|
Glazing Materials Overview |
|
Comparison of
Solar Collector Glazing Materials... Gary
|
A comparison of glass, corrugated polycarbonate, sheet polycarbonate, and
other potential glazing materials for DIY solar collectors. |
|
Windows and Glass |
| Efficient Windows
www.efficientwindows.org/index.cfm |
Good information on choosing windows for your
exposure, climate, aims... Try the "Window Selection Tool". |
|
Pilkington Glass
http://www.pilkington.com |
Good technical data on a wide
variety of glasses and some useful calculators. |
|
http://www.pnl.gov/fta/13_glazings/13_glazings.htm |
Good write up on spectrally selective glazing. |
|
Plastic
Glazing and Plastics |
| Macrolux Plastic Glazing
http://www.co-excorp.com/
Page with useful pdfs:
http://www.co-excorp.com/pdf.htm
Good rundown on multiwall polycarbonate:
http://www.co-excorp.com/artwork/mac.pdf |
 Co-EX
is a manufacturer of plastic glazing products, including Macrolux multi wall
polycarbonate glazing. Their website provides a good deal of useful
technical information. |
|
Good
Data Sheet on SunTuf Polycarbonate Glazing |
Lots of detail on the SunTuf
polycarbonate glazing material. |
| Boedeker Plastics Plastics
properties and selection guides
http://www.boedeker.com/mtable.htm
http://www.boedeker.com/mguide.htm |
Material properties and selection
information for a wide variety of plastics. |
| Specs for a wide variety of
plastics
http://www.interstateplastics.com/specifications/
|
Specifications for a wide variety
of plastics: Acrylic, Nylon, PVC, Polycarbonate, HDPE, ... |
| Thermal Conductivies of Materials
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com |
Thermal conductivities of many
materials. Engineering Toolbox |
| Material Specs on High Temperature
Plastics
http://www.texloc.com
|
Material specs on some high
temperature plastics, including PTFE (Teflon). |
|
Teflon, Tefzel, and Tedlar |
These products from DuPont may may
be a good choice in thin films for an inner layer of glazing for solar
collectors. If you know of a good source for these films in small
quantities, please let me know --
Gary.
More ... |
|
Piping and Plumbing Analysis and
Properties |
| Endot Industries
http://www.endot.com/support/installation.asp |
Specifications, material properties,
application data, pressure loss tables, ... for various flavors of
Polyethylene pipe. |
| Pipe Loss Calculator
http://www.connel.net/freeware/flowcalc1.shtml |
Calculates pressure losses, velocity, ... for
water or water/glycol flow in pipes. |
| Copper.Org
www.copper.org |
Search for "The Copper Tube Handbook"
-- 7mb of
more than you will ever need to know about copper tubing/pipe size,
geometry, ratings, ... |
| Boedeker Plastics Plastics
properties and selection guides
http://www.boedeker.com/mtable.htm
http://www.boedeker.com/mguide.htm |
Material properties and selection
information for a wide variety of plastics. |
| Vanguard Piping Systems
http://www.vanguardpipe.com/paltechdata.htm
http://www.vanguardpipe.com/litlib.html
|
Lots of data on PEX tubing,
including some test results. |
|
R Values -- Building materials, insulation, air
films... |
|
Insulation Fact Sheet Fairbanks
University Cooperative Extension Service
|
A very good table providing information on all the common (and not so
common) types of insulation. R values, application suitability, pro/con,
max service temperature, ...
Very Useful, and, as far as I can see, unbiased (which is hard to find in
insulation info on the Internet). |
| R Value Tables
http://www.p1m.com/rv.htm
http://coloradoenergy.org/procorner/stuff/r-values.htm |
A couple R value tables for various materials, including common building
materials. |
R Values for building materials and air
films,
MIL-HDBK-1003/19 |
A very extensive table of R values for building materials, insulating
materials, and for air films and air spaces in various orientations.
|
| Expanded Polystyrene Foam
Specs
|
 Material
specs for the expanded polystyrene rigid foam board insulation. This
is the white, rigid foam board that is commonly available at home centers. |
Insulation Material Properties
(including max service temps and bearing strength) |
The Common Insulation Types...
Polystyrene...
While these sources list polystyrene as having a max rating of about
160F, which sounds fairly high, I would
never use it
inside a collector -- ever! Use polyisocyanurate in collectors --
most lumber yards stock this. |
NIST Heat Transmission Properties
of Insulating
and Building Materials
www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/ibp/irc/cbd/building-digest-167.html
|
An database of thermal conductivity
values for a wide range of materials. Not the easiest to use, but it
does provide conductivity measurements for a wide variety of materials all
tested using the same procedure. The easiest way to use the database
appears to be go to the database search form, set the units you want,
pick the "Material" from the drop-down list, and search. |
Rigid Thermoplastic Foams,
Canadian Building Digest
http://irc.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/pubs/cbd/cbd167_e.html
|
Properties of polystyrene and other
rigid foam insulation boards. |
|
R-Value vs Density for Various Insulation Types ... |
Interesting plot from the ASHARE
Handbook of Fundamentals on insulation conductivity vs density for various
insulation types. |
|
Sealants and Caulks for Collector etc. Construction |
| Silicone Sealant/Caulk |
Regular hardware store 100%
silicone caulk is a good material to use in collectors -- it holds up to the
heat, can act as a flexible adhesive, retains is flexibility, and lasts a
long time.
It is good for bonding fins to tubes in collectors...
Since its a consumer product, detailed specs can be hard to find -- here are
spec sheets for a couple GE silicone caulk that give some details:
GE
Silicone II Window & Door...
GE
Silicone II Aluminum & Metal... |
|
Specific Heat, Emissivity, ... of
Materials |
| Specific Heat of Materials
www.engineeringtoolbox.com -- specific heat table...
www.engineeringtoolbox.com -- emissivity table...
Emissivity material on RedRok.com
http://www.redrok.com/concept.htm#emissivity
|
Table of specific heats of common
materials |
ThermoWorks -- Emissivity of
Materials
http://www.thermoworks.com/emissivity_table.html
and
http://www.infrared-thermography.com/material.htm
|
Emissivity of many materials.
Good for radiation calculations and IR camera use. |
|
Roofing Materials |
Laboratory Testing of the Reflectance
Properties of Roofing Materials,
Parker, McIlvaine, Barkaszi, and Anello
Florida Solar Energy Center
http://www2.fsec.ucf.edu ... |
Paper gives lab measured
reflectance and IR emissivity of many types of roofing.
|
| Emissivity of many materials
http://www.electro-optical.com
|
Emissivity of many materials
(paints, metals, plastics, ...) |
|
Properties of Wood |
|
Wood Handbook
Forest Products Laboratory ... |
 Very
good 460 page handbook covering the physical properties of various wood
species.Chapter 3 cover thermal properties. |
|
Properties of Air |
|
Air Density Calculator... |
Calculator that allows you to calculate the density of air as a function of
altitude, temperature and humidity.
|
|
Standard
Atmosphere Calculator... |
Calculates air temperature, pressure, density, an speed of sound as a
function of altitude and offset temperture.
(note 32.2 * slugs/cf -> llbs/cf) |
