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Inspired by the environmental footprint left behind on the shoulders of child laborers who are tasked with supplying the world’s lithium and cobalt, three students at Redlands East Valley High School have embarked on a series of experiments to demonstrate how effective a common, affordable, safe and easily accessible element can be used to create energy.
Sophomore Michael Stodelle, the one who initiated the project a few years ago that is now in its eighth iteration; junior communications manager Zackary Lewis; and mathematician Tyler Kalanjian, also a junior, attended the Regeneron International Science and Engineering competition in mid-May, sponsored by the Society for Science in Columbus, Ohio.
It turns out that sand — readily available in your backyard here in the Inland Empire — is proving to be a reliable conductor for thermoelectric energy due to its low heat transfer ratio.
The team has been able to take advantage of the ubiquity of sunlight to warm up their sand battery.
Compared to other materials, sand heats up rather slowly.
The team uses thermocouples, or temperature sensors composed of dissimilar wires that stimulate voltages based on temperature change, to convert temperature differences between hot sand and the cooler air surrounding it into electricity.
It utilizes a concept of connecting two metal connectors with opposite polarity, as conducted with a thermocouple, to push heated and excited electrons from a hot segment to a colder one, creating a flow of energy known as the Seebeck effect.
Using highly conductive copper to create the box in which the sand is set, lined with foam for consistent insulation and steadied with a steel frame and encased in thermocouples, the team created a container for the sand, which relies on the California cooling system of drafting cooler air from underground to replace rising heat.
It required the acumen and ingenuity of Kalanjian to essentially invent a specific heat equation for the process. Using a research paper from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tyler worked for months to eventually derive an equation that could model heat in a complex setup. The results are being drafted as a research paper.
The team needed an equation that could adjust for the varying parameters necessary for application within their box of sand, including thermal diffusivity, internal changes in temperature, initial conditions, specific heat capacity, and density, among others.
After 50 hours of testing, their latest sand battery prototype generated enough electricity to power 11 iPhones, maxing out at 57.8 watts of electricity.
The team is working on building literally a bigger sandbox to prove a theory that, the more volume of sand in use would vicariously have more insulation, and as the sand begins to insulate itself, it would have more capacity to store more energy.
They are also finishing up the process of obtaining a patent for their project, an expensive endeavor that Stodelle estimates is more than $7,500.
The team has saved up its winnings and fundraising to help pay for their application process.
Stodelle started the project with a team when he was attending middle school at Inland Leaders Charter School in Yucaipa, where he was a member of a robotics team. He added new partners in high school.
“You can use any sand. We’re using samples that have the purest silica commonly found in riverbeds or the ocean,” though they use a particular black silica ordered online from a fireplace store.
Stodelle recruited “a good team,” relying on Lewis from their time spent playing water polo together, and tracking down — based purely on reputation, Stodelle says — the “smartest guy” in their school, who “we knew was really good at math,” and were introduced to Kalanjian.
Stodelle considers himself “the ideas guy” on the team. Lewis is also responsible for documenting the project’s progress and creating virtual aspects of the project. Kalanjian was tasked with coming up with a formula to measure how heat passes through a complex 3D space, estimating that he has devoted 150 hours alone to inventing their formula.
“I am glad to see that the students are recognized as bearers of the science and engineering research flag,” says REV physics teacher Emil Radoi. “Michael is the soul and heart of the project. He came as a freshman with an idea he had been working on since middle school, to help the environment by using the environment and nature to provide the energy necessary for minor needs, like charging a cell phone. With the help of Tyler and Zackary, the project took wings, and they are looking at the possibility of creating large regional sand batteries that could provide power throughout the day and, because the sand battery could store thermal energy for a prolonged period, even into the early night. It is fun to see that something that was more like a dare, a dream becomes reality.”
“If you know the temperature inside and measure the temperature outside, you can see the temperature difference and predict how much predicted power — and when — the maximum power will be,” Kalanjian explains. “The math is original, but it’s built off MIT research. They have to simplify the conditions” for their experiments, “so their solution wasn’t one that would work for our purposes because theirs assumes no change in internal temperature.”
According to Stodelle, as of a couple of weeks ago their latest maximum output lasts about 10 hours. The team hopes to repeat similar success using a smaller device that can serve as a 24-hour battery.
“This device will not only generate power, but store energy,” says Stodelle, who has worked on similar prototypes for nearly three years. “It would be cheaper than a Tesla backup generator, per watt.”
On the other hand, for the time being “We’re going to scale this up,” says Kalanjian, who has his sights on studying math at Massachusetts Institute of Technology or Stanford. “We recently proved this in prototype 8, which lasted 14 hours and generated the entire day.”
Stodelle, too, hopes to join Kalanjian at MIT or Stanford, or even Caltech, to study mechanical engineering and continue researching his project, and eventually start a business.
“By the time these prototypes are able to generate business, it will also be at a point that it could be helpful: the energy crisis related to finite lithium and cobalt sources and their dangerous disposal” is creating an opportunity for something such as the team’s sand battery.
At the Regeneron fair, Stodelle and his team each won $34,000 scholarships from Arizona State University for their work, which incorporated mapping software from Redlands-based Esri to display a map that showed the varying availability of sand around the globe.
“It was amazing to see so many people with the same creativity, energy and drive for change that I have,” Stodelle says. “One of the more interesting things I learned while at my second ISEF is that the winning projects always had funding or lab access from large companies and prestigious universities,” noting that Esri software is made free to students.
In addition to their success at the Regeneron competition, Radoi compliments the team for the connections it made at the UCLA Science and Engineering ISEF send-off in April.
“Let’s congratulate them in their accomplishments and wish them the best in their quest for a better future in energy production and academic research,” Radoi says.
Colleen Duncan, the Redlands school district’s science and engineering fair coordinator, lauds the budding scientists’ efforts.
“The team’s research is timely,” she says. “Searching for viable, truly clean energy is a worldwide concern. Their project stands out from others in the district considering that it’s a multi-year project, continuing to learn and build on their previous research.”
Duncan says that the first iterations of the team’s experiment that were submitted last year, renewable powerhouse firm Iren approached them about being mentored by the company, which led to the team’s traveling to present their work at various energy fairs.
This year, Duncan points out, the team won an Energy Coalition internship, and earned spots at the California Science & Engineering Fair and Regeneron’s International Science and Engineering Fair.
“The team is well-versed in their work and are able to explain” it to a variety of audiences.
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