Six Miami University graduate students have been working with Professor Andre Sommer to build an affordable, energy-efficient water heater that uses sunlight to create heat.
"It's just like a big mirror, so it focuses the sunlight onto a proper tube that has water in it and then the sunlight heats the water up," Sommer said.
This concept has been used for quite some time now in other places.
"The federal government has looked into this technology," Sommer said. "It's principally used in the Southwest where they have an abundance of sunlight."
Sommer teaches Chemistry 672, a molecular spectroscopy course. Sommer said he came up with the idea to build a green water heater on his own.
"I've used it to teach a number of concepts in the class," Sommer said. "The overall project involves thermodynamics, optics, spectroscopy and a variety of different disciplines."
Sommer wanted to make sure his class could create a green energy source while still keeping the water heater at a feasible price.
"The way I proposed it to my students was if we come up with a design, they have to build it with common materials so that a home owner could go out and actually put it to use," Sommer said.
John Myers, one of the graduate students working with Sommer talked about the project.
"Instead of using solar cells, we're just heating up water by focusing light," Myers said. "It is really easy for the public to use because you can get all the materials from the hardware store."
Sophomore biochemistry major Mike Jankowski had his own opinions after looking at a picture of the water heater.
Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter
"It would probably be beneficial if the tubing had a greater surface area to increase the temperature of the water, a flatter surface, but I understand that it could be difficult to get at a hardware store," Jankowski said. "I would have to see all the different variables before I could really critique it, but the idea is definitely there."
Myers said the class was one of chemists and not engineers.
"As chemists, the main things we're worrying about is heat transfer to the tube, so all that means is that you're putting a chemical on a metal that can absorb light so you can deal with polymer or paint, and that's where we as chemists come in," Myers said.
Read More
How one professor and her classes are preserving Oxford’s Black history
By Sean Scott | March 20, 2024Jazma Sutton, an assistant professor of history, teaches The Black Midwest (HST 350Q) and Black Women in America (HST 450D) classes. In both courses, she has students working with the Smith Library of Regional History and Miami’s archives to document and preserve Black history in Oxford.
Miami faculty members recount Freedom Summer in new documentary
By Luke Macy | February 25, 2022After seven years of work, “Training for Freedom,” a documentary highlighting Oxford’s involvement in the Freedom Summer of 1964, premiered on PBS Western Reserve on Valentine’s Day.
“Documenting the COVID-19 Pandemic”: History in the making
By Alice Momany | August 29, 2021In March 2020, Miami University’s archives launched “Documenting the COVID-19 Pandemic,” a collection focused on life during the COVID-19 pandemic.