Energy Efficient housing
Intro:
The past few weeks my STEM group has been working on a verity of projects and learning new concepts. This is a summary of the the projects concepts and topic that we have learned. These are projects that we have collaborated in one group, throughout the past couple of weeks.
The past few weeks my STEM group has been working on a verity of projects and learning new concepts. This is a summary of the the projects concepts and topic that we have learned. These are projects that we have collaborated in one group, throughout the past couple of weeks.
Solar Water Heater
In this project our task was to create a water heater that was powered by the sun. We were given cardboard, 3 feet of copper tubing, 1 foot of plastic tubing, duck tape, paint, and seran wrap. This project mainly focused on capturing the Suns solar rays and forcing them on to copper tubing to heat it up. Our group was only able to raise the water 4 degrees in the amount of time allotted for the project. Although our water temperature was not raised as much as others we did win the award for most creative design. This was due to the the way we built our reflectors and the angle we positioned the collector at to absorb maximum radiation. Daylighting Design and Technique In this project our task was to design and build a functioning scale model of a home using daylighting techniques. These techniques included skylights, solar shelves, and tubular light redirection. We were given cardboard, tape, and tin foil to constructing the scale models. In this project we mainly learned about alternative ways to light your house in different seasons. Our group once again won the award for most creative house design due to its shape and us of the daylighting techniques. Wind Turbine In this project our task was to design and build two types of wind turbines, a horizontal wind turbine and a vertical wind turbine. Our group used wooden dowels, construction paper, cardboard, tape, and hot glue to construct out turbines. Once we had made the turbines there were two different stands to test the horizontal and vertical turbines. The fan blade connected to a motor which had wires that were connected to a voltmeter. Our horizontal turbine generated .29 volts on low, .42 volts on medium, but was not strong enough for high wind speeds. The vertical turbine generated .31 volts on low, .5 volts on medium, and .9 volts on high. Overall our grouped created realistic prototypes in the time given. Cold Frame, Solar Reflector, STEM House In this series of projects we created a cold frame for the garden, solar reflector for the stem house, and a upgrade for the stem house. This project was not focused as much on building but more on designing and planning. Each group designed and built three scale models of each project along with a material lists. Our cold frame was unique due to its small and easy to store design. Our solar reflector was unique due to its ability to tilt using motors. Our STEM house was unique due to its simplicity of solar panels yet it was a very affective plan. We presented all our projects to three sets of judges and got good feed back from all of them. |
More pictures of our projects...
Solar panels bonus project:
Preview attachment Solar Panels STEM.pdfSolar Panels STEM.pdf1.2 MB
Cold Frame:
Preview attachment Cold Frame STEM.pdfCold Frame STEM.pdf1.5 MB
North Window Reflector:
Preview attachment Reflector STEM.pdfReflector STEM.pdf1.1 MB
Solar panels bonus project:
Preview attachment Solar Panels STEM.pdfSolar Panels STEM.pdf1.2 MB
Cold Frame:
Preview attachment Cold Frame STEM.pdfCold Frame STEM.pdf1.5 MB
North Window Reflector:
Preview attachment Reflector STEM.pdfReflector STEM.pdf1.1 MB
Concepts:
Archimedes Principle- The correlation between buoyancy and displaced fluid. The weight of the displaced fluid of an object is equal to the force acting on it.
Bernoulli's Principle- A fluid's pressure decreases when the fluid's speed increases. This principle is often associated to a diagram with the cross section of a plane's wing.
Buoyancy- Buoyancy deals with a liquid's power that can allow a submerged object to float. In order to float in a liquid, an object's density must be less than the density of the liquid. If not, the object will either sink or stay submerged at one level. For example, a rock often sinks in water, because it is denser, while a lily pad just floats on the water.
Buoyancy Force- All the force acting upward by a fluid on a submerged object.
Conduction- Heat transfer through materials
Convection- Heater transfer through fluids (air, water, etc)
Radiation- Energy transmitted as waves , rays, or particles.
Heat- Energy transfer through molecular movement.
Laws of Thermodynamics- There are four laws of thermodynamics. They are all fairly simple.
0th Law: This law explains temperature (if 2 systems are in thermal equilibrium with another system, they are all in equilibrium with each other.)
1st Law: This law states that energy is neither created or destroyed.
2nd Law: This law states that as entropy increases, so does disorder.
3rd Law: This law states that the temperature can never get to absolute zero (0 degrees on the Kelvin scale).
Insulator- A material that keeps in heat, or rather is a poor conductor that doesn't allow heat to pass by too quickly.
Fluid- A substance that flows (liquid or gas) that has no specific shape.
Pressure- Pressure=Force/Area (Force on a surface, fluid, etc.)
Boyle's law- That volume and gas have an inversely proportional relationship. As the pressure goes up, the volume come down. As the volume goes up, the pressure comes down.
Specific Heat Capacity- The amount of heat energy required to raise an objects temperature by one degree Celsius. Water, for example, has a higher heat capacity than land. The formula is Q=mcDELTAt.
Temperature- Temperature is the measure of heat in an object (solid, fluid, etc.).
Conductor- A material that heat can transfer through.
Absorption- Absorption basically states how much heat a material can take in.
Reflection- The throwback of light, heat, or sound by a material.
Solids = Molecules are held in place with minimal movement
Liquids = All molecules are bonded, but can flow and is a fluid
Gases = Is not bonded and moves more freely and is a fluid
Heat = A measure of the Kinetic energy of atoms
(and also Thermal Energy)
Thermal Conductivity = The rate at which a material transfers heat
Thermal Resistance = The ability of a material to resist the transferring of heat
Materials Testing Lab
What materials are most conductive of heat? Most affective insulator? Best absorption of heat?
conduction
Insulating
Absorb
Archimedes Principle- The correlation between buoyancy and displaced fluid. The weight of the displaced fluid of an object is equal to the force acting on it.
Bernoulli's Principle- A fluid's pressure decreases when the fluid's speed increases. This principle is often associated to a diagram with the cross section of a plane's wing.
Buoyancy- Buoyancy deals with a liquid's power that can allow a submerged object to float. In order to float in a liquid, an object's density must be less than the density of the liquid. If not, the object will either sink or stay submerged at one level. For example, a rock often sinks in water, because it is denser, while a lily pad just floats on the water.
Buoyancy Force- All the force acting upward by a fluid on a submerged object.
Conduction- Heat transfer through materials
Convection- Heater transfer through fluids (air, water, etc)
Radiation- Energy transmitted as waves , rays, or particles.
Heat- Energy transfer through molecular movement.
Laws of Thermodynamics- There are four laws of thermodynamics. They are all fairly simple.
0th Law: This law explains temperature (if 2 systems are in thermal equilibrium with another system, they are all in equilibrium with each other.)
1st Law: This law states that energy is neither created or destroyed.
2nd Law: This law states that as entropy increases, so does disorder.
3rd Law: This law states that the temperature can never get to absolute zero (0 degrees on the Kelvin scale).
Insulator- A material that keeps in heat, or rather is a poor conductor that doesn't allow heat to pass by too quickly.
Fluid- A substance that flows (liquid or gas) that has no specific shape.
Pressure- Pressure=Force/Area (Force on a surface, fluid, etc.)
Boyle's law- That volume and gas have an inversely proportional relationship. As the pressure goes up, the volume come down. As the volume goes up, the pressure comes down.
Specific Heat Capacity- The amount of heat energy required to raise an objects temperature by one degree Celsius. Water, for example, has a higher heat capacity than land. The formula is Q=mcDELTAt.
Temperature- Temperature is the measure of heat in an object (solid, fluid, etc.).
Conductor- A material that heat can transfer through.
Absorption- Absorption basically states how much heat a material can take in.
Reflection- The throwback of light, heat, or sound by a material.
Solids = Molecules are held in place with minimal movement
Liquids = All molecules are bonded, but can flow and is a fluid
Gases = Is not bonded and moves more freely and is a fluid
Heat = A measure of the Kinetic energy of atoms
(and also Thermal Energy)
Thermal Conductivity = The rate at which a material transfers heat
Thermal Resistance = The ability of a material to resist the transferring of heat
Materials Testing Lab
What materials are most conductive of heat? Most affective insulator? Best absorption of heat?
conduction
- black tin foil
- coppers
- screws/nails
- steel
Insulating
- expanding foam
- rigid foam
- single pane glass
- double pane glass
Absorb
- glue
- paint
- plastic sheets
- tar paper