Heating water in a solar collector with Cobra SMARTsense Code

Principle
In this experiment, water is heated in a solar collector and the increase in temperature is observed. The Cobra SMARTsense code indicates when the desired temperature range is reached and interrupts the circuit as soon as the water becomes too hot.

Tasks

• Heat a container of water in a solar collector using the light of a lamp.
• Observe how the temperature of the water changes.
• Program the Cobra SMARTsense code so that it indicates when the target temperature is reached and switches off the lamp if the temperature gets too high.

Learning objective
Learners become familiar with the working principle of a solar thermal system, which is one way of using renewable solar energy. They also gain experience with simple programming of a device for temperature monitoring and relay switching.

Benefits

• The experiment is part of a complete solution with a total of 17 experiments on the basics of renewable energy and thermal energy.
• Safe experimentation: the lamp is protected from contact, the housing is well ventilated through openings and only heats up slightly.
• Stable experimental setup through the use of an optical bench.