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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Monthly performance report

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6563891

The Alpha Construction Company site is a single-family residence in Canton, OH. The solar-energy system is designed to provide approximately 50% of the space-heating and 70% of the hot-water energy requirements for the home. It has an array of flat-plate collectors with a gross area of 436 square feet. The array faces south with a tilt of 37 degrees to the horizontal. Air is used as the medium for delivering solar energy from the collector array to storage. Solar energy is stored in a bin containing 50,100 pounds of rock. The solar-heated air, passing through a heat exchanger, also preheats incoming city water which is stored in an 80-gallon preheat storage tank and supplied, on demand, to a conventional 52-gallon domestic hot-water (DHW) tank. The system, shown schematically, has four modes of solar operation. The measured demand for space heating during May was 0.69 million Btu, 0.47 million Btu of which were provided by the solar-energy system. Loss of the hot-water consumption measurement has affected the hot water performance results. (MHR)

Research Organization:
Alpha Construction Co., Canton, OH (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
EG-77-C-01-4049
OSTI ID:
6563891
Report Number(s):
SOLAR/1034-78/05
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English