V-shaped Roof Forms Collector and Reflector
Oct
21
Though the style of this house is hardly conventional, its dual solar heating-and-cooling system is ingenious and functional. The system is a hybrid, using both active and passive techniques to keep the house comfortable.
For heating, the house’s primary system is an active one: single-glazed collectors (aluminum tube-in-plate absorbers, coated with a selective surface) are built into the south-facing roof slope of the house’s north half. They heat untreated water, which circulates in an open-loop system down to two concrete septic tanks serving as heat storage. The tanks are well insulated and waterproofed with an elastomeric compound; they keep the hottest water, which is used in the fan- coil distribution device, isolated from the less hot. A copper coil immersed in the hottest part of the hottest tank preheats the domestic water.
In summer, the active collector area converts handily to a passive solar-assisted ventilating system: the sharply angled, north-facing roof on the house’s southern half is lined with reflectors that beam additional high summer sun at the collector area, heating it to very high temperatures. Vents leading from the house to a 6-inch air space inside the collectors (between the absorber plates and the insulation) are opened, as well as the house windows and a long vent running the width of the collector area at its uppermost peak. The intense heat of the absorber plates heats the air space behind them, and the hot air rises out the collectors‘ top vent, creating a convection current to pull hot air up and out of the house and to draw cool air in the windows.
Dramatic profile of house serves solar heating function. Roofline on north portion of house slants up to face south at 45° angle, bearing liquid-type collectors. South portion of roofline not only veers upward to serve as reflector for collector area on facing roof, but also creates large south-facing wall for passive direct-gain heating. Unusual height of south window area required layers of overhangs, designed to admit sun in winter and screen it out—while still allowing view and indirect lighting—in summer.
Winter sunlight floods through double-glazed south window wall, heating living and dining rooms directly. Blinds and insulating shutters are closed at night to trap heat inside. In summer, exterior overhangs give shade; windows open to assist in ventilation of house interior.
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