MIT Crystal Pavilion: preliminary performance

Technical Report · Tue Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:5658296

Johnson, T E; Hubbell, B

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
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140901* -- Solar Thermal Utilization-- Space Heating & Cooling
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
299001 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Solar-- (1989-)
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ARGON
BUILDINGS
CHALCOGENIDES
CLOUD COVER
COPPER COMPOUNDS
COPPER OXIDES
DIFFUSE SOLAR RADIATION
DIRECT GAIN SYSTEMS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY LOSSES
ENERGY SYSTEMS
EQUIPMENT
FLUIDS
GASES
GLASS
GLAZING MATERIALS
HEAT GAIN
HEAT LOSSES
HEATING
HEATING SYSTEMS
LOSSES
MATERIALS
NONMETALS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PASSIVE SOLAR HEATING SYSTEMS
PERFORMANCE
PHASE CHANGE MATERIALS
RADIATIONS
RARE GASES
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
SODIUM SULFATES
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SOLAR FLUX
SOLAR HEATING
SOLAR HEATING SYSTEMS
SOLAR RADIATION
SOLAR SPACE HEATING
SPACE HEATING
STELLAR RADIATION
SULFATES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
TIN COMPOUNDS
TIN OXIDES
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS