Analysis of Performance of the Passive-Solar-Heated Patoka Nature Center, Birdseye, Indiana. Final Project Report

摘要

The purpose of this project was to monitor and analyze the passive-solar-heating performance of Patoka Nature Center. Patoka Nature Center is located in southern Indiana. The building has a floor area of 3200 square feet, is heavily bermed and well-insulated. The building features 1390 net square feet of direct-gain solar collector. This collector is equipped with BEADWALL (tm) night insulation. Thermal storage is provided by a masonry floor and 40 water-filled fiberglass tubes. The building's thermal performance was monitored from July 15, 1981 until July 17, 1982. During the 1981-1982 heating season, the subject building used 257 million BTUs for space heating. This was supplied from: auxillary heating equipment (28%), electric lighting (22%), other equipment (2%), and solar (48%). The annual solar heating efficiency (solar utilized/solar incident on collector glass) was 21.9%. (ERA citation 08:029412)