English 21007

November 21, 2016

EcoGiene

Abstract

This product was developed in the fall of 2016 and is possible by the support of various

students, in particular, by Tao Wang, Ulugbek Dzhuraboev and Ariel Mazor.

The purpose of this product is to harness the sun’s heat in order to heat household’s water.

Solar water heating is a conversion of sunlight into renewable energy for water heating using a

Solar Thermal Collector. Solar water heating systems comprise various technologies that are used

worldwide. Our unique model uses the principle of the Thermosiphon system; that cold water has a

higher specific density than warm water and so being heavier it will sink down inside a water tank.

The uniqueness of our design is that it uses a passive-black solar heat collector that is mounted

below the water tank, and can be built with very basic tools and components that can be found in

every country. The cost of the components is so low that every household will be able to afford this

system and enjoy the benefits of warm water. Ultimately, having warm water in every household

can help to improve the health conditions in third developing countries that are mostly disconnected

from any electricity power sources. Most developing countries are rich in sunlight during most of

the year, and our simple product will help to utilize this natural and renewable resource to supply

heated water. The limitations that were found during the design were the lack of efficiency when it

wasn’t installed properly and accurately. Nevertheless, these limitations can be easily overcome by

calibrating the system with simple tools. We further discuss the benefits and limitations in further

detail and can be read in greater detail within the following text.

Keywords: Solar Water Heating, Solar Water Heater, SWH, Thermosiphon, Solar Thermal

Collector, Black Pipes, Isolated Water Tank, EcoGiene

Introduction

According to the World Health Organization, “around 50% of people, almost all in

developing countries rely on coal and biomass in the form of wood, dung and crop residues for

domestic energy. These materials are typically burnt in simple stoves with very incomplete

combustion. Consequently, women and young children are exposed to high levels of indoor air

pollution every day. There is consistent evidence that indoor air pollution increases the risk of

chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and of acute respiratory infections in childhood, the most

important cause of death among children under 5 years of age in developing countries.”

Moreover, not only the use of coal and biomass impacts the local ecosystem, but also it

contributes to the global CO2 pollution, which is the main cause to global warming. Luckily,

Eco-Giene will help to eliminate those problems and to solve many more. A key development in

this new design will allow any household to build a water heater on their own with a very low

cost and use the clean energy of the sun. Our new development of a special black color coating

will help in retaining the sun’s heat and therefore heat the water without the use of combustion or

electricity. This new water heater will help the to keep a better ecosystem while keeping high

standards of both hygiene and safety.

Proposal:

Our aim is to take part in the global fight against climate change by installing EcoGiene

in various developing countries. As mentioned previously, in communities throughout the

developing countries, poor households struggle to meet their hot water needs and they rely on

biomass to heat water, which is very bad both to their health and the environment. Our proposal

can be a great solution since it uses solar energy which is clean and cheap. Moreover, the system

that we came up with is fairly cheap so that even poor households will be able to afford.

EcoGiene uses common materials and basic technologies that can be also found in developing

countries. We hope that we will be able to instill this technology together with the help of the

local government by getting a fixed budget that will ultimately reduce the cost of EcoGiene. The

access to a low cost solar water heater (SWH) would not only help to fight climate change but it

will also provide numerous benefits to the households in developing countries. EcoGiene will

reduce the households fuel costs by eliminating or reducing their need for wood, gas or biomass

to heat water.

The EcoGiene team proposed to try and implement the technology in India first. The reason

why the team picked India was the fact that India is rich in sunlight during the year and most Indian

households are still using biomass to heat the water (according to Energy Alternatives India). With

the rising prices of fuels around the world, India is a market that needs inexpensive water heating

method such as EcoGiene. The EcoGiene team will try to get involved with local Indian

government organizations in order to perform field tests with the EcoGiene prototype. According to

the field tests results, the EcoGiene team will decide upon how to proceed with future

manufacturing. In addition, manufacturing can be another benefit of EcoGiene by creating local

jobs and therefore strengthening the local economy. Although EcoGiene is a DIY kit, the EcoGiene

team aims to use as much local labor as it can in order to create even more local jobs. In other

words, EcoGiene will be constructed using local Indian materials and labor to minimize cost and

maximize impact.

In order to achieve a good adaptation of the technology in developing countries, the cost of

EcoGiene has to be low. The EcoGiene team predicts that with the use of mass production the cost

of EcoGiene will lower over time, and will become a standard household item in various

developing countries. Additionally, EcoGiene is a non-profit project that will use any revenues

towards lowering the prices and increasing the use of solar power around the world. Another way

the team hopes to keep the price at low cost, is to use government financing or incentives that will

enable EcoGine to penetrate the market. Eventually a business plan will be developed for marketing

the product.

The EcoGiene team hopes that developing countries will be encouraged to use this

technology since it will improve both their lives and the world. If this technology will be adopted in

one developing country the impact will be immense and the world’s future will be safer and

healthier.  

Background

Today we expect hot water to run when we turn on water handles, however in the 19th

century there were no easy ways to heat water. People used cook stove, wood or coal to heat

water, which at times are hard to obtain or cost a lot of money. To avoid the latter farmers

devised safer and easier way to heat water - they painted metal water tank in black color to

absorb as much solar energy as possible when placed into the sunny area. However, it was not

efficient, as it took the whole day to heat water in the tank, and when the sun went down the tank

would lose heat very rapidly as it did not have any isolation or protection from cold air at night.

In 1760s, swiss naturalist Horace de Saussure, built a rectangular box with insulated

inside, covered top with the glass and placed two smaller boxes inside. When he exposed the box

to the sun, the bottom box heated up to 109 degrees celsius, while the water boiling point is 100

degrees celsius. While he observed this experiment he did not fully understand the underlying

physics behind it or the importance of his discovery. This became base prototype for the most

SWHs that exist today. Nowadays we can explain the phenomena behind Horace de Saussure

observation. First, sun rays enter through the glass cover. Second, the black inner lining absorbs

the sunlight and then converts it to the heat which cannot escape the box easily. In other words

the sunlight is converted into the heat. In 1891 world’s first commercial SWH - Climax was

patented by Clarence Kemp in Baltimore, Maryland. He combined metal water tank and “hot”

box principle, thereby increasing water tanks’ capability to collect and retain solar heat. Until

1909, all SWH systems were one unit that consisted of heating and storage  components. These

SWH were exposed to the weather, therefore the heated water never stayed warm for long

periods especially at night. In 1909, WIlliam J. Bailey invented SWH that had two separate units

- a heating component that was installed on the roof of a house, and a storage component that

was placed inside the house, thus keeping water warm for longer extended periods of time. With

technological advancements and discoveries, solar water heating systems continued to improve

its efficiency of converting sunlight to heat and its storage component. However, the core

features and design of the SWH are almost the same as it was in early 20th century.

How EcoGiene Works

The SWH consists of two main parts: the solar collector and the water storage tank. There

are two types of SWH: active and passive. The active type SWH uses electrical pumps which

help to transfer water from collectors to storage tanks. The passive - have no pumps and water is

circulated by natural convection from collectors to storage tanks. There are two types of active

SWH: direct circulation system and closed-loop system. Direct circulation systems use electric

pumps to circulate water through collectors, then heated water are sent to storage tanks. This

type is common for areas with warm climate.  Closed-loop systems use non-freezing liquid -

most commonly antifreeze to circulate through collectors, and transfer heated liquid to heat

exchanger where the heat is transferred to the water. This type of SWH is best for areas with cold

climate.

The passive type SWH are much cheaper compared to active, however it is not as

efficient as active type. On the other hand, passive type SWH are more reliable, low maintenance

and lasts longer. There are two types of passive systems: systems with integral collector-storage

and thermosiphon systems. The thermosiphon systems based on physical effect of passive heat

exchange and natural convection, which circulates water without physical or electrical pumps.

The goal of our proposal is to promote a SWH that is most affordable and easy assemblable. The

proposed product is that EcoGiene will based on passive type SWH with thermosiphon systems.

Basically, EcoGiene is a passive type thermosiphon solar water heater system. It consists

of two main parts: the collector and the water storage tank. The water storage tank is installed on

higher level compared to the collector in order for the thermosiphon effect to occur. The solar

collector is a critical part of the heating system, where sunlight is converted into the heat. There

are mainly three types of collectors: flat-plate collector, batch or integral collector-storage and

evacuated-tube collector. Each type has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example,

evacuated-tube are most efficient collectors and they are commonly used for commercial

applications. Whereas batch collectors have both collector and storage all in one, therefore water

heats up slowly due to low surface area. EcoGiene will utilize flat-plate collectors due to its

moderate efficiency, low cost and high durability. The flat-plate collector is a metal box that

consists of aluminium (copper tubes are most efficient and less prone to corrosion, but they are

most expensive as well) tubes that are installed on the top of flat absorber plates that are dark in

color, and a transparent cover (usually glass or plastic) to keep heat inside, and in and out tubes.

The mechanism of this process includes: sun rays passes through the glass, then solar energy is

absorbed by dark colored absorber where solar energy is converted to heat energy. Then the heat

energy is transferred to liquid that are running through pipes that are attached to the absorber.

Heated water running along those pipes are then transferred to the storage water tank, where the

consumer can utilize the hot water when needed.

Cost of a commercial water heaters vs EcoGiene:

A primary goal of this proposal is to implement a solar water heater that sells under 35$.

As a non-profit organization, we aim to keep prices at a very low prices and one of our ways to

do that is using mass production and therefore having the biggest impact. Today, the commercial

water heater created by companies such as SunMaxx ThermoPower & TitanPower are way too

expensive to meet our low-cost goals. With everything included, their prices range from 1000$ to

as much as 4000$ per unit. Our team aims to have a unit that cost almost 1/30 of their lowest

price. The three main parts to make EcoGiene operational are: 1) the solar collector, 2) water

tank and 3) the metal pipes to absorb the solar energy. We are going to use a flat-plate solar

collector because it is the cheapest and most durable solar panel today. The plate is going to have

black paint coating and glass surroundings to keep the heat insulated. For a single unit, this is

going to cost $20. The collector is going to have the pipes already installed in them. The pipes

are going to be made from aluminum that will help to keep a low price. Each pipe is estimated to

be $1 for every three feet unit and every collector is going to have five pipes. That is an

estimation of $5 for every EcoGiene unit on aluminum pipes. Lastly, we are going to have the

water tank. Since the product is made for third world countries, they do not need a huge water

tank. The water tank is going to be made from plastic to keep prices as low as possible. The tank

will be made with high grade plastic, however, to keep boiling water insulated and from melting

through the plastic, the tank is going to be fortified with heavy layers of plastic. The estimation

for the tank is around $10. This makes the total estimation for EcoGiene to be $35 which is an

outstanding cost in comparison to SunMaxx’s or any other system that is currently available

worldwide.    

Summary:

The purpose of this proposal is to develop a low cost solar water heater so that developing

countries can also use this technology and therefore better the ecology and hygiene standards

over the world. Specifically, a solar water heater that will be built from local materials and labor

that would cost less than 35$ and deliver 100 liters of 40 degrees Celsius water during the entire

day. Moreover, financing options will be further investigated and a business plan will be fully

developed for the mass production and marketing of the product. As a first step, the team is

looking to work together with the US government in order to boost and oversee the production of

materials as well as their transportation overseas. After the first products will be implemented in

India, we will shift the production and labor to local communities in developing countries.

Finally, EcoGiene is not only going to help these countries grow and prosper, but it is also going

to be great for the environment.

Works Cited

“Indoor air pollution in developing countries: a major environmental and public health challenge.” WHO.int. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 2000.

     http://www.who.int/bulletin/archives/78(9)1078.pdf

“India Biomass Energy.” EAI.com Energy Alterntives India, 2013

http://www.eai.in/ref/ae/bio/bio.html

“Solar Water Heating” How California Can Reduce Its Dependency on Natural Gas. Bernadette Del Chiaro. Environment California Research & Policy Center. 2007

https://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/ccea/comments/jan/environment_california_swh.pdf

“Solar Water Heaters”. U.S. Department of Energy. Accessed November 19, 2016.

http://energy.gov/energysaver/solar-water-heaters

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