Complete but with problems

I have completed my project, but have ran into some problems until my tests should mean anything.  Just before writing this entry, I completed construction, so I have not received any results yet.  The problem is with my water delivery system. The silicone seal is not sticking well to the plastic which results in  an air leak.  This allows all of the water in the container to go into the system. Unless I can fix this I will have to base my test results on a constant amount of water that would be in the system at the start of the day. 

Caution! Under Construction

   The past two weeks have been a slow start for the construction of my solar water distiller.  I have come to realize that in respect to time and money, I do not have the resources to build and test a second distiller.  My material costs have surpassed $150, and there is still more to come once I order the glass to be cut.  

   

   After sketching out some possible designs for my distiller, I decided upon a design that was based upon SIP's, or Structural insulated panels.  These are prefabricated panels that can be used for building houses.  I thought this would be an interesting design, and would provide a great thermal envelope for the system.  It has been hard to find time to work on construction of the system, considering I have to work around other class work and the weather. 

Construction is soon to begin


Spring break is coming up, so there will be no construction during this time.  However, when I get back from the beach hopefully all of the snow will be melted and I can start building the distillers. I need to talk to Dr. Raichle to see how feasible it is to only build one distiller. This would require having multiple days of testing that have similar solar data. Other things that need to done include talking to Ray to see if I can have access to the construction lab in order to use some of the tools. I also need to see if Lowe's carries some sort of silicone paint material that I can coat my corrugated metal in.


Below is a quick model I created that shows some of the dimensions of my proposed system as well as some labeled materials.

Case studies, and construction research


The past two weeks of this project have been filled with more research on specific case studies. There are a lot of studies out there, the problem is finding ones that are pertinent to the type of distiller that I am going to be building.  Also, most of the case studies are about the economics and feasibility of using them in very specific communities around the world.  Since I do not have the resources to test my distiller in the places I would like to, these studies have limited usefulness.


What I have gained from case studies is ideas of interesting materials I can use to build mine.  Some examples of good ideas I have stumbled upon so far are black tile materials for the basin, and galvanized iron sheet metal that is form fitted into the entire box.  The formed sheet metal is a good idea because not only does it make the entire system very water resistant, it also provides a material that is a good conducting element.  I have also been doing research locally, about the best places there are to get the materials that I need. 

galvanized iron would be an interesting material to use because it is already implemented as a roofing material for many poorer countries around the world.

Research, Review, and Prezi

This week was the beginning of my literature review.  After hours upon hours of reading journals, I had finally gained enough knowledge of solar distillers in order to put some of it down on paper.  The hardest part was determining what information was going to be useful in my literature review. Many of the journals were very in detail about the physics of heat transfer within the system.  Some of the information was a little over my head, but after sticking with it, most of the journals had very useful information.  


Creating my presentation was the next step after writing the literature review.  I decided to attempt to make a Prezi presentation.  At first it was hard to figure out, but it is actually much more flexible when compared to PowerPoint.  Although my presentation is not as flashy and aesthetically pleasing as I would of liked it to be, it does a good job of organizing and presenting the information.


Link to my literature review presentation: Solar Water Distillation

Beginning the Project

        Starting this long project began with the process of working on initial research.  I know what I wanted to do, but learning about it has proved to be long and tedious.  The first part this learning process was very basic.  The idea of fresh water as a resource is the problem that I was looking to tackle.  After being an appropriate tech major, and learning a lot about sustainability, it was general knowledge fresh water is becoming more of a scarce resource around the world.  I think it is very important to not lose sight of the foundations of Appropriate Technology.  This is hard to do in the department after taking classes dealing with photovoltaics and wind energy.  Which, generally, is geared to residential systems in which the consumers are normally somewhat wealthy.  

       The solar water distillers I was interested in researching are low-tech systems that are meant for people in poorer countries that are in need of fresh water.  The technology works on the basis of evaporation and condensation of water using the sun as the energy source needed. The next big part of my research was deciding what aspect of this technology I wanted to study and try to improve on.  After talking with Dr. Raichle he suggested some ideas of ways to possibly improve the technology.  After some basic research on the distillers it looked like what I really needed to research was a problem of effectiveness of the systems.  Generally, these solar water distillers do not make enough clean water in order for them to be widely considered.  This realization, along with Dr. Raichle's ideas led to looking at what the optimum amount of water was to have in the systems.  If there is too much, or too little water in the systems they are not effective.