Kevin McCormick

Tad Campagna

Josh Semick

Scott Wilhide

Jon Snyder

Construction Pictures

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Spring 2002

The Center For Sustainability at Penn State is dedicated to the harmonious integration of human life with the natural world, and to a caring and responsible stewardship of our rich but limited natural endowment.  For the spring 2002 semester the center submitted the Thermosiphon Roof Project as a senior class project through the Engineering Projects in Community Service Program (EPICS).  It involved creating an environmentally friendly infrastructure for a 54 square foot shed that will be used primarily as small kitchen area.  The key component in the design is the solar collector or thermosiphon, which absorbers the energy from the sun and then transfers it through forced convection to both air and water.  

Objectives:

• Re-design and mount a solar collector 
• Heat the shed to 72°F (Spring and Fall) 
• Supply a dehydrator with 90°F to 100°F air 
• Pump 5 gallons per minute of  water from a pond to a hot water tank located inside of the shed
• Design a filtration system to remove sediment and bacteria from the pond water
• Design a hot water loop to heat the water in the storage tank
• Build a roof extension to mount solar panels on.

Summary:

Two major systems were designed to accomplish the objectives.  The first is a heating system that uses the solar collector to re-heat the room air to an average temperature of 90°F.  When the outdoor temperature is below 65°F, a variable volume of the 90°F air will be supplied to the space.  When no supply air is needed, the air will flow through a dehydrator and then exit the structure though an exhaust louver in the south wall.  The second major system is the plumbing system.  Water is supplied from a pond and pumped through a filtration system and into a the hot water tank.  Approximately 0.75 gallons per minute of the water in the tank  is pumped through the solar collector.  The average temperature of the water returning to the tank is 140°F.   Finally an extension was built to hold the solar panels which will power the entire system.