Archive for August, 2007

DIY Network’s coverage of the DoE’s “2007 Solar Decathlon”

On August 28, 2007 in Uncategorized

Just stumbled across this article on the web, and thought it noteworthy:

http://www1.diynet.com/diy/specials/episode/0,2046,DIY_14360_40620,00.html

“Solar Decathlon chronicles university students who compete to design, build and operate the most effective and efficient solar-powered house. On the National Mall in Washington, DC, 18 university student teams compete for two weeks to capture, convert, store and use enough solar energy to power our modern lifestyles. The solar decathletes must supply all the energy for an entire household, including a home-based business, lighting, cooking, laundry, hot water and the transportation needs of the household. During the event, only the solar energy available within the perimeter of each house may be used to generate the power needed to compete in the ten competitions.

Solar Decathlon is an international competition open to students enrolled in all post-secondary levels of education. Come along as DIY follows this fun, fast paced competition from pre-planning and construction to announcing the winner of the whole competition. We’ll meet the teams, tour the houses and learn all about the energy saving technologies that make these solar homes possible.”

…

The official website appears to be here: http://www.solardecathlon.org/
“Twenty teams have been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to compete in the 2007 Solar Decathlon. (The request for proposals for the 2009 Solar Decathlon will be released during the 2007 event.) The teams, from colleges and universities around the globe, participate in an unparalleled solar competition to design, build, and operate the most attractive and energy-efficient solar-powered home. In fall 2007, the teams transport their solar houses to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where they form a solar village. The teams compete in 10 contests to determine an overall winner. Using only energy from the sun, the teams generate enough electricity to run a modern household. With an eye on energy efficiency, the students carefully choose the systems, products, and appliances used in their houses.

The Solar Decathlon is a competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in partnership with its National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The American Institute of Architects (AIA), American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), BP, and Sprint are partnering with DOE as title sponsors.”

I just sent an email to one of my professors, and who knows.. You just might see SUNY Canton participating in 2009.

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More solar space heater stuff

On August 28, 2007 in Uncategorized

Just killing some time here in the library at school, doing some research for the solar space heater.

The tank enclosure will be similar to this:

Which was taken from this article at Mother Earth News. This article is full of great information regarding “Integral Passive Solar Water Heaters.”

I also found a page with some good information on the efficiency of old cast iron radiators vs. newer, pressed steel radiators:

“It left me thinking that if there are differences in overall performance then they are probably minor.”

“What we do know is that cast iron is denser than sheet steel, so it will take somewhat longer for a cast-iron radiator to absorb and transfer heat from circulating hot water. Cast iron also retains heat longer. As a result, cast-iron radiators should show a “flatter heat curve,” as one manufacturer put it, meaning fewer fluctuations in heat output.”

This article about converting from a steam-radiator heating system to a water-radiator heating system has some of the best information I’ve found yet, with regards to heating with radiators.

Here is a decent article regarding thermosiphon type water heater systems, as well as a link to the Wikipedia article. Another article directly relating to thermosiphon water heaters is here.

Also related, is this article about the “Design and performance of a thermosiphon heat recovery system” from H.I. Abu-Mulaweh Department of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University at Fort Wayne, 2101 E. Coliseum Blvd., Fort Wayne, IN 46805, USA.

Particularly interesting in the above article, are the data tables: Fig. 6. (a and b) Temperature variation in the storage tank in heating water (concentric heat exchanger). as well as Fig. 7. Temperature variation in the storage tank in heating water (coiled heat exchanger).

Figure 8 shows Concentric heat exchanger inlet and outlet temperature, and Figure 9 shows Coiled heat exchanger inlet and outlet temperature.

“employing the thermosiphon effect has an advantage over other heat recovery techniques. It eliminates a source of potential mechanical problems and noise, namely the circulating water pump.”

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Solar Space Heater

On August 27, 2007 in Uncategorized

I’ve decided to use the water heater tank as a space heater of sorts. We have an old cast iron radiator that I think would be perfect to heat our bedroom with. Since the bedroom is on the opposite side of the house from the wood stove, but also on the south side, this is good.

So far the plan is to setup the tank just like a batch style water heater, except since it gets so cold here in the winter, I’m going to run a glycol solution to prevent freezing, and rather than use the hot water, I’m going to circulate it through a radiator inside the room that needs to be heated.

I’ll put up a diagram soon, but the tank will go in an insulated enclosure with double glazing on the top (angled towards the sun) as well as on the sides. The enclosure will be insulated, and the bottom filled with sand and rocks to a level just above the bottom of the tank. This should help store some heat.

This morning I was able to get some work done. First I hooked the hose back up to the water heater and left the drain at the bottom open.

The water that was flowing out was clear for a good while so I closed the drain and filled the tank up about halfway. I rocked it back and forth a bit and managed to break loose some more crud. Opened and closed the drain a few times and let the water run again until it was clear for a good while.

After that I broke out the angle grinder and a braided wire wheel attachment, and went to work. Here is the tank mid-strip:

Don’t mind the strip of rust around the bottom, that’s the base where the old propane burner used to be. I left it on for now to keep the tank up off the ground.

After stripping the tank down, I went to work painting it. So far it has two coats of regular flat black spraypaint.

This is where the testing phase begins. I need to make sure the thermosyphon action that goes on will actually move the water the couple of feet it needs to go to get to the radiator.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

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Batch Style Solar Water Heater

On August 25, 2007 in Uncategorized

As all extensive projects do, the solar cabin build has stagnated while good deals are found on the required materials.

In the true spirit of being broke, a new project was undertaken today. There was an older propane fired 30 gallon water heater out back by the barn, so I stripped it down to start preparing it to be a “Batch Style” solar water heater. Currently I am undecided as to whether I will use a glycol solution and just use this to help heat the house, or if we will use it as a preheater for the water heater we are using now to reduce energy use.

The way our house is currently oriented it would be rather easy to pipe a heated solution through the wall to a baseboard heater or old cast iron radiator. However, the bathroom is in an odd spot, but pretty close to the South West corner. Hard to tell what I will end up doing with it.

The tank started out like a regular old propane water heater, although a bit cruddy.

Like this (not the actual water heater I used):

Then I stripped the outer metal cover off, revealing the inner insulation. This step was rather labor intensive but would’ve been easier if I had succumbed to the urge to break out the power tools. As it was I made rather short order of it and had it stripped off in around 15 minutes. I found the easiest way to approach this part is to take off the top “cap” of the water heater and then split the outer casing down it’s lengthwise seam. Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures of this step.

After removing the outer casing, I got to work on stripping the insulation. I was hoping it would just be fiberglass insulation like on the bottom, but the top was styrofoam and seemed like it had been poured between the outer casing and inner tank when wet, and then left to harden. Needless to say, this part was a messy step. I would suggest doing it in your garage or somewhere other than the lawn where you are going to get bits of styrofoam everywhere.

Here is what it looked like at that point:

And here it is after being totally stripped of insulation:

After cycling some water through it with a garden hose to make sure it wasn’t too dirty/rusty inside, I had to come to work. Tomorrow I will wirebrush and spraypaint it and then make an enclosure and get the plumbing done.

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Putting Together Solar Cells

On August 08, 2007 in Uncategorized

I’ve been looking for ideas on how other people have made panels out of individual cells bought wholesale or on ebay, and ran across a great write-up. (Unfortunately, there are popup ads, but there isn’t anything I can do about that..)

Anyway, check out this site, it does have some decent ideas.

Here is some interconnection ribbon (flat tinned copper wire) if you need something to hook your individual cells together

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