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HW5 08solution

This document summarizes the design of a residential solar system for a small house in Portland, OR to provide space heating. It recommends a 662 square foot flat plate solar collector system, mounted on the house's 1100 square foot south-facing roof, to meet half the heating demand for the month with the highest demand, January. An analysis of the monthly heating loads and solar inputs shows that this system could meet 88% of the annual heating load, indicating it may be oversized.

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15 views

HW5 08solution

This document summarizes the design of a residential solar system for a small house in Portland, OR to provide space heating. It recommends a 662 square foot flat plate solar collector system, mounted on the house's 1100 square foot south-facing roof, to meet half the heating demand for the month with the highest demand, January. An analysis of the monthly heating loads and solar inputs shows that this system could meet 88% of the annual heating load, indicating it may be oversized.

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[email protected]
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Solar System Design

Recommend a residential solar system that can


potentially provide both space heat to a small
house in Portland, OR. The house, as
illustrated, has 1100 ft2 of 30 inclination roof
that faces south and can be used to mount flat
plat solar collectors. The collector systems
circulate ethylene glycol through a storage
tank, which can be used to preheat or
completely heat the water used in the hydronic
heating system. Size a system to deliver half of
the heating requirement for the month with the
heaviest heating demand, January. Determine
how much of the annual heating demand can be
delivered by this system.

FEB
605

MAR
536

APR
400

MAY
243

JUN
96

JUL
21

AUG
21

SEP
78

OCT
319

NOV
560

DEC
756

542

766

1085

1372

1595

1659

1722

1627

1499

1053

638

478

Solve for the heat loss in January

U
surfaces

Solving for the

R- Value (hr ft2 F/Btu)


19
19
19
2

JAN
765

Solution

Qloss

South

Area (ft2)
1600
1150
1600
150

House Component
Ceiling
Walls
Floor
Windows

HDD
Solar
2
(Btu/day/ft )

1100 ft2 south-facing roof

U
surfaces

nl

January

Tambient

House
Component

Area (ft2)

R- Value (hr
ft2 F/Btu)

U = 1/R

Ceiling
Walls
Floor
Windows

1600
1150
1600
150

19
19
19
2

0.053
0.053
0.053
0.500
SUM =

UA
(Btu/hr
F)
84
61
84
75
304

So the total heat load for January is, using the degree data provided,
Qloss 304

Btu
765F day 24hr 5.56 *10 6 Btu
hr F
day

So half of the load is 2.78 * 106 Btu


The solar input for January using a system with 25% efficiency (typical) is
Qin (542)

Btu
(31)days (0.25) 4200 Btu 2
ft
day ft 2

So the collector area needed is Qload/Qin = (2.78*106) / 4200 = 662 ft2, which will fit on
the roof easily (662 < 1100 ft2)
Part B. Analyzing month by month the fraction of the annual heating load satisfied by
this 662 ft2 collector:

HDD
Solar
2
(Btu/day/ft )
Days
Load
Solar Input
Fraction
satisfied
Total =

JAN
765

FEB
605

MAR
536

APR
400

MAY
243

JUN
96

JUL
21

AUG
21

SEP
78

OCT
319

NOV
560

DEC
756

542
31

766
28

1085
31

1372
30

1595
31

1659
30

1722
31

1627
31

1499
30

1053
31

638
30

478
31

5.6E+06

4.4E+06

3.9E+06

2.9E+06

1.8E+06

7.0E+05

1.5E+05

1.5E+05

5.7E+05

2.3E+06

4.1E+06

5.5E+06

2.8E+06

3.5E+06

5.6E+06

6.8E+06

8.2E+06

8.2E+06

8.8E+06

8.3E+06

7.4E+06

5.4E+06

3.2E+06

2.5E+06

0.50
0.88

0.80

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

0.78

0.45

So 88% of the annual heating load is met with this solar collector system. Since most
months the solar input is greater than the need, then the system may well be oversized
and should be downsized to avoid wasted capacity.

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