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NASA--Langley building solar project and the supporting Lewis Solar Technology Program

Conference · · Sol. Energy; (United States)
OSTI ID:7353994
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration will use solar energy to heat and cool a new office building that is now under construction at its Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Planned for completion in December 1975, the 53,000 ft/sup 2/, single story building will utilize 15,000 ft/sup 2/ of various types of solar collectors in a test bed to provide nearly all of the heating demand and over half of the air conditioning demand. A solar energy technology program underway at Lewis includes solar collector testing in an indoor solar simulator facility and in an outdoor test facility, property measurements of solar panel coatings, and operation of a laboratory-scale solar model system test facility. Early results from simulator tests indicate that non-selective coatings behave more nearly in accord with predicted performance than do selective coatings. Initial experiments on the decay rate of thermally stratified hot water in a storage tank have been run. Results suggest that where high temperature water is required to drive a chiller, excess solar energy collected by a building solar system should be stored overnight in the form of chilled water rather than hot water. (auth, abstract modified)
Research Organization:
Lewis Research Center, Cleveland
OSTI ID:
7353994
Conference Information:
Journal Name: Sol. Energy; (United States) Journal Volume: 18:1
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English