Week 4: Finishing Construction

This week we worked on finishing up making our models. We made the fiberglass model but it was quite difficult to measure, cut and put together. We had to use ducktape to keep it together but it still is quite flimsy but since it’s fluffy, it filled up the gap spaces if we had any. For safety reasons, we put the fiberglass part on the inside while the paper part was on the outside. The “box” as a whole looked good and the top piece fit very well. The fiberglass was 3.5 in thick, not 4 in, so that may also affect our calculations due to everything else being 4 in. The ducktape may also affect our calculations but it is also thin enough that it will not make a significant difference. Creating this "box" took the whole lab period due to the fiberglass being difficult to work with and not being prepared (we only had small scissors and a pocket knife).

Week 3: Beginning Construction

   We have hopefully finalized which insulations we will be working with: polystyrene or styrofoam board, closed cell polyurethane spray foam, fiberglass batt, cellulose wet spray, and possibly vacuum insulated panel. All were chosen because they are common in the building industry.
   We also have hopefully finalized the testing apparatus. It will consist of a sheetrock box containing a light bulb and a thermo-couple. The thermo-couple will connect to a reader and will measure the heat in the box. The incandescent light bulb will provide the heat. There will be exterior boxes made of different types of insulation that will fit around all six sides of the major sheetrock box.
   Today we began construction of our physical model. We hope to being doing initial testing next week in lab. We went to the machine shop and, with the excellent help of Mr. Shiber and his staff, we familiarized our selves with the tools and procedures. Unfortunately the sheetrock was forgotten  so we were unable to construct the major box that will hold the light and the thermo-couples. However, we were able to build an exterior box out of styrofoam. During the weekend the sheetrock box and a fiber glass box should be built.

Week 2, In-depth Research
We started this week with turning in our proposal. After some positive feed about our project and what we hope to accomplished, we began doing in-depth research. This research consisted of analyzing about fifteen different types of insulation. When looking up information we looked for three main components to compare: the style, the R-value, and the cost per square inch. When finished comparing these fifteen different types we hope to narrow our search down to about four or three different kinds of insulation. these four or three types of insulation will be used for our physical model and testing. Also, during this week we will construct a more specific timeline of what needs to be done in order to complete this project.

Goal

The goal of this project is to find an efficient way to reduce the energy costs of a standard size building in Philadelphia, PA over a ten year period. This will be done by analyzing different methods of insulation used in commercial buildings. In order to complete this goal, there will need to be theoretical research done on different kinds of insulation and their economic impact. There will also need to be practical research with a model on the different specific insulations. The major components of this project will be: research into insulation efficiency, economic analysis, building the model, and collecting model data. Some technical challenges that may occur in the process may be: lack of funds, imperfections in the model, and lack of access to materials. The overall desired outcome is to be able to suggest an insulation method for an existing commercial building, and provide real data to support our conclusion.

Background Research

For our Insulation Efficiency project, we decided to spend this first week doing some background research. We researched different aspects of our project but mainly on insulation and energy efficiency through insulation. We collected information about what materials could be used to create a model of what we will be doing, what types of (basic) skills we would need to create the model but also understand what we had created, and how our project would be economically efficient.