Solar Thermal Technologies in Hawai‘i

Event ID: P12221
Info: Aug 4-11 • Sat • 9:00am-4:00pm • 4 mtgs (lunch break 12:00-1:00pm) • UHM Holmes 389 • $900 • A limited number of scholarships, with preference to unemployed individuals and full-time students, are available from the State Energy Sector Partnership & Job Training Program (SESP). Obtain forms from Robert McGehee, rmcgehee@hawaii.edu, and submit completed applications to him by 12:00 noon July 30.
With: Weilin Qu, James Moore, Rocky Mould, Anthony Kuh

Course provides an understanding of solar energy and basic heat transfer principle in solar thermal engineering processes, design and operating principle of solar thermal systems, and tour of a solar water heating system.

Session 1: Solar energy and heat transfer fundamentals, 9:00 am-12:00 pm, Aug 4
Solar radiation. Available solar radiation. Selected heat transfer topics: radiation heat transfer, free and forced convective heat transfer. Radiation characteristics of opaque materials. Radiation transmission through glazing: absorbed radiation. Thermal energy storage.

Session 2: Solar water heating technology, 1:00 pm-4:00 pm, Aug 4
Types of panels. Types of solar systems. Solar system components: tank, panels, racking, controllers, pumps, tempering valve, expansion tanks, heat exchangers, expansion loops, air vents, t/p valves. Solar market: SRCC agency, HEEP (Hawaii Energy Efficiency Program). Discussion of ROI: is solar a good choice? when solar makes sense / when solar is too expensive.

Session 3: Sizing exercise and evacuated tube solar collectors, 9:00 am-12:00 pm, Aug 11
Exercise of sizing a solar water heating system in Hawai‘i. Evacuated tube solar collectors.

Session 4: Tour of a solar water heating system, 1:00 pm-4:00 pm, Aug 11
Technical specifications of a solar water heating system at the East-West center on UHM campus. Site tour of the system.

Weilin Qu, PhD, Purdue University, is associate professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, with expertise in thermofluid science.

James Moore, business development manager at Ferguson, a Wolseley company, specializes in water heaters.  Mr. Moore distributes solar, boilers, heat pumps, gas and electric tankless hybrid heaters, and gas and electric water heaters.

Rocky Mould, business development director at Lumen Solar LLC, a Hawaii distributor of solar technologies, including solar thermal, photovoltaic (PV) panels, and building-integrated PV (BIPV).

Tony Kuh, PhD, Professor and Chair, Electrical Engineering, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, is director of the College of Engineering's Renewable Energy and Island Sustainability (REIS) program.

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