Junction

Custom Leather Boutique Bldg.

4310 N. 1974.

Solar engineer: J. DeVries of Sol-R-Tech. Builder: Quechee
Construction Co., Inc. Owner: J. Brown.

Bldg.: 12-story building with two short N-S ells and concrete
slab first-story floor. No basement. Floor area: 2100 ft2.
Thickness of fiberglass insulation: wall, 4 in.; roof, 6 in.
All windows are double glazed. No windows on vertical S,E, or W walls.
Collector: 910 ft net. Flat-plate, water-type collector consisting
of 38 Sol-R-Tech panels on 45° roof. Each panel is 3 ft x 8 ft, and
includes an Olin Brass Co. aluminum Roll-Bond plate with integral
expanded channels. The black coating is non-selective. Liquid used:
water plus corrosion inhibitor; no antifreeze; liquid is drained into
storage tank at night. Glazing: double, of Kalwall Sun-Lite sheets
(polyester and fiberglass) 0.040 in. thick; or glass. Backing: 6 in.
fiberglass (in roof). Dekolabs, Inc., differential controller used.
Storage system: 5000 gal. water in rectangular, concrete-block tank
with epoxy waterproof coating on interior. Tank is under concrete
slab.

Heat-pumps: Heating is assisted by three York heat-pumps (Triton,
DW-30H, water-to-air, 2-ton capacity) which extract energy from
tank water as long as this is at temp. exceeding 45 °F and deliver
energy to rooms via forced hot air. Typical COP of heat-pump is 3 or
slightly better, per mfr's specifications.

Percent solar heated (incl. heat-upgrading by heat-pumps):
100% (predicted).

Auxiliary heat: Electric heaters in ducts. Can handle 100% of load.
Cooling in summer: Heat-pumps are used in opposite manner, taking
heat from rooms and delivering it to storage tank. Water from tank
is cooled at night by being circulated to same panels on roof.
Performance study: by Prof. A. Converse of Dartmouth College, under
NSF-funded contract with Mitre Corp. Source of Information: P-900.

59

WAS 1/17/75

Virginia

Greenway (near

Wash., D.C.)

Madeira School Solar Energy Science Bldg. 39°N. July 1975 (predicted).
Solar & Gen'l. eng'g.: Flack & Kurtz, Inc.

Architect: Arthur Cotton Moore Associates.

Builder: Commercial Industrial Construction, Inc. Funding: private.
Bldg.: 12-story modern science bldg. housing biology, chemistry, and
physics classroom-laboratories, a greenhouse, space for animals, and a
basement photographic lab. Upper (main) story is trapezoidal; N wall
is 201 ft, S wall 70 ft, bldg. width 47 ft.; floor area of main story:
6000 ft2. N wall has windows, for view; S wall is adjacent to external
corridor and walkway under collector overhang. Sliding partitions
between main rooms permit flexible use. Lab. equipment is stored in
portable cabinets hung on racks along N wall and transported by dollies.
Abundance of conveniently placed water and sink stations, electrical
outlets, safety equipment. Lower level is 50% crawl space and 50% useful
area (3000 ft2, consisting of mechanical rooms, printing shop, photo lab.)
Some windows on N side; S side is below grade. Total useful floor area
of bldg.: 9000 ft2. Bldg. as a whole is a cedar-sided structure flanked
by woods except on south. Bldg. is on downward-to-north slope. Winter
temp. deficit: 4000 F deg. days.
Collector: 4000 ft2 gross, covering trapezoidal wooden roof (waterproofed
with silicone-base roof membrane) sloping 26° from horizontal. Collector
consists of panels each of which employs a 27 in. x 104 in. Olin Brass
Co. aluminum Roll-Bond sheet with integral passages for coolant liquid.
Black coating is non-selective. Coolant is a heat transfer oil; probably
Exxon Caloria HT-43 will be chosen. Single glazing. Pump drives liquid
(at rate of 72 gpm) upward along passages in panels to a header pipe at
ridge of roof, whence the liquid flows to storage system. Here, via
heat exchanger, heat is imparted to water in tank.

Storage system: 10,000 gal. tank, well insulated, in mechanical room.
Tank contains water. Typical temp. of tank: 130 °F. Max.: 180 F.

Heat is delivered to the rooms by hot water circulation.

Percent solar heated: (No estimate available). Carry through: 2 or 3 days.
Auxiliary heat: From steam boiler in adjacent bldg.

Cooling in summer: Not yet planned. Suitable space is available.

Swimming pool heating: Collector heats nearby swimming pool in spring

and fall when bldg. heat requirement is small.

Status: Construction underway. Started Oct, 1974.Est.completion: July 1975. (S.E.D. July 1974; Wash. Post Feb. 16, 1974; P-900).

Hampton

Richmond

Warrenton

(cont'd)

160 mi. WSW of Wash. D.C.)

NASA Engg. Bldg. 37 N. 1975 (?)

Eng'g. bldg. for NASA's Langley Research Center.
Solar energy design: F. F. Simons and colleagues.
Floor area: 53,000 ft2.
evacuated glass tubes.
(S.E.D. Feb. 174)

Collector area: 15,000 ft2. May employ
May be situated on field adjacent to bldg.

Science Museum of Virginia 38° N. 1976(?)
Solar engineers: Hankins and Anderson, Inc.

In Byrd Park.

Some support by Science Museum of Virginia Foundation and from
Virginia Electric Power Co.

Bldg.: 55,000 ft2 bldg. complex on 45-acre site.

Collector: 28,000 ft (on 130 ft x 240 ft area of roof). Employs blackened aluminum. panels with integral passages for water; glazing on front, insulation on back.

Storage system: 80,000 gal. water in tanks.

Percent solar heating: 50% (?).

Auxiliary heat: Oil(?)-fired boiler.

Cooling in summer: 125-ton absorption refrigeration system will be powered by hot (~190 °F) water from collector or storage tanks.

Also, a 175-ton centrifugal chiller will be used (and will be arranged
for heat recovery).

Cost of solar heating and cooling system: Expected to exceed $750,000.
Status: Construction expected to start before summer of 1975.
(Engineering News-Record, 7/25/74; P-900).

Fauquier County Public High School. 39° N. April 1974.

Intertechnology Corp., with own funds and $173,000 NSF funds,
completed in March 1974 the design and installation of a solar
heating system for a set of five separate classrooms comprising
a 4100-ft2 portion of the school.

Collector: 126 ft x 26 ft (2400 ft2 net) water-type collector on
53°-from-horizontal scaffold adjacent to school. Double-glazed
with 1/8-in. double-strength glass. Radiation strikes a chemically
etched and black coating on face of Olin Brass Co. Roll-Bond aluminum
sheet. Selectivity ratio: ale 3, per measurement. Water (with

=

corrosion inhibitor) flows in the integral expanded channels in
aluminum sheet. No anti-freeze is used, but liquid can be drained
from collector into storage tank in 1 min. There are 105 collector
panels, each 3 ft x 8 ft.

Storage system: Two separate, water-filled, underground, 5500 gal.
tanks. Total capacity: 11,000 gal. Each tank (an electrical

transformer bunker) is of reinforced concrete with L, W, H of 11 ft, 8 ft, 7 ft. Carrythrough: 12 days (predicted). (NSF release of 1/16/74; Intertech. releases of 3/22/74 and 5/14/74; P-900)

near

District

Heights)

Solar engineer and owner: H. E. Thomason.

61

WAS 1/17/75

ft2

Bldg. Three-bedroom house (28 ft x 38 ft) with 900 ft heated in winter.
The house aims 10° W of S.
Collector: Area: 750 ft2.

Collector is on two sloping portions of roof, the slopes being 450 and 60° from horizontal. Water trickles down l-in-vide valleys of blackened corrugated aluminum sheet. Valleys are 2 in. apart on centers. Original glazing: 5-mil polyester (mylar) film and, spaced 3/4 in. from it, a glass sheet. (Plastic film failed after 3 years; thereafter just the glass sheet was used.) Water is distributed to the valleys by in. copper pipe (with 1/16 or 1/32 in. dia. holes, one hole per valley) running along ridge of roof. Water from the valleys is collected in a gutter and flows to storage system.

Storage system: water-filled, 1600-gal. (4 ft dia., 17 ft long) steel tank surrounded by 50 tons of fist-size stones. Air flows through stone bin and thence to the rooms. At night the 1/3 HP water-pump used to send water to the distribution pipe is off, water drains from roof, and all water is in tank.

Percent solar heated: 85%.
Auxiliary heat: oil furnace.

Cooling in summer: Original (1959) system: At night, water was sent to
north slope of roof, to cool by evaporation; thus some cooling (of tank,
and of rooms) was accomplished. Present system: A 1-HP refrigeration
unit cools the tank water, and the tank cools the stones; air circulated
through the bin of stones cools the rooms,
Status: Still in use; is in 15th year. Patent coverage: extensive.
(T-263, T-263d, A-500, U-400, P-900).

62

VAS 1/17/75

Washington, D.C., environs

(10 1. ESE of

Wash.,D.C.

In Maryland,

near District

Heights)

(cont'd)

Solar engineer and owner: H. E. Thomason.

Bldg. Two bedroom house with 675 ft2 heated in winter. Basement and attic are not heated. House aims 10° W of S.

Collector:560 ft2, augmented by 340-ft reflector, is on two sloping portions of roof, slopes being 55° and 65° from horizontal. Collector is single-glazed. (Original single glazing deteriorated after a decade and, in Nov. 1974, was replaced by superior single glazing in aluminum frames.) The trickling-water type system is much like that of House 1, except that the water-pump motor is smaller: 1/6 HP.

Cooling in summer: A 3/4-HP compressor-type air conditioner is
used, mainly at night, to cool tank.

Status: In routine use (after 1972-73 interval of non-use).
Patent coverage: extensive. (A-500, U-400, P-900, T-263, T-263d)