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Nirma University Chemozale Urja - Design a Solar Heater

“ The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun.” - Ralph Nader

From drying grains and clothes to burning a piece of paper using magnifying lens, we all have seen use of solar energy in our day-to-day life. But as always, technology keeps on improving to extend the reach and range of applications. The idea is simple – collect sun rays from large area and focus it on a smaller region, very similar to magnifying lens. The modern world of ours calls upon us to harness this abundant source of energy. And not playing our part will be a real waste of the potential The “Urja” holds in store for us the abundant amount of energy for our future.

Important dates
Abstract should be submitted latest by 20th February, 2009. Selected participants will be intimated by 28th February 2009. Final competition will be held on 20th March, 2009.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Construct an apparatus which uses only solar energy to perform the following task :
Heat the stagnant water to deliver maximum heat duty within a given time.

Rules & Regulations
TEAM FORMATION
1. The competition is open to all undergraduate and postgraduate students.
2. Team can have a maximum of 4 participants.
3. No participant can be part of more than one team.
4. It is not necessary that the participants forming a team should be from the same college.
5. There is no restriction on the number of teams from the same college.
The event would be conducted in two phases.

PHASE I : Submission of abstract
The abstract should either be in form of Word Document or PDF, less than 1000 words, Times New Roman, 12 font size, with 1.5 spacing.

Please mention the following things on the FrontPage of your abstract
1. Name of Participant(s)
2. College Name
3. University Name

PHASE II: Final Competition
All the selected teams should be present on time with their machines.

MACHINE SPECIFICATIONS
1. Dimension: 50*50*30 cm (l*b*h) respectively.
2. The apparatus should consist of a heat exchange unit (as simple as metallic tube) which allows water to get stored and allows heat exchange between apparatus and stored water.
3. 2 liters water will be given to each team for storage.
4. It should be noted that participants are not allowed to manually adjust their apparatus once the competition is declared to have started.
5. Any team that is not ready at the specified time will be disqualified from the competition automatically.
6. Readymade solar cells, silicon chips should not be used.
7. The machine would be checked for its safety before the event and would be discarded if found unsafe for the spectators and participants.
8. All the teams will compete simultaneously.
9. Teams would be provided with a 20 minutes time before the competition to setup their equipments.
10. Teams will be given time of 40 minutes each for direct exposure to solar radiation.
11. The temperature of the water collected after 40 minutes through outlet will be measured.
12. Minimum of 1.8 litres of heated water should be available from the outlet of the solar heater.
13. The team should maintain the spirit of healthy competition.
14. Violation of any rule can result in rejection.
15. The organizers reserve the right to change/update the rules of the contest at any point of time and will do their best to inform the participants of the same. However, it is ultimately the responsibility of the teams to keep themselves updated.

Judging Criteria
The teams will be ranked on the basis of final temperature reached of the water taken from outlet. Minimum of 1.8 litres of heated water should be available from the outlet of the solar heater for the selection of the winner.

Submissions
Abstracts can be submitted by clicking on the 'Participate' button. Please log into Ideawicket in order to submit your abstract.

Contact
For more details:
Alay Jethi – 09924715604