Lab9: Solar E nergy, Solar Homes & Heat Transfer Xiaotong Li Partner: Yan Cao, Xinhua Wang, Jiaonan

Hu Ms. Yi Xie April 30th 2012

Purpose: In this Lab, we will learn the concept of insulation and examine the effectiveness of a thermal mass in absorbing and stroing heat. Prove the equation for heat transfer P=kAdT/dx, and solve for relative k/c ratios. Equipment: Computer, exploer GLX, 2 temperature water, lamp with 100 watt light bulb, 2 pieces of cardboard(white and black), 2 pieces of foam insulation, rock, double beam balace and stopwatch. Procedure: At first, we connected the temperature probes to the Explorer GLX, and prepared the computer for data collection. Got two model solar homes and positioned them about 20 cm apart. The window sides should face each other as in the figure on the right. Filled the black bottle with room temperature water of the same mass as the rock found in the other black bottle. Recorded the mass of the water and bottle; this was the thermal mass for part 1. Firmly tighten the bottle cap and laid the filled bottle inside one of the model solar homes. Left the other model home empty. Tape both model homes shut. Let a lamp to shine down between the model solar homes as shown in the figure. The lamp should be about 10 cm above the tabletop. It should be the same distance from each of the model homes. Turned on the lamp when started the data collection. Put temperature probe 1 in the model solar home with no thermal mass, and probe 2, in the other model home. In both cases, passed half of the probe through the hole provided. Collected data for 24 minutes. During the first 12 minutes, the light should be on. After 12 minutes had passed, the light should be turned off and the windows of the model solar homes would be covers by the foam insulation. Data should be collected for 12 more minutes with the light off. Clicked collect and turned the light on after the first set of temperature readings appeared on the screen. After 12 minutes, turned the light off and covered the window of each model solar home with a piece of insulation. Data collection should end after 12 more minutes, total of 24 minutes. Determined the maximum temperature reached in each of the model solar homes. Clicked on the smart tools icon and moved the mouse pointer to the highest point on curve 1 and the temperature at this point was displayed. Recorded the probe 1 (no thermal mass) maximum temperature; then moved the mouse to the initial and final points and recorded the initial and final temperatures. Did the same for probe 2 (with thermal mass). Using the statistics icon, recorded the mean temperature in each case and compared with each other. Then repeated the steps using two other model solar homes, one of which was filled with another type of

thermal mass such as rocks and the other with the black cardboard on the bottom with no thermal mass. After 24 minutes of data taking, recorded the initial, maximum, mean and the final temperatures and compared all of them. Concentrated the cooling parts of each of the graphs, found the initial temperature of each home at the beginning of the cooling phase, which was the maximum temperature. The difference between this and the room temperature was the initial difference in temperatures, Ti. From the graph, find and record the temperature of the home every 2 minutes using the smart tools icon until reached 12 minutes. Made a table of ln (T) versus t and graph it to get the slope. From the slope calculated the relative k/c ratio of each model home.

Data analysis Mass of bottle & water or rock = 911.2 grams No Thermal Mass 23.6 28.7 25.0 26.6 Thermal Mass: Water 24.5 28.3 25.5 26.5 No Thermal Mass Black Bottom 24.0 29.4 25.5 27.1 Thermal Mass: Rocks 22.9 31.2 26.5 28.2

Initial Temperature (Celsius) Maximum Temperature (Celsius) Final Temperature (Celsius) Mean Temperature (Celsius)

No Thermal Mass Cooling Data: Time, t(sec)

Troom = 22.9 Celsius Difference in Temperatures T=Th-Tr(C) 5.6 4.4 3.6 3.1 2.7 2.3 2.1 Natural Logarithm of this Difference ln(T) 6.73 1.48 1.28 1.14 0.980 0.833 0.735

Home Temperature Thome (Celsius) 28.5 27.3 26.5 26.0 25.6 25.2 25.0

0 120 240 360 480 600 720

Slope (from the Computer) = -1.40 x 10-3 (1/sec) (k/c)no thermal mass = -J(slope) = 1.40 x 10-3 J %Error1 = 100% x |R2exp 1|/1 = 1.63%

R2 Value = 0.9837

(Kg/meter.second)

Thermal Mass (Water) Cooling Data: Time, t(sec) Home Temperature Thome (Celsius) 27.8 27.1 26.6 26.2 25.8 25.6 25.5 Difference in Temperatures T=Th-Tr(C) 4.9 4.2 3.7 3.4 2.9 2.7 2.6 Natural Logarithm of this Difference ln(T) 1.59 1.44 1.31 1.21 1.06 0.993 0.942

0 120 240 360 480 600 720

Slope (from the Computer) = -9.72 x 10-4 (1/sec) (k/c)no thermal mass = -J(slope) = 9.72 x 10-4 J %Error2 = 100% x |R2exp 1|/1 = 2.21% No Thermal Mass (Black Bottom) Cooling Data: Time, t(sec) Home Temperature Thome (Celsius) 29.7 28.9 28.1 27.5 26.9 26.3 25.5

R2 Value = 0.9789

(Kg/meter.second)

0 120 240 360 480 600 720

Difference in Temperatures T=Th-Tr(C) 6.8 6.0 5.2 4.6 4.0 3.4 2.7

Natural Logarithm of this Difference ln(T) 1.92 1.79 1.65 1.53 1.39 1.22 0.984

Slope (from the Computer) = -1.30 x 10-3 (1/sec) (k/c)no thermal mass = -J(slope) = 1.30 x 10-3 J %Error3 = 100% x |R2exp 1|/1 = 1.30%

R2 Value = 0.9872

(Kg/meter.second)

Thermal Mass (Rocks) Cooling Data: Time, t(sec) Home Temperature Thome (Celsius) 31.8 30.1 29.4 28.3 27.7 27.2 26.8 Difference in Temperatures T=Th-Tr(C) 8.9 7.2 6.5 5.4 4.8 4.3 3.9 Natural Logarithm of this Difference ln(T) 2.19 1.97 1.87 1.69 1.56 1.47 1.36

0 120 240 360 480 600 720

Slope (from the Computer) = -1.10 x 10-3 (1/sec) (k/c)no thermal mass = -J(slope) = 1.10 x 10-3 J %Error4 = 100% x |R2exp 1|/1 = 1.50%

R2 Value = 0.9846

(Kg/meter.second)

Discussion: %Errors were 1.63%, 2.21%, 1.30% and 1.50%, which are all small and acceptable. Several factors lead to these errors. First, the probe should not receiving direct light from the lamp, but it was not easy to fix the probes in the model solar homes. Second, there is a smal protion of energy loss during the experiment, for we can no t completely isolate the Model from heat exchanging between the environment. By comparing all the temperature changes, we realized that the bottle with Thermal Mass Rocks transferred more heat energy than any others, while the other three groups result in similar outcomes.

Conclusion: As it showed from the data, all of the error% are small, so its sufficient to conclude that our experiment is successful. We learned the concept of insulation and examined the effectiveness of a thermal mass in absorbing and storing heat. And the bottle with Thermal Mass Rocks transferred more heat energy than any others. As the calculation we proved the equation for Heat Transfer P=kAdT/dx and solved for the relative k/c ratios of the different thermal masses using equation
( ( ) )

) where J=md/A. Also, the R2 value of the

graphs should be one. This also proved the equation of Heat Transfer.