Sun Heat University
Virtual solar thermal energy workshops are designed to provide a research-based, interactive learning environment. Join the Solar Thermal Energy Group and share your experiences.. Here are a few exercises get you started.
1. Glazing Material research : There are a variety of glazing materials on the market today with a variety of special properties and special price tags. This interactive research exercise is designed to help clarify the properties and prices of the glazing materials available. The information provided is incomplete and a bit crude. See what you can do with it...
2. Glazing
Materials experiment : Devise experiments to test the heat
trapping abilities of various glazing materials. If you're at a loss for ideas
move on to the next exercise. 
3. Hot Box : Build two solar hot boxes and conduct solar thermal experiments that demonstrate the greenhouse effect. Paint the inside of one black and the inside of the other white. Take temperature readings every minute in bright sunlight and plot graphs of your results. Explain why one solar hot box gets hotter than than the other. Use different glazings and repeat your experiments.
4. CONCENTRATORS : In this exercise we'll build and test a parabolic trough solar concentrator.
5. Window Box : This is a nice, simple experimental project that can actually add heat to a room in the dead of winter. It demonstrates a passive, thermo-siphoning, heat transfer system. Not the most practical heat harvesting project, but it's a great starter project for the novas.
6. Solar Heat Gain Design and build a direct gain solar greenhouse. Sometimes a solar greenhouse is only used to moderate greenhouse temperature swings so that plants can survive a harsh winter. Collect temperature swing data from a greenhouse with and without a heat storage. Explain the significance of your findings.
7. Heat Loss Direct gain heating systems have a high heat loss. Measure the temperature drop of a ceramic cup of boiling water over a period of thirty minutes.
8. Heat Storage The intermittent nature of sunlight necessitates a means of storing heat so that it may be used as needed. This exercise is designed to introduce a few heat storage facilities that may build and tested. Students are encouraged to use their imagination. This exercise should be thought of as introduction to alternative methods of heat storage.
9. Trombe Wall Build a working passive solar-heating, modified, Trombe Wall and demonstrate how it can add daytime heat to a house without loosing that heat at night.
10. Solar greenhouse Build a passive solar greenhouse, experimental model. Measure temperature differences at various levels inside the greenhouse and trace the convective currents that push their way into the house.
11. Batch Heater A Bread Box consists of a direct- gain, direct-heating, passive solar hot water tank. The hot water stored in the tank is used to preheat household water. Build a simple Bread Box solar hot water heater, collect data and explain the advantages and disadvantages of this solar heating system.
12. Solar Collector :Build an experimental solar collector and demonstrate how solar hot water can be made. This project is more advanced than the others and will cost you more in labor and money, but the results could be very impressive.
13. Radiant Floor Heating : Make a model of a radiant heating system. Explain why radiant heating is used for solar heating systems.
14. Solar House Design : Design an energy independent house. How many collectors should you use. How big should the multi tank heat storage vault be? How many photovoltaic panels will you need? Calculate the heat gain and the heat loss of this house.
15. Solar Thermal Roof : Make a scale model of a house with a solar thermal roof. Calculate how much fuel oil energy it will save in a year.
16. Solar Thermal Engine : Design a solar thermal engine and integrate it into a solar thermal house design.
17. Solar Hot Water Systems batch heater, drain down, drain back, trickle down, and closed loop.
20. Trickle to Death
