixteen minutes, again taking the temperature every four minutes. We then analyzed and recorded our data to share with the class. There was a lot of experimental error and incorrect data recorded.
Bonus Plan For my groups bonus plan we had the idea of adding stepping stones on the way to the Stem Marin Solar House. This would make it a more pleasurable experience walking up to the house and your shoes would stay clean. We built a scale model and priced it out. The total would come too
Site Selection: For this project we had to find three sites on San Marin's campus that we thought would be best for building a house on. We chose our sites based on how much sunlight it got a day, how noisy it was, the view, how flat the ground was, how easy it was to access, shade percentage, sun angles, etc.
Daylight Design Activity For this project we built cardboard houses and tried to see how lit up we could get the house to be by shinning a flashlight through the windows. The more windows you have, the brighter the house will get and that is what you wanted. We would shine the light at the angles the sun would be at throughout the day. There are many different types of windows and ways to get light in through the house, such as solar tubes, light shelves, skylights, and clearstory windows and for my group it turned out that the clearstory windows were the most efficient and the solar tubes were the least efficient.
Reflection Overall I really enjoyed this project and feel like a leaned a lot. Me and my group worked and communicated very well together and I am pleased with the way everything turned out. I am very proud how our ending presentations came out. One thing we could have improved on is sharing all of the projects work equally. For example during this project, Aidan did 100% of the cold frame, but nothing else. Anja and Brian did 100% of the north window, and me and Anja did 100% of the bonus project. We could have all worked on a little bit of everything so when it came time to present any of us could have answered questions that the judges asked us.