Left to Right: Austin Brown, Elizabeth Dickson, Alex Adams, Dr. Bill Miller, Jordon Jefferson and Chris Robert
UTK’s Living Light Decathlon Home
Students from Oak Ridge City Schools attended an after school event presented by ORNL/UT Joint Faculty Member Dr. William “Bill” Miller on Thursday, November 20, 2014 at The Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge.
Oak Ridge High School teachers selected eight high school students to attend the event. Teachers from Woodland, Willowbrook, Linden and Glenwood Elementary Schools also selected a total of 17 elementary school students who attended.
University of Tennessee mechanical engineering students Austin Brown, Elizabeth Dickson, Alex Adams, Jordon Jefferson and Chris Robert presented their Capstone Project, Designing a Low Cost Solar Thermal Collector for Cold Climates, to event attendees. The project was sponsored by The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).
“The Capstone project educated the students in the modeling and design of active and passive solar water heating systems. The students modeled an active, indirect solar water heating system and are in process of installing a similar system, suitable for cold climate application,” Dr. Miller said.
“The MABE students spoke about the calculation of solar positioning, the radiometrics for the transmittance, reflectance and absorbance of short-wave radiation crossing glass cover plates as well as the long-wave radiation and convection heat transfer occurring in and around solar thermal collectors.”
After the student presentation, Dr. Miller gave a tour of UTK’s Living Light Decathlon Home that was designed for the 2011 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. The home was donated this year by UTK to The Children’s Museum and is on display for museum visitors.
This event was an educational benefit for the surrounding elementary and high schools, providing information about photovoltaic applications.
– Amanda Andrews