SDA Thermal Energizers
zers
THERMAL ENERGY FOR
POWER
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SDA Thermal Energizers
TITLE PAGE
Thermal energy for power
A Project by the Barbados
Seventh Day Adventist
School
The BarbadosSeventhDayAdventistSecondary School
Address; Dalkeith road, St. Michael Barbados
Tell +1(246) 427-7355
Team Members; Hilary Forde, Suthany Hall, Shonnicle Springer, Abigail Farley, Lucius Louis,
Jermaine Whitehead, Nathan Brathwaite, Kailan Blackman, Natia Leandre, Alek Murrell.
Assisted by Sir George Yearwood & Ms. Maughn
Monitored by Mr. Hardy
Very special thanks to The Barbados Seventh day AdventistSecondary school for allowing the
team to use Property and take time out to focus on this very important project.
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SDA Thermal Energizers
P
roblem Statement-
There are many problems facing our school,community, and citizens. Some of these
include energy prices and the pollution which result. It has brought upon us the
impending destruction of our island and if we don’t try to change and tackle this
situation, it will soon be way out of our control and grasp.
The major concern is the cost of energy as it continues to rise due to demand and an
unpredictable market andconflict, especially in oil rich territories. If we don’t create a selfdependent and environmentally sound nation, the financial burden of electricity cost in our
small island nation willgrowto over whelming proportions for many people and businesses Power
is essential for the sustainability of our nation and its people. What is a nation without power? It is
a nation without light, a nation without productivity. To this end, we have proposed to assist our
school, The Barbados Seventh day Adventist Secondary, with the lowering of their energy bills.
Another problem plaguing our country is the harmful environmental impacts which we and the
rest of the world have caused upon ourselves; bringing about the rising sea levels that are
threatening our coasts. Many have looked for other alternative energy source but they are too
expensive for the ordinary man. We must create a cheap and relatively available product in
order to save our beautiful country from the global warming tyrant. Using a power source like
thermal POWER is much cheaper than solar and very accessible. We are therefore
endeavouring to create such a project for our school, with the hope that its success can be
copied by other entities in our nation.
Finally, many alternative energy sources are working for one purpose and cannot serve many
different purposes. We need a source that is multi- purpose, one that can be used in different
ways. We need functionality and ease of use to create very useful and sustainable and
environmentally safe energy sources. These can definitely be provided by thermal power or
energy.
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SDA Thermal Energizers
O
bjective(s) of Project
To solve energy problems byimplementing a new and multipurpose form of
sustainable energy using thermal energy ( heat) as an alternative source that is
widely available.


Use recycled and cheap materials.
Provide energy for cooking, green houses and automotive. Creating sustainability in our
environment and reducing our footprint on that environment.

Reduce the dependence on harmful resources like oil and coal.

To offer an affordable and convenient product to people and business.

Reduce the energy costs of the school and its community bringing back money into
pockets of our people and businesses.

Use heat as a primary energy source.
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SDA Thermal Energizers
Proposal to solve the Problems
-
How do we intend to approach this problem and solve it?
-
We are going to solve the problems by using thermal energy; energy
that uses the heat of the sun and its surrounding environment to create energy.
To use this energy we will create a thermal heater or panel by using common
and simple materials like cans, foil, copper and iron cables. A thermal heater is
usually a panel using sunlight to generate heat, often used for hot water or
warmth.
-Heat generated by the sun’s rays, travels to the conductive material (example
metal cans/ or radiators where the material is heated and directed onto iron and
copper cables which changes directly into energy and heat).
We intend to build this by using a large metal frame to place all the
content needed inside, most likely using recycled materials in order to
reduce the overall cost.
-By placing a foil sheet under the cans to gather heat, thereby energy is generated,

and in order to keep heat in and not escape from the cans we will place sponge
material.
-But in order to carry and create useful energy, copper and iron wires will run
through the cans as these wires will carry the energy; we will take wires and twist
one end of the copper wire together. Do the same with the other end of the
copper wire and the other iron wire. If you heat one of the twisted ends (example
with a match) and attach the two free ends to a volt meter, you will be able to
measure a voltage. As in refrigerators, one end gets cold and the other will remain
hot. We will then connect the hot end to thermocouples in order to capture the
energy. Thermocouples take advantage of an electrical effect that occurs at the
connection between different wires. Using thermocouples is cheaper and as
effective as any other form of energy source using heat. Thermocouples is basically
a devices that responds to differences in metal, thereby capturing the heat
temperature and creating a voltage which is required for the energy.
-
Placing a magnifying glass can attract more heat if the thermal panel
needs to be used in small compact form or to generate very large
amounts of energy. For example as would be needed by cars and
mobile vendors, and very energy consuming places like factories. A
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SDA Thermal Energizers
magnifying glass will direct more sunlight onto the energy source
producing material. Taking advantage of a common source of energy is
a great way of gathering the energy since the sun is always there.
-
How do we intend to reduce the cost of building this panel?
-
We intend to use cheap or recycled materials.
-
Use of cans- we are using cans as they are cheaper and more widely available and are
ease to change according for specific purposes. Drilling holes in the cans to run the wire
through will maximizes the energy potential.
-
Using copper and iron wire- as they are very cheap but very conductive
-
Foil as it is cheap and easily available from any convenience store
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Using scrap metal which we can get for free.
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Using recycled car batteries for energy storage
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How do we intend to store energy and excess heat and cold?
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Storing the energy is easy as we will only have to use empty or dead car batteries and
heat can be carried into a greenhouse for our school’s agricultural and warm water
supplies and to heat up food at the canteen.
-
The cold excess can be used to cool anywhere like computer labs, library and other
rooms and water cooler. Eliminating regular a/c units.
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Reducing Footprint
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By using recycled material and sunlight as the primary source of energy, we will
eventually reduce the environmental footprint and create for us a greener school and
self-efficient power supply that will not harm the environment.
-
How do we intend to make it multipurpose?
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By using iron and copper wire one end of the charge will create heat that is usable for
energy and heating
-
And cold at the another end can be used for cooling
-
How do we intend to use the communityBy asking people to giving us supplies like the old car batteries and by using the
teachers and other persons to help improve the project overtime.
-
These problems are easily solved by a very simple, inexpensive and easy to create
thermal heater that can serve many purposes. Reducing the overall footprint of the
Barbados Seventh Day Adventist Secondary School.
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SDA Thermal Energizers

The competition from solar panels is good but is still far too expensive.
The use of thermal(heat) energy is a far better and cheaper than solar, although
thermal energy isn’t new it hasn’t been used for solar heating. But in cold climates
as a cheap alternative to that of regular heaters and in satellites where it is a
special type of material that is very radioactive. But our uses for thermal energy
have not been put together in one unit like this before. This is what gives us
advantage over our competition. The use of inexpensive material and
magnifying glass, will also create more power and unlike solar panels which use
extensive and expensive protection which drives the prices of solar panels, all this
will be removed. Also, as most parts are easily interchangeable and are
recyclable and cheap, the cost of repairs is driven down and cost overall too is
cheaper. Which makes it very accessible to more people and businesses. And
the biggest advantage is the multipurpose uses without having to change
R
anything to the unit as demands change over time.
ESOURCE NEEDED
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
5ft by 3.5ft metal frame
Foil (alumina) - $5us
Copper wire
-$50us
Iron wire
-$5us
Large amounts of soda cans or aluminium
Black spray paint
-$5us
Sponge
-$2us
Magnifier glass
-$75us
Empty car battery
-Free
Drill
-Free
Thermocouples
-$50us
Radiators
-free
-Free
Supplies given by –Sir George Yearwood, Mrs Maughn, school, team members
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SDA Thermal Energizers
TIMETABLE
Task
Done by
Create and
design proposal
Gather material
needed
Tech group
and
research
group
Research
group
Required tools
Teachers
Prepare for
assembling(prep)
Teachers
and entire
group
Begin building
Teacher
and entire
group.
Put design on
Designing
group
Wk1
Wk2
Wk3
Wk4
Wk5
U
ses of Stem
 Science- we are using science by understanding how heat can be incorporated as a
reliable source of energy and using the scientific method for the idea.
 Technology-although not highly technological, it is being used as the entire thermal
panels on a whole are technology as they work to create energy and use computer
systems to measurer power input and output.
 Engineering- the putting together of the system use tools and other applications to be
accessible and thereby the use of engineering is implemented.
 Maths – Using calculations to estimate and understand the power
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SDA Thermal Energizers
Community involvement and community impact

We will involve our school by using social media and asking people for assistance in order
to help better our idea and improve on its quality. Involving our schoolmates to help will
evenly distribute work load and provide a good pastime during free time. We hope It will
get our school better involved in reducing our footprint and allow for more openmindedness for ways in helping the school and its community. It will benefit our school by
reducing its dependence on harmful energy sources, and increasing our own
independents on safe and environmental healthy power supply. We aim to better our
school on a whole.
References
- Taken from
 -Ehow.com- how to make a heater from soda cans
 -YouTube how to convert heat into energy
 -CanSolair.com
 -Science.howstuffworks.com
 -America.aljazeera.com
 Sir George Yearwood (BSDAS TEACHER)
-And the Team itself for the amazing ideas
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