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

Development of an interferometer for natural convection enhancement research, 1 January-31 December 1984

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6481192
Natural convection heat transfer from vertical storage walls and absorbing surfaces plays an important role in delivering solar energy throughout a passively heated or cooled building. In many building geometries the heat transfer at these surfaces can limit performance of the building. Insufficient heat transfer can cause overheating of attached sunspaces and oversizing of the glazed/absorber area, directly increasing cost. If the natural convection coefficient could be increased simply, overheating could be reduced and system costs could be reduced. This report describes progress in developing an instrument for investigating boundary layers on vertical heated surfaces subjected to disturbances. The instrument, a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, is a standard tool used to investigate natural flows because it is nonintrusive, gives flow visualization capabilities, and gives quantitative information on temperature distribution and heat flux.
Research Organization:
Solar Energy Research Inst., Golden, CO (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-83CH10093
OSTI ID:
6481192
Report Number(s):
SERI/PR-252-2598; ON: DE85016895
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English