Students use solar energy in water heater
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
“You wouldn’t believe how many people have stopped by and asked, ‘What are you doing?’” said Yusef Fahmy, the director of the engineering department at UNCA.
With the focus on green building and energy efficiency, Fahmy said the engineers should tackle the practical problems of designing and building a solar water heater.
Two teams of seniors in the Mechatronics program competed Monday with two designs for the solar collectors, which were computerized to follow the sun crossing the blue sky and the green quad. Fahmy awarded points for the smaller and more efficient designs as well as for the highest temperature achieved.
The larger device seemed to be ahead with a barrel temperature reaching 81.5 degrees by mid-afternoon. The team had wrestled with both the mechanical and the electronic components, getting the counterweights just right, according to senior Jonathan Crook. The slightest variation of 2 degrees in aligning with the sun could reduce the collector’s efficiency by nearly half.
The second device was focused much tighter on the sun’s rays. The team had designed for a variation of up to 20 degrees, said senior Moises Escobedo.
The team also had rigged the collector for wireless data and a remote control they could control from the classroom inside the science building.
While they had only achieved about 71 degrees in their barrel, the more compact system was about equal in efficiency with the larger one, Escobedo said.
“I had never heard much about solar water heater,” said senior Adam Burdette. “It’s been rewarding to see how much heat you can generate. I hope one day to have a home that could run on solar power, hydroelectric power and possibly wind. It would be nice to have the electric company pay me for power.”
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Labels: solar water heater, sun, water heater, water heaters