After the construction of the solar concentrator was complete a series of tests needed to be done in order to test its effectiveness. While running the initial tests there were no visible changes in the temperature of the water in the tea kettle. The tea kettle was being used as the water storage apparatus for the solar concentrator to heat. Upon further research it was determined that the tea kettle was made out a stainless steel which is an extremely poor conductor of thermal energy. Along with the thick coat of outer paint the tea kettle was dispersing the heat before it got to the water.
An alternative solution was then thought of by using a a tinted beer bottle to capture and transmit the focused solar energy to the water. The video below shows the beer bottle being heated by the solar panels. The constant popping sound is actually the water being heated to a temperature that is extremely close to its boiling point.
The next video shows small amount of steam that are produced and are rising from the bottle. While the steam will not be allowed to escape during the actual disinfection process we wanted to show that our solar concentrator can achieve disinfection temperatures faster that the current SODIS method.
Quantitative results
On a sunny day with the full amount of water in the in the beer bottle (12 fluid ounces) It took one and a half hours to reach a consistent and steady temperature of 195 degrees fahrenheit. This temperature is on the verge of evaporation and will definitely kill all the remaining pathogens and bateria that the biosand filter did not already remove. This will also cut the time it takes to disinfect a water using SODIS by four and a half hours.
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