Baja Del Sol

Solar Thermal Water Heater System

Prospective Students

All students are welcome, but we are especially looking for computer science, electrical engineering, chemical engineering and mechanical engineering majors. We would also love to have Spanish speakers at the intermediate and fluent level.

Mission Statement

Baja del Sol focuses on assisting underserved communities in Tijuana, Mexico, in all aspects ranging from clean water to education and beyond. We have been most involved in providing sustainable solutions for delivering and storing hot water in different orphanages in Tijuana. The goals of our group shift with the needs of the communities

Problem Statement

The children and faculty of La Hacienda Orphanage in Tijuana need a filtration system that gives easy access to clean drinking water because purchasing bottled water is an expensive and non-sustainable solution

Partner

As our partner organization, La Mision Children’s Fund (LMCF) has connected the Baja Team with four orphanages in Tijuana, Mexico. LMCF strives principally to provide fundamental necessities for at-risk children and youth, including food, education and medical care.

With the support from LMCF, we have implemented solar thermal collector systems at Hacienda de la Inmaculada. Currently we are working on follow-up projects with Hacienda and initiating new projects with Casa Hogar Sion.

Goals

Previous Goals

Previous goals included making one more site visit to La Hacienda to finish installing the control box and troubleshoot any connectivity issues. The team was also looking into better equipping the lab with more materials, tools, and schematics of the sites for future teams.

The team’s main goal were to conduct site surveys at one existing and one new orphanage site as well as repair one of the solar water heating systems at the La Hacienda de Immaculada Orphanage site. The team focused on designing a controllable pumping circuit and establishing a self-sustainable maintenance plan.

Current Goals

Design a well-documented, working prototype for a sustainable water filtration system that could be implemented at La Hacienda.

Teams

Filtration/Chemistry Subteam

Determine materials to use in the system
Determine cost of materials

Design Subteam

Casing, packaging of materials in the system (electronics)
Consider the cost of materials

Logistics Subteam

Will be implemented late SP21 quarter after initial design and prototyping are done
Documentation
Creating manual

Current Team

Myat Mon
Kayson Neduvakkattu
Torin Perreyclear
Desmond Trieu
Yucheng Zhang

Previous Team Members

Erin Barry
Stephanie Ogrey
Peggy Tran
Jonathan Song
Angelica Tan
Vala Masjedizadeh

Project Advisors

Ray Guardiano
Curtis Williams

Tutor

Tina Reuter