Designing a Tiny House
Our assignment was to make a full set of blueprints for a house that used as much power from means besides being hooked up to the electrical grid. This project took about 2 months to complete, including multiple labs we did, which helped demonstrate the thermal properties of materials. Our first lab was the solar powered water heater, followed by day lighting techniques, then materials heat lab, a windmill lab, and finally the tiny home itself. Below are tabs, which lead to different labs and resources. Below those tabs will be a justification for why we should use alternative energy sources, along with a reflection and definitions of a few repeated concepts in this project.
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Solar Water Heater
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Day Lighting Lab
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Materials Heat Lab
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Windmill/Wind Turbine
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Tiny House
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The Solar Water Heater
The solar water heater lab was surprisingly fun to do, but sadly yielded little results. Our test of the heaters was compromised, as the weather was not in our favor. It was winter time, which caused weather issues, such as clouds and cold temperatures. These caused our heater and many others to fail, but we did learn from this. We also examined the data collected by groups that had a working heater, and were able to reach many conclusions, which will be looked into later on this page. Below is a picture of our heater.
Our heater was built to try and bounce as much light onto the copper pipe, which is surrounded by water. Heating the pipe would cause the water around it to heat up. Our design didn't work, and actually had a -3348.8 Joule change, which means our design actually cooled. One of our possible issues could have been copper, as the copper can heat quickly, but also cool quickly. Our theory as to why our heater failed, is that the copper would release all its thermal energy into the water surrounding it. The copper then couldn’t heat back up, either because the rate of heating was smaller than the rate that the heat was taken out of the pipe, or the odd cloud or two blocked the sun from hitting our heater, causing it to cool.
Our heater didn’t work, but others did. We looked into it, and found that the optimal design is one that is parabolic, like half of a cylinder, with a simple water bottle in the middle. All you have to do is bend the side of the cylinder until the light’s focal point hit the bottle, then you wait.
We had some conclusions to draw from this experiment. One, The best way to reflect light to a location is with a cylindrical type design. Secondly, we noticed that we should be more wary of the conditions that we experiment in, as a SOLAR powered heater isn’t going to work unless a large portion of the sun is visible.
Our heater didn’t work, but others did. We looked into it, and found that the optimal design is one that is parabolic, like half of a cylinder, with a simple water bottle in the middle. All you have to do is bend the side of the cylinder until the light’s focal point hit the bottle, then you wait.
We had some conclusions to draw from this experiment. One, The best way to reflect light to a location is with a cylindrical type design. Secondly, we noticed that we should be more wary of the conditions that we experiment in, as a SOLAR powered heater isn’t going to work unless a large portion of the sun is visible.
Day Lighting Lab
This lab looked into the different ways that you could use windows and other techniques to light up as much of a house as possible. We start at the beginning, where we learned about 4 day lighting techniques. Below I have put images that model the day lighting techniques we used, going from left to right we have, skylights, solar tubes, a clerestory window, and a light shelf. You can hover over these pictures for a brief definition of these things.
We learned about the importance of color and direction. A lighter color will reflect light easier, while a darker color will absorb light. The direction a window faces is always important, and we want our windows to face South. This is because the sun is to our South and we want as much sunlight to hit us as possible. We put our newfound knowledge of day lighting techniques to the test, by building a model house that implemented these ideas. Our model was 1,000 square feet and was made of cardboard and masking tape; our sun was a simple light-bulb. We had our house use all the techniques that we learned, and we discovered that a window that faced the South and, either the West of East, allowed the most light in. Below we have a few pictures of our house and a one page essay, which discussed the best lighting feature for us, the corner window.
Materials Heat Lab
This lab was made for us, by us. Our assignment was to create a procedure for discovering which materials held or reflected heat. The first thing that happened was a brainstorm, a brainstorm of all materials that we should test. They ranged from wood, all the way up to concrete. Every person individually made a procedure that they think they should do. Everyone but two groups, which were testing insulation, met together and developed a procedure that everyone could agree too. Below is a detailed guide, made by 6 groups, the teaches you how to mimic this same experiment.
Below is a table that you can download, with all our data and materials that we tested
materials_heat_lab_3_2f4_2017_-_sheet1.pdf | |
File Size: | 583 kb |
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Wind Turbine Lab
The point of this lab was to experiment with different shapes of blades for a wind turbine. We used 3 different designs, were the only difference between them was the cut-off. We had made triangular points in our blades and different lengths, in order to determine which one was the best. Below are some pictures, including our blade design and our poster, which showed that a triangle starting half way up the total length was the best design.
The Tiny House Itself...
Our tiny house was the heart of the project, and was very difficult. Below is our slideshow, complete with blueprints, 3d models, our design, total cost, and many more things. Below our slideshow is our spreadsheet, which includes all the materials that we used and the prices for such materials.
tiny_house_materials_-_sheet1.pdf | |
File Size: | 687 kb |
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Concepts
Specific Heat Capacity - Uses the variable “c”. Specific heat capacity is a measure of how much heat an object can hold. The unit is J/g*c* . A higher heat capacity means that the object heats and cools slowly, like water.
Heat - Uses the variable “Q”. Heat is energy due to kinetic vibration of molecules. The formula is “Q=mc Δt” The unit for heat is Joules. The more heat something has, the hotter it will be.
Conduction - This is the transfer of heat through a material. Similar to touching a hot stove or hot iron.
Convection - The transfer of heat through fluids, which is any gas or liquid. This is like a room heater.
Radiation - Transfer of heat in the form of rays, waves, and photons. Radiation does not require a medium. This is similar to the sun, which transfers it heat to us using infrared and ultraviolet radiation.
Insulation - A material with a high thermal resistance, which causes heat to move slowly through this object. Materials that are bad conductors are generally good insulators. But not always.
Heat - Uses the variable “Q”. Heat is energy due to kinetic vibration of molecules. The formula is “Q=mc Δt” The unit for heat is Joules. The more heat something has, the hotter it will be.
Conduction - This is the transfer of heat through a material. Similar to touching a hot stove or hot iron.
Convection - The transfer of heat through fluids, which is any gas or liquid. This is like a room heater.
Radiation - Transfer of heat in the form of rays, waves, and photons. Radiation does not require a medium. This is similar to the sun, which transfers it heat to us using infrared and ultraviolet radiation.
Insulation - A material with a high thermal resistance, which causes heat to move slowly through this object. Materials that are bad conductors are generally good insulators. But not always.
Reflection
Many conclusions can be drawn from this 2 month long journey. Many conclusions are about me, and the things that I learned, or the things I have yet to master.
Firstly, the negatives. I feel like I became more lazy towards the end of the project. Sure, we were working for 2 months, but I need to not become lazy after that amount of time. I need to stay determined. I also felt like I could have contributed more to the slideshow. I barely actually touched the slideshow itself. I may have suggested things, but I never did them myself, which doesn’t help anyone.
Now the positives. I did a good job at inputting valuable ideas, all while not taking control. I was able to let other people know what I was thinking, without being a dictator or tyrant. I feel like I also did a good job at letting other people command the project. I let other people take lead. This was different and a good thing. Normally I'm leading, but now I was leaded. This will help me in the future, as now I can empathize with the people that I'm trying to lead. I will understand their concerns and hardships because I did so myself.
Firstly, the negatives. I feel like I became more lazy towards the end of the project. Sure, we were working for 2 months, but I need to not become lazy after that amount of time. I need to stay determined. I also felt like I could have contributed more to the slideshow. I barely actually touched the slideshow itself. I may have suggested things, but I never did them myself, which doesn’t help anyone.
Now the positives. I did a good job at inputting valuable ideas, all while not taking control. I was able to let other people know what I was thinking, without being a dictator or tyrant. I feel like I also did a good job at letting other people command the project. I let other people take lead. This was different and a good thing. Normally I'm leading, but now I was leaded. This will help me in the future, as now I can empathize with the people that I'm trying to lead. I will understand their concerns and hardships because I did so myself.
energyjustification342017.pdf | |
File Size: | 912 kb |
File Type: |