South Dakota School of Mines, Keystone, South Dakota: solar energy system performance evaluation, December 1979-May 1980

Technical Report · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1980

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7045029· OSTI ID:7045029

Klotz, J. H.

Performance of the South Dakota School of Mines solar energy system from December 1979 to May 1980 is described. The system is installed in the Mt. Rushmore National Memorial Visitors' Center near Keystone, South Dakota. The site is located at 44/sup 0/N latitude and 1600 m elevation. The building has 540 m/sup 2/ of conditioned space and a design overall thermal transfer coefficient (UA) of 0.22 GJ(/sup 0/C/sub <21/ d)/sup -1/. The solar energy system is of liquid-based active type, with 187 m/sup 2/ of flat-plate collector area and 11.4 m/sup 3/ of water thermal storage. The site experienced average irradiance of 155 WM/sup -2/ and average ambient temperature of 2/sup 0/C during the period described. Under these conditions, the solar energy system supplied 43% of the energy required for space heating, saving 3790 liters of fuel oil that would otherwise have been burned. Storage temperature set points for energy supply to space heating were investigated during the season, and results of the investigation are described. The regime of 38/sup 0/C threshold and 32/sup 0/C cutoff temperature was found to be optimal.

• Research Organization: Automation Industries, Inc., Silver Spring, MD (USA). Vitro Labs. Div.
• DOE Contract Number: AC01-76CS32399; AC01-79CS30027
• OSTI ID: 7045029
• Report Number(s): SOLAR/2019-80/14
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
BUILDINGS
SOLAR SPACE HEATING
SOLAR HEATING SYSTEMS
PERFORMANCE
AMBIENT TEMPERATURE
CLIMATES
FLAT PLATE COLLECTORS
HEAT TRANSFER
INSOLATION
SENSIBLE HEAT STORAGE
SOUTH DAKOTA
TANKS
WATER
CONTAINERS
ENERGY STORAGE
ENERGY TRANSFER
EQUIPMENT
HEAT STORAGE
HEATING
HEATING SYSTEMS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
NORTH AMERICA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION
SOLAR COLLECTORS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SOLAR HEATING
SPACE HEATING
STORAGE
USA
140901* - Solar Thermal Utilization- Space Heating &amp; Cooling