Analysis and simulation of performance data for residential solar heating and heat pump system in Seattle, Washington. Final report, Volume II

Technical Report · Thu Jun 15 04:00:00 EDT 1978

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5648540· OSTI ID:5648540

Taussig, R.; Lockett, J.; Storie, M.; Isakson, J.; Levy, B.

In order to investigate the effect of the regional differences in solar energy availability on residential solar heating systems, a study was conducted to analyze the performance of a solar heated house in the Pacific Cascades and to validate a solar heating and heat pump computer simulation program for this region. The house, called the Seattle City Light Project Weathervane house, uses solar energy from roof-top flat plate collectors to boost the performance of a water-to-air heat pump. If the temperature of the water storage tank drops too low, then auxiliary heating is provided by an off-peak immersion heater. Performance data for the ten month heating season was collected from Seattle City Light, and put into the form of a comprehensive baseline data document. The University of Wisconsin TRNSYS solar heating computer simulation program was used to model the performance of the house. The computer results were compared to the actual performance data in order to help validate TRNSYS with regional solar heating data. The computer results were also used to help in understanding the behavior of the Seattle City Light Project Weathervane house heating system. Actual solar heating system performance demonstrates that approximately 40% of the total house heating requirements were provided by the solar heating system. The Solar Baseline Data are presented here.

• Research Organization: Mathematical Sciences Northwest, Inc., Bellevue, WA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5648540
• Report Number(s): MSNW-78-3035(Vol.2)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140901* -- Solar Thermal Utilization-- Space Heating & Cooling
BUILDINGS
COMPUTER CODES
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DATA
DATA COMPILATION
EQUIPMENT
HEAT PUMPS
HEATING SYSTEMS
HOUSES
INFORMATION
NORTH AMERICA
NUMERICAL DATA
PACIFIC NORTHWEST REGION
PERFORMANCE
RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
SIMULATION
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SOLAR HEATING SYSTEMS
T CODES
USA
WASHINGTON
WATER SOURCE HEAT PUMPS