Description:
This project to design a passive solar house. There were several activities to study related heat, light, materiel and electricity aspects of designing a house as well as the final miniature house design. Below are these projects and our final house design.
Hot Water Heater:
In this project, we needed to use the power of the sun to increase the temperature of a cup of water as much as possible. Our design was made to use convection to cycle water through a heating element and back into the water containers. Our design did not work and ended up decreasing in temperature by 8 °C. Below is a picture of our water "heater."
This project to design a passive solar house. There were several activities to study related heat, light, materiel and electricity aspects of designing a house as well as the final miniature house design. Below are these projects and our final house design.
Hot Water Heater:
In this project, we needed to use the power of the sun to increase the temperature of a cup of water as much as possible. Our design was made to use convection to cycle water through a heating element and back into the water containers. Our design did not work and ended up decreasing in temperature by 8 °C. Below is a picture of our water "heater."
House Daylighting Techniques:
In this project, my class studied techniques for lighting a house using daylight as much as possible. I was unfortunately sick for about half of this project so I missed much of the learning about daylighting techniques and planning the model. Total, we designed and built a model to test four different daylighting techniques: light shelf, skylight, clear story window, and solar tube as well as windows in winter and summer daylight conditions. After running our test, we found windows facing east, west, and south were most effective for lighting the house and solar tubes were in effective. Below is a picture of model house used for testing.
In this project, my class studied techniques for lighting a house using daylight as much as possible. I was unfortunately sick for about half of this project so I missed much of the learning about daylighting techniques and planning the model. Total, we designed and built a model to test four different daylighting techniques: light shelf, skylight, clear story window, and solar tube as well as windows in winter and summer daylight conditions. After running our test, we found windows facing east, west, and south were most effective for lighting the house and solar tubes were in effective. Below is a picture of model house used for testing.
Materials Heat Testing:
In this experiment, we put different materials under a 125 watt heat lamp on a piece of brown cardboard for 20 minutes with the lamp on for 10 minutes and off for 10 minutes. We measured the temperature of the tested material in the middle of the material with a infrared laser thermometer every 2 minutes. My group tested rubber, redwood, and plywood. All groups shared the results of their testing. This led to finding which materials could hold more heat and heat up/cool down slower and which materials held less heat and would heat up/cool down faster. This showed us which materials had a higher or lower specific heat content. Below are the graphs of the temperature of the materials in °F over the time of testing.
In this experiment, we put different materials under a 125 watt heat lamp on a piece of brown cardboard for 20 minutes with the lamp on for 10 minutes and off for 10 minutes. We measured the temperature of the tested material in the middle of the material with a infrared laser thermometer every 2 minutes. My group tested rubber, redwood, and plywood. All groups shared the results of their testing. This led to finding which materials could hold more heat and heat up/cool down slower and which materials held less heat and would heat up/cool down faster. This showed us which materials had a higher or lower specific heat content. Below are the graphs of the temperature of the materials in °F over the time of testing.
Project Presentation:
These projects all helped us understand a portion of what is required to design a mini house. In this section, we had to design a miniature house. My group perform decently overall as we designed, blueprinted, and provided cost estimates for our mini house.
Here is our presentation of our final design which contains blueprints, a 3-D model, and the cost estimate.
These projects all helped us understand a portion of what is required to design a mini house. In this section, we had to design a miniature house. My group perform decently overall as we designed, blueprinted, and provided cost estimates for our mini house.
Here is our presentation of our final design which contains blueprints, a 3-D model, and the cost estimate.
Generation of Electricity:
In this section, our class learned about one possible way to generate electricity: wind, both on the horizontal axis and the vertical axis. We had to come up with different variations of blades to turn the axis. We came to the conclusion that smaller blades work better at higher force winds based on our testing. Below is a poster made to reprent our results.
In this section, our class learned about one possible way to generate electricity: wind, both on the horizontal axis and the vertical axis. We had to come up with different variations of blades to turn the axis. We came to the conclusion that smaller blades work better at higher force winds based on our testing. Below is a poster made to reprent our results.
Content:
There were numerous items we learned about during our exploration of this huge project. The following are the primary ideas we learned about:
Transfer of heat: Heat can be transferred in three different ways: conduction, radiation, and convection. Conduction is the transfer of heat through direct contact. Radiation is the transfer of heat energy through transverse waves. Convection is when the hotter parts of a fluid rise to the top, cool, sink down to the bottom, heat up again and repeat.
Solar Angles: The sun in the sky has different angle relative to the ground, changing with the time of day and the day of year. This changes this way due to the Earth's axis having a 23.5° and revolving around the sun. This is relevant due to how much light we want to let into the house during certain times and seasons.
Daylighting Techniques: Daylighting technique are techniques to extend the ability of to light one's house with minimal internal lighting. These techniques include light shelves, solar tubes, skylights, windows, clearstory windows, and color. Lights shelves are reflective or brightly painted sections of material placed on the ground designed to reflect more light into windows. Solar tubes are tubes of reflective material in the roof attempting to reflect more light down into the house. Skylights are reinforced windows in the roof that bring more light into the house through the roof. Windows in walls facing east, west, and south can help bring light in depending on the time and season. Clearstory windows are windows located higher on a building, either one story higher or the top of the wall of the intended floor, designed to bring in more light and diffuse it off of a wall to light the house. The color of the walls, floor, and ceiling can decide how much of the light is diffused and how much of the house is lit.
Specific Heat Capacity: Specific heat capacity is the amount of heat energy a certain material can have at one time. Materials, such as water, have a high specific heat capacity and heat up slower. Other materials, such as air, have a low specific heat capacity and heat up much faster. Q(heat)=m(mass) c(specific heat capacity) ΔT(change in temp)
House Justification: Here is why we want our house to be energy efficient:
There were numerous items we learned about during our exploration of this huge project. The following are the primary ideas we learned about:
Transfer of heat: Heat can be transferred in three different ways: conduction, radiation, and convection. Conduction is the transfer of heat through direct contact. Radiation is the transfer of heat energy through transverse waves. Convection is when the hotter parts of a fluid rise to the top, cool, sink down to the bottom, heat up again and repeat.
Solar Angles: The sun in the sky has different angle relative to the ground, changing with the time of day and the day of year. This changes this way due to the Earth's axis having a 23.5° and revolving around the sun. This is relevant due to how much light we want to let into the house during certain times and seasons.
Daylighting Techniques: Daylighting technique are techniques to extend the ability of to light one's house with minimal internal lighting. These techniques include light shelves, solar tubes, skylights, windows, clearstory windows, and color. Lights shelves are reflective or brightly painted sections of material placed on the ground designed to reflect more light into windows. Solar tubes are tubes of reflective material in the roof attempting to reflect more light down into the house. Skylights are reinforced windows in the roof that bring more light into the house through the roof. Windows in walls facing east, west, and south can help bring light in depending on the time and season. Clearstory windows are windows located higher on a building, either one story higher or the top of the wall of the intended floor, designed to bring in more light and diffuse it off of a wall to light the house. The color of the walls, floor, and ceiling can decide how much of the light is diffused and how much of the house is lit.
Specific Heat Capacity: Specific heat capacity is the amount of heat energy a certain material can have at one time. Materials, such as water, have a high specific heat capacity and heat up slower. Other materials, such as air, have a low specific heat capacity and heat up much faster. Q(heat)=m(mass) c(specific heat capacity) ΔT(change in temp)
House Justification: Here is why we want our house to be energy efficient:
Reflection:
This project was massive. There were very many parts to it, some of which I personally definitely could have gone better. Firstly, I could've not been absent as much. I was absent two times in this project, both times did not allow my group to function as well as it should have, epically when I missed half of the daylighting project. I will attempt to improve this by more closely monitoring my health and not overdosing on citrus. Secondly, I could have been more flexible during certain points of designing our house. There were some ideas a group mate would have that I could find no way to agree with during the house designing phase. This especially was a problem during planning the interior of the house. I will attempt to improve this by keeping an open mind about different ideas and concepts.
Though there were rough points, there were spots where I did very well. Firstly, I did well at dividing work between my whole group during the house design phase. I was able to divide researching, designing, and blueprinting of the house relatively well. I was also able to work efficiently with missing group mates. As this project was in flue season there were points where I would be missing one or both of my group. I still was able to work efficiently and forward our groups goals either partnering with another group or simply working alone.
This project was massive. There were very many parts to it, some of which I personally definitely could have gone better. Firstly, I could've not been absent as much. I was absent two times in this project, both times did not allow my group to function as well as it should have, epically when I missed half of the daylighting project. I will attempt to improve this by more closely monitoring my health and not overdosing on citrus. Secondly, I could have been more flexible during certain points of designing our house. There were some ideas a group mate would have that I could find no way to agree with during the house designing phase. This especially was a problem during planning the interior of the house. I will attempt to improve this by keeping an open mind about different ideas and concepts.
Though there were rough points, there were spots where I did very well. Firstly, I did well at dividing work between my whole group during the house design phase. I was able to divide researching, designing, and blueprinting of the house relatively well. I was also able to work efficiently with missing group mates. As this project was in flue season there were points where I would be missing one or both of my group. I still was able to work efficiently and forward our groups goals either partnering with another group or simply working alone.