Solar & wind Projects (Energy EFFICIENT house)
We made a solar water heater, energy efficient house, cold frame, sunlight deflector, solar blinds, a vertical axis windmill and a horizontal axis windmill all those seven things were conducted in three months and presented to a team of judges who evaluated our work.
My group started off with building a solar reflector the goal of our project was to trap enough heat to heat a copper wire which held water to use. The way the heater worked is that we would place the machine facing south then the sun would enter through the plastic rap and heats the room however the heat doesn't leave due to the insulation. The heat heats the water and the water circulates through tubing and ends up in a different jar warmer than it was originally. We would switch the jars whenever the warmer one got full and then the water would get warmer than before.
My group started off with building a solar reflector the goal of our project was to trap enough heat to heat a copper wire which held water to use. The way the heater worked is that we would place the machine facing south then the sun would enter through the plastic rap and heats the room however the heat doesn't leave due to the insulation. The heat heats the water and the water circulates through tubing and ends up in a different jar warmer than it was originally. We would switch the jars whenever the warmer one got full and then the water would get warmer than before.
We made a model of a solar efficient house to reduce the amount of lightbulbs used and the goal was to have 80% of the rooms lit up during the daytime. It was constructed length wise so there could be more light coming through the halls and had skylights to have the rest of the room filled. The house faced south and had large windows to gather more sunlight. The roofs were slanted to have a more interesting design even though it didn't solve anything on its own.
Next there was the cold frame. A cold frame's job is to protect small plants from the cold and animals until it is ready to live on it's own. The top is a window with hinges to open up to let heat escape in the summer with hinges on it to move. The whole project is also movable so you can use it for different plants that are smaller
The solar reflector was to get sunlight into the north window. We conjured a free-standing reflector. It is supported by a staff the same height of the window. The staff is dug half way underground for stability. there is a sheet of aluminum roughly the size of the window positioned at a 45 degree angle to the window. It can be spun to make the sun enter the backside of the house.
Our bonus project was to set up solar shelves which are to reflect sunlight into the two top windows of the STEM house. The aluminum which we would use will be angled and slightly spaced so water doesn't collect at the window.
Next we moved to turbines, this horizontal axis wind turbine has four large blades angled slightly around 45 degrees to have enough surface area to push the turbine but not to much to have drag. Our project was the fastest in the classroom with producing 3 volts on the highest wind setting.
Our last project was a vertical axis turbine. This project did not go so well as it was rushed and taken lightly. We were not sure on what to make so we used similar parts from the horizontal turbine and taped several pieces of paper to it creating more surface area.
CONCEPTS
All physic concepts may appear twice or more however will not be repeated again
- Solar heater
-Convection: the process of heat transfer from one location to the next by the movement of fluids.
-Temperature: the degree of the hotness or coldness of a body or environment.
- Solar efficient house
- Cold Frame
- Solar reflector
- Bonus project
- Turbines
- Lift: Upward force on a wing or airfoil.
- Surface area: The measure of how much exposed area a solid object has.
Reflection
I think we did a good job building these projects in a short amount of time and that we came up with creative ideas which were more different than the other groups projects. Things that I thought went poorly was attitude toward the amount due and rushing a couple projects to meet the turn in deadline. I learned that you should always plan ahead and to delegate the work to others rather than to have only two people working at a time.