Research on solar systems to heat water, to warm and cool buildings, and to provide heat for industry and agriculture focuses on improving the thermal behavior of these systems and development of new materials to reduce cost and increase efficiency. The Solar Energy Laboratory has a long history of work in this area with strong collaboration with industry and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. We maintain a state-of-the-art facilities for solar heating systems and components and material characterization.
Projects
- Building integrated solar thermal, PV, and solar windows
- Fundamental analysis, development and demonstration of fluid control in storage tanks via stratification manifolds and heat exchangers
- Additive manufactured metal and polymer heat exchangers
- Thermotropic materials for solar applications
