UC San Diego & University of San Diego Engineering Students Study CanCoverIt
Through CanCoverIt’s involvement in the Southern California Regional Energy Innovation Network (SCEIN) we have sponsored two student teams to study the benefits of CanCoverIt protection for metal attic fixtures.
In a SCEIN first, CanCoverIt orchestrated University of San Diego (USD) and University of California San Diego (UCSD) into one study consisting of two parallel operations.
USD engineering student Hayden Spencer, under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Codd, and with assistance from David Hanacek founder of CanCoverIt created a physical testbed to gather real world measurements of thermal energy transfer through an actual metal fixture with and without CanCoverIt .
USD Testbed Experimental Design
This served as a baseline to calibrate the UCSD engineering capstone project team’s simulation work. Utilizing Energy2D and Solidworks, the UCSD team used accurate material properties and dimensions to create accurate simulations of energy transfer at the fixture level and a simplified house environment. The Solidworks models were direct replicas of the USD testbed, enabling calibration with that real world measurement. The UCSD team consisted of Farouq Fardan, Derek Morris, Jasmine Leja, Marcela Bradley, and Peter Pavilando.
UCSD Student Poster (Click to Expand)
The UCSD team concluded: “Based on both the summer and winter conditions, the CanCoverIt improves the insulating efficiency of the home. This means that less energy is required to sustain a comfortable household temperature, leading to savings in both electricity costs and greenhouse gas emissions.”
This was an exciting series of experiments that is part of a wider effort to raise awareness about thermal energy transfer through metal fixtures in attics. CanCoverIt has been deployed thousands of times and enjoys perfect satisfaction among customers. Now thanks to USD and UCSD we have even more data to understand why every home deserves CanCoverIt.
UCSD student team at final poster session