SOLAR HOUSE PROJECT
Name:______
Assignment of Groups
During the building of your solar house, you will be working in groups of three or four students. The groups will be set up as fairly as possible by your teacher.
In order to facilitate the selection of groups, some input from you is needed. In the spaces provided below please list 3 students with whom you would like to work. You may also indicate a single person with whom your work relationship is not successful. Reasons are none of anyone’s business—perhaps the person is a best friend and you are aware that you will want to play rather than work with him or her. All information will be kept confidential.
Please keep in mind that these lists are just used as aguideline for the selection of the groups. One factor that you should consider is your proposal. If you are aware that there is another student who has a similar vision of house design, you may wish to request this person as one of your partners.
It is expected that all students will contribute to their team and cooperate with their partners, whether or not they are the ones requested.
Preferred Partners:
1. ______
2. ______
3. ______
SOLAR HOUSE PROJECT
Preliminary Proposal
Directions: Everyone does a preliminary proposal. These are your own ideas, not group ideas. Refer to the design requirements of the actual solar house
Proposal contents:
- Proper heading: title, date, name
- Sketch : three-dimensional, opaque drawing including dimensions and features. Label parts, such as windows and doors. Drawing must be on graph paper.
- Scale model. Build a model of your house out of the cardboard folder given in class. It should have proportions similar to the larger house you have proposed to build.
- Written description of the house: Describe the house, include details of construction methods..
- Scientific explanation of the energy transfers that are expected to happen when the house is placed in the sun. Be sure to use the following terms: convection, conduction, absorption, and radiation. Include any possible energy losses that may occur.
Design Requirements of the solar house:
- Model should be representative of a house that is reasonable for human habitation.
- The footprint must be approximately 400 cm2, give or take 50 cm2. The footprint refers to the surface that sits on the ground.
- All walls must be vertical and at least 11 cm high, unless the design calls for a dome shaped house.
- The major roof surfaces may be at the angle that you choose, but be aware a 45o angle will catch the maximum angle of the sun.
- Every house must have at least one window.
- The group must submit a copy of the design, the specifications sheet and the sheet with the calculations of surface area, volume, and cost. .
Construction Requirements:
- All construction will be done in school.
- No materials other than those supplied by the school may be used in construction.
- Every house must be well-constructed and airtight.
- You should paint the house on the outside. The inside is optional. Only black and white paint will be provided.
- Measurements and cost allocations are provided on a separate form.
- Refer to the efficiency ratio on the specification sheet prior to designing your house. What would be the optimum design, high cost and low volume or the opposite?
Efficiency Ratio
This is the number that you are trying to maximize:
= change in temperature (oC) x volume (cm2)
Cost ($)
Change in temperature is measured from start to finish, heating and cooling.
Preliminary testing the house:
Pre-testing your house prior to committing to a specific design detail is recommended if you have time. Groups work at different rates, so the number and quality of the tests will vary greatly within the class.
Other Expectations:
- Cleaning up your supplies on a daily basis is mandatory. Points will be deducted from your grade if you fail to do this.
- Each group is assigned a bag of supplies which contains paintbrush, masking tape, protractor, ruler, and box cutter.
- The deadlines for submission of the design and of the house will be announced. If your group misses a deadline, there will be a 10% penalty added to the overall cost.
Journal Pages:
- Each group must also submit a journal. This should include the day by day outline of how your house was constructed. Make sure to include the names of the persons that did each job. This must be submitted at the same time as your finished house. It would be a good idea to assign this job to a different student each night.
Page 1
Introduction briefly describing each proposal, indicating which was chosen and why.
Discuss problems encountered - how were they resolved.
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Page 2
Jobs done in school-
Make a list of all the jobs that were done in class. Be specific. Examples: painted roof, cut out windows..
Date:
Jobs Done
Date:
Jobs Done
Page 3
Materials-Listexact quantities used. If several pieces were used, include each piece and add it up. Units are needed. Remember that all units and formulas are necessary in the calculation of dimensions.
Cardboard______cm2
Plastic______cm2
Paint______cm2
Masking tape______cm
Glue______cm2
Foil______cm2
Newspaper ______sheets
Page 4
Costs-For each total material listed on the previous page,calculate the costs.
How to Calculate Costs: For each material used, multiply the quantity of the material used by the cost per unit. Example: 6400 cm2 of cardboard is multiplied by $ 10.00 / 8 cm2, giving a total of $ 8000.
Materialsamount neededcost/unittotal cost
Cardboard______cm2$ 10.00/ 8 cm2______
Plastic______cm2$ 100.00/ 8cm2______
Paint______cm2$ 20.00/ 100cm2______
Masking tape______cm$ 0.20/ cm______
Glue______cm$ 0.20/ cm______
Foil______cm2$ 0.20/ cm2______
Newspaper ______sheets $0.20 /sheet ______
Total Cost of Construction =______
Page 5 and 6
Sketches of work in progress. You must have a sketch of your original house design and your final house design. Make sure to show any changes that you made to your design along the way. It would also help if you explained why the changes were made. The sketches must all be done on graph paper.
Final drawing:
- The size of each side must be labeled. Give each side a name, such as "side one."
- Picture must be a 3-D opaque drawing. Lines must be drawn with a ruler.
Page 7
House dimensions: It is very difficult to check the dimensions if it is not well organized and neat. Neatness and organization will be major factors in the grade on this page.
Total surface area:
List each surface as it is labeled on your sketch- side, roof, bottom, etc. and write the dimensions next to it. Figure the surface area of each surface and then add up the total surface area of the house.
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Page 8
Volume of house: Calculations of each segment of the house must be shown and labeled clearly, using the labels as specified on the house. Segments may be rectangular, prismatic, spherical, pyramidal, etc.
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SOLAR HOUSE JOURNAL
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