Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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SOLAR BY MARSHALL SWANSON Contributing Editor ~ The energy crisis. By now everyone knows it means lowering thermostats and slowing down to 50 miles per hour, actually only stopgap )neasures until new energy sorees are found, but what's bei[ig done to insti'e that critical shortages of vital fuel supplies won't always -exist? The answer, at least in part, is being worked on at USC. According to Engineering Prof. Harry K. McMillan, there's energy Prof. Harry McMillan GEOGR Will Pre-Enrol Majors--Cogni In Geography Cou Drop in this week with your con Roon Callcott Social PRIDE! TU ESE 5 P.M. TIL 4 * STUDENT * SIRLOIN STE AK . Choice Sirloin served wit * Hot Bread. THR EE LOCa 5415 K NOX A-BBOTT DR * BUSH RIVER ROAD,. *5ao DE:VI.E STREE;T HEAT U! aplenty all around us. The problem is to successfully harness it to our bcst advantage. The energy McMillan refers to is the-sun, the ultimate supplier of all the earth's energy resources ex cept the atom, but until now the least efficiently.used. McMillan, along with some 14 students fromhis Engineering 401 class (Design of Thermal Systems) is attempting to solve the problem --partially-- by designing two solar panels to convert radiation from the sun into elctricity to heat homes and other buildings. So far, the prototype. panels that the class is working on and which will be presented to McMillan at the end of the semester for testing haven't been made. Students are still going over aspects of the panel designs and in some cases are trying to answer questions that ultimately will have to be resolved before the units become a way of converting the sun's energy to electricity. But that hasn't daunted the class, which has been grappling with the difficulties of building and designing such a unit since the start of the semester. During classroom critique, sessions, preliminary plans are presented, discussed and reviewed by teams of students that specialize in smaller phases of the overall project. Question and answer sessions which follow each critique, allow students to act as trouble shooters and critics, pointing out possible weak links in the panel develop ment. APHY I All Students ites--Electives rses Next Semester ipleted pre-advisement form i 114 Sciences Center WBSA BAY JLOSING NIGHT $1269 with student I.D. bi Baked Potato or FF, 6~TtONS: EVE. Cayce ust off 1-26 . ART ('0bI-loSEa. C'LooksF e Senior Engineering Si McMillan said the students decided to. tackle the project after discussing several other possible alternatives. Part of the incentive for the endeavor may have come from an American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASMEs) design problem contest. The problem, as posed by the ASME, is to design two solar energy "receiver elements" or panels, each having the capability of being built into assemblies of various sizes and configurations for installation in or on dwellings. One of the elements is to utilize liquid as a heat transfer medium and the other is to use air. Other requirements are that the panels are lightweight, durable, :WHY am I living? :WHAT'S my reason for living? WHERE will I go EWHEN I die? ~Write P.O. Box 5292, T ke U 8 864ek Ti. Opt or ;Energ ty udent Bill Bloking Tesi long-lasting and capable of being mass produced. Material and manufacturing specifications are a necessary part of the problem solution, requiring specifications and sketches of typical assemblies. The Contest winner receives $500. Solar panels represent only one phase of the overall system by which radiation can be harnessed. Problems of how to make sure the panels are as efficient as possible, as well as maintenance and cost factors, all have to be taken into consideration during the development of such a product, he said. McMillan said there are other USC classes as well as other universities and industry research Thousands of Topics $2-75 per page Send for your up-to-date, 160-page, mail order catalog. Enclose $1.00 to cover postage (delivery time is 1 to 2 days). RESEARCH ASSISTANCE, INC 11941 WILSHIRE BLVD.. SUITE 2 LOS ANGELES. CALIF. 90025 (213) 477-8474 or 477-S493 Our reseerc materil olfr donu UasL.x Speciae Peepa p. SeReeen ei seW.ca euQuen .L lie WIsIer Feuna dag. lb. Ses.k elhDcember. Source Rick Paige s Solar Panels departments, that are working with the problem of harnessing solar energy. "Solar heat has been talked about for years. In Florida people have been using the sun's rays to heat water but we're looking at ways to heat homes," he said. "If we could heat a house with solar energy instead of, say fuel oil, 60-80 per cent of the house's energy requirements would be reduced. The energy crisis would solve itself." McMillan thinks solpr-heated homes will be commonplace within the next ten years, adding that by then some 70 per cent of the homes will be fueled by the sun. The main problem is developing materials for solar panels that are within the financial grasp of homeowners, he said. Materials used now for solar anels on satellites, for example, ire much too expensive to be used or everyday earthbound purposes. Sculpture Exhibit n Art Gallery "National Sculpture 73," an ~xhibit of 18 works presented by he Southern Association of culptors, Inc. will be on display in he Russell House Art Gallery brough Nov. 30. Ie Ca'wdWs.