What we did

  • Team:
    40+ Students

  • Role:
    Designer, Controls System Engineer, Electrical Engineer

  • Date:
    Nov 2015 - Oct 2016

  • Location: 
    Santa Clara University

  • Technology Used: 
    Raspberry Pi, Philips Hue, Nest Protect

THE HOUSE

This house is a completely off the grid house that is only 238 sq. ft.  The house rotates to track the sun increasing the efficiency of the solar panels by 30%.  This project took two years to finish.  We have built this home for Operation Freedom Paws, an organization that pairs veterans with rescue dogs and trains the dogs to become service dogs tailored to that veteran's specific needs.  If the veterans are out of state, they are able to stay in the tiny house with their dog.  

HOW IT WORKS

This house uses eight 330 Watt Sunmodule solar panels to provide the electricity.  Any excess energy is stored in the Saltwater batteries.  These batteries are the only Cradle to Cradle certified batteries. The house uses the Colossun Solar Tracking Ring to rotate the whole house to track the sun.  This is the first time this system was used to rotate an entire house.  Normally, you rotate only the solar panels.  However, since we had a roof deck, this was not possible so we worked with Colossun to make rotating the house possible.  

MY ROLE

I worked on the technical and aesthetics of the house. In this project, I was a behind the scenes helper. I always put in hours and hours of work, helping do all of the odd jobs of creating posters, building fundraising games, and pounding nails into the house at 1 am.

 

Awards

  • Best Tiny House (Overall) by SMUD

  • Main Categories

    • Best Energy Consumption

    • Best Communications

  • Sub Category Awards

    • Best Day Lighting

    • Best Integrated Lighting

    • Best Interior Design

    • Best Kitchen

    • Best Program

    • Best Tour

 

Features 

  • House rotates to track the sun

  • Murphy Bed (Pulls out from the wall)

  • Toe Kick Drawers

  • 35 sq. ft wet bathroom

  • Dry-flush toilet

  • Full size kitchen

  • Cabinets made from recycled wood from SCU's basketball floor

  • Hidden storage under the bedroom floor

  • Wet bathroom

  • Eight 330 Watt Sunmodule solar panels

  • Saltwater batteries

 

Redefining the Way People Think About Lighting

Lighting. Normally, people think of having lights as a way of seeing, but we saw that lights can actually shape mood of the room. By using Philips Hue lighting, we would be able to change the colors of the lights to create moods such as focus lighting that is good for reading as well as dim lights for movies.  We were able to converting the tiny house into a smart house by implementing IoT technology. The team used a Raspberry Pi to control a skylight window, Phillip Hue Lights and connect the Nest Protect. I helped connect the Philips Hue lights to the Raspberry Pi by using their API and also connected the Nest Protect, the result of which was awarded best day lighting as well as best integrated lighting.

PhilipsHueLighting.png
RaspberryPi .jpg
 
 

Gallery  —  Photos by Joanne H. Lee