Fabricated Biomimetic concept

Biomimetic methods will be used to dissipate the heat in BIPV on increasing the efficiency of converting solar energy into electricity. Making systems lighter, stronger and highly efficient has been a goal. In manufacturing, engineers are increasingly employing biologically inspired algorithms to design many objects. By accepting biomimetic design concepts designers and engineers can reduce the size or weight of PV temperature regulation module and thermal storage for greater efficiency and cost savings. In the biomimetic design, leaf veins, honeycomb and bone structure have been well investigated on evaporation cooling and by airplane manufacturers to produce light weight structures (Hatton et al., 2013; Chow et al., 2011 and Noblin et al., 2008). In this project, three bionic structures will be investigated for PCM heat sinks: leaves vein, honeycomb and bone architecture along with blood vessel networks as water circulation system prototypes. IDEAS will investigate the natural microchannels inspired by these natural thermodynamic systems. A 3D printer will be used to produce the prototypes based at UU. This will inspire many new designs for heat transfer techniques since 3D printing allows user-specific or site-specific manufacturing of highly functional products. Stages of the task include initial design evaluation, rapid prototyping, through to optimized prototype manufacture, and modelled components. This will be completed under task 2.2.