Transparent glass honeycomb structures for energy loss control. Final summary report, January 1976-October 1979

Technical Report · Sun Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1980

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6732118· OSTI ID:6732118

It has been demonstrated that properly-shaped glass honeycomb placed between a non-selective absorber and the coverglass of a flat plate solar collector gives collection efficiencies significantly higher than those of conventional flat plate units, even those with selective absorbers, collecting solar energy at temperatures required for heating and cooling buildings. Three basic glass honeycomb shapes were analyzed and tested: (1) thin-walled cylindrical glass tube honeycomb in square or hexagonal arrays, (2) corrugated thin glass sheets stacked peak-to-trough to form double-sinsuoid-shaped cells, and (3) flat thin glass sheets stacked to form long parallel slots. A continuous hot-rolling mill was used to corrugate commercial Micro-Sheet glass, thus demonstrating a key step needed for the commercialization of glass honeycomb fabrication. Experimental-scale (61 cm x 61 cm) collectors and collectors scaled-up in area were fabricated and tested outdoors to verify the analytical-numerical performance-prediction algorithms developed during the program. Optimization studies were made with respect to performance and cost to identify optimal shapes of sinusoidal-celled glass honeycombs which have high potential for mass production.

• Research Organization: California Univ., Los Angeles (USA). School of Engineering and Applied Science
• DOE Contract Number: FG03-76CS31084
• OSTI ID: 6732118
• Report Number(s): UCLA-ENG-8039
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
141000* -- Solar Collectors & Concentrators
DESIGN
EQUIPMENT
FABRICATION
FLAT PLATE COLLECTORS
GLASS
HONEYCOMB STRUCTURES
HOT WORKING
MATERIALS WORKING
MECHANICAL STRUCTURES
OPTIMIZATION
PERFORMANCE
ROLLING
SOLAR COLLECTORS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
TESTING
THERMAL ANALYSIS