Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

CSU Solar House III. Solar heating and cooling system performance. Progress report, 1 October 1978-31 May 1979

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5746622· OSTI ID:5746622
During the period 1 October 1978 through 31 March 1979, the Chamberlain liquid-heating state-of-the-art flat-plate solar collector was evaluated for a complete heating season. The data acquisition and analysis was a continuation of the cooling season performance evaluation conducted during the summer and fall of 1978. Significant and important results of the systems evaluation include: (1) The demonstration of the critical importance of temperature differentials between the collector outlet and the absorption chiller generator inlet, the effects of alternative control strategies, the marginal feasibility of cool storage, the devastating effect on system performance due to heat losses from the thermal storage unit, and the importance of minimizing electrical parasitic power requirements in obtaining feasibility for solar absorption cooling systems. (2) The concept of overall system efficiency was shown to be essential in the determination of the feasibility of any solar installation. (3) Evaluation of acquired data on the performance of the CSU Solar House III system has provided the theoretical construction and experimental verification of the importance of solar operating threshold (i.e., the minimum solar radiation intensity at which the collector can collect useful solar heat).
Research Organization:
Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins (USA). Solar Energy Applications Lab.
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-79CS30122
OSTI ID:
5746622
Report Number(s):
COO-30122-3
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English