Advanced Drafting & Engineering Classes

alec.may — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:30:51 +0000

Finding the exact focus point wasn’t as easy as we thought. We ran into a couple difficulties in the process like the reflective MILAR isn’t laid down perfectly flat giving us a wider focus point which makes it hard to find the best point, also like before, we need a solid hour or so of nice sunny weather so our focus doesn’t fade while trying to find it.

Over the last couple weeks we’ve been researching the different kinds of piping we could use. Our first choice was regular pvc but pvc has a pretty low service temperature at 140 degrees. We will be dealing with water around 180-200 degrees so now we are looking at hydraulic hose which is capable of all the things we are looking for, plus the hydraulic pipes temperature rating easily passes our 200 degree mark.

Preliminary Heat Tests

devan.rogers — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 17:35:45 +0000

Seth Sorenson, an engineering student, and August Enzminger were able to conduct multiple tests on the partially sunny days we have had this past week and he was able to get readings of up to 126 degrees of heat being focused from the trough!! Mind you that his was a cloudy day and he was not using the exact focus point so we are hoping to get this trough up to about 180-200 degrees!!! We are now just waiting for a sunny day where we can actually find the exact focus point and mount our pipe system.

Laying down the Mylar!!

devan.rogers — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 17:30:10 +0000

Last week we were able to lay down the reflective surface on our trough!! check out the pics!

Finished Product Drafted

devan.rogers — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:12:22 +0000

Top layer aplied

devan.rogers — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:47:09 +0000

First look at a woking model

devan.rogers — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:39:23 +0000

Cutting the Pipes

devan.rogers — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:35:52 +0000

We have cut two 5 foot pipes today that will allow use to actually set up the entire trough for our first look at what our final product will look like.

Drilling holes in the base

devan.rogers — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:13:22 +0000

BEFORE

AFTER

THESE HOLES WILL ALLOW US TO SET UP THE TROUGH IN 10 DEGREE INCREMENTS TO CATCH THE SUN NO MATER WHAT TIME OF DAY OR WHAT SEASON!

Mock up

devan.rogers — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:33:09 +0000

This is what we have built so far. We drilled the first hole in the parabola cut-outs and found a 1/2 inch metal tube to use as one of our support beams. Now we need drill the rest of the holes in the parabola cut-outs and in the base of the trough.

alec.may — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:32:41 +0000

Today we are drilling the holes in the three plywood cut outs of the parabola. We will take pictures as soon as it is finished and post them. The next step will be to get a 1/2 in tube that we can use to stick through the cut holes as a way to hold the parabola up on to the sway base.