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Title: MIT Crystal Pavilion: preliminary performance

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5658296

Many winter climates in the US and Europe can be characterized as benign, where most of the days are cloudy, yet air temperatures rarely go below 6/sup 0/C (42/sup 0/F). The MIT Crystal Pavilion has been built to demonstrate 100% solar heating can be accomplished in these climates using the diffuse radiation that filters through the clouds. The vertical surfaces on the 38m/sup 2/ (416 ft/sup 2/) addition to the MIT Solar Building No. 5 are glazed with double glass filled with argon and coated on one side with a transparent, low emissivity layer that gives an overall solar transmission of 63% and a nighttime U value of 1.24 W/m/sup 2/ /sup 0/C. The roof is double glazed with a low emissivity reflective glass and a laminated glass to reject summer solar gains. The floor is veneered with tiles filled with phase change material to store any beam energy that is available. The building was completed for monitoring during February 1982. Measurements showed the building experiences a daily average lift of 10.3/sup 0/C above ambient air temperature during cloudy days occurring near the equinox. One hundred percent solar heating cannot be accomplished within 8 weeks of the solstice because of short solar exposure times. Internal gains account for 4.1/sup 0/C of the daily average lift. Summertime indoor air temperatures do not exceed ambient by more than 1/sup 0/C on sunny days.

Research Organization:
Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge (USA). Dept. of Architecture
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-82CH10115; AC02-77CS34513
OSTI ID:
5658296
Report Number(s):
DOE/CH/10115-T1; DOE/CS/34513-T1; ON: DE84001375
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Portions are illegible in microfiche products
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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