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designade
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PatrickT
Registered Users
Posts:138
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| 09/04/2008 6:40 PM |
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Quick glance, looks bad. Heat loss is based on Delta T. As stated on their web site, windows are the source of heat loss, high Delta T. So having warm windows will just pump heat out. I did not follow the logic.
Patrick T |
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Mark Eatherton
Registered Users
Posts:1
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| 09/08/2008 8:13 PM |
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| Greetings, My name is Mark Eatherton, and I have substantial experience with electric radiant windows. The Thermique system is actually a division of another company named Engineered Glass Products. The majority of their product line pertains to commercial food warming/food prep applications. Their product is also line voltage. Another company with substantial radiant glass experience is from the other side of the pond, called IQ Glass. IQ Glass is a double layered (not double pane, more like triple pane, with two panes being directly adhesed together) piece of glass that is extremely heavy and requires 220 volts AC power. I have been working with a local company called Radiant Glass Industries. They hold numerous patents on a glass product called Power*e Electric Glass. and it is something to behold. By intent, the initial product offering is ETL approved for use with up to 48 volts DC power. This makes it perfectly compatible with off shelf electrical sources, like Solar PV, Wind, Hydrogen Fuel Cell and mini hydro electric power generation systems. The product has been tested by the prestigious National Gas Machine Laboratories at K.S.U., and it was determined that the units tested had an output of 136 btu's per square foot per hour at a surface operating temperature of 115 degrees F. The net thermal efficiency at that surface temperature, with an outdoor temperature of 10 degrees F above zero came in at around 85%. At first glance, that would NOT be very impressive. We have gas appliances that are now 99% thermally efficient, however, there is more to this story. These windows can be operated at any temperature between 70 and 143 degrees F. When operated in the area of 74 degrees F, their power consumption is minimal, but the windows become completely opaque to heat transfer as we know it. That, in and of itself accounts for 25 to 100% (large glass atriums) of a given buildings heat loss requirements. That in and of itself is HUGE when it comes to reducing buildings energy consumption. Just this last spring, we had the university run what is known as an A.B.O.V.E. test. ABOVE stands for actual building occupied verified efficiency. It is slated to become the gold standard by which all buildings are rated as it pertains to thermal efficiency and comfort. In this test, an office building was modeled in Chicago. During this test, it was determined that the RGI windows reduced the energy consumption of the modeled sample by 42 %. This does not include the reduction potentials associated with required air changes per hour, nor does it account for the reductions associated with the reduced internal operating temperature due to eliminating the cold window syndrome associated with unheated windows. We (RGI's inventors and yours truly) have been doing testing of the product and have numerous applications in the field, and are seeing reductions of 40 %, led by a HUGE increase in human comfort, unparalleled by ANY conventional heating system, including radiant floors, the current KING of human comfort. When I was first approached by these folks, they basically had a window, that when plugged in, got warm. They had no idea as to the potential applications for the device. I immediately saw the potential of completely eliminating the human discomfort associated with "cold 70" which is the syndrome most humans experience when sitting near a highly glazed area. Little did I know that I was also looking at a product that could also potentially reduce the energy consumption of a building by 40 to 80 % and possibly more (Passive solar applications), and a system that could be utilized in EVERY window installed in an outside wall, in an area with heating needs. Nor did I realize that we had discovered a solution to window condensation production that can virtually eliminate the production of condensation on outside windows, a major problem facing buildings heated in an area with high relative humidity, or high induced relative humidity (hospitals). I currently have these windows in my small (500 square feet) fishing cabin in the Colorado Rockies, and the comfort is nothing short of remarkable. It is like standing in the sun when the windows are on, and the internal comfort is HIGH, even with an air temperature of 65 degrees F. I intend to heat my other home in the mountains with the same system, and intend to do so with off peak electricity by charging storage batteries during off peak conditions, and also running the windows, then when ON peak conditions occur, I will take the windows off the grid, and use the battery storage system to run the windows in the thermally opaque mode, thereby eliminating the largest single heat loss factor (other than uncontrolled infiltration) that typically occurs in a given building. Installed cost is obviously dependent upon electrical requirements/availability, but the target goal is to have an installed cost for this comfort/conservation system in the range of $100 to $150 per square foot installed and controlled. The addition of solar or other alternate power sources would be above and beyond this cost. I have written numerous White Papers on the product and its application, and if you would like to receive that paper, feel free to email me at markeatherton@mac.com and I will be glad to send it to you via email. Or, if you prefer, leave your questions/comments here and I will respond. In response to Patrick T, the back losses of this system are amazingly low. So low that the folks at KSU could not explain why, but they are much lower than you would believe. It is something that has to be felt to be believed. There is evidently counter opposing convective currents between the window panes that reduce the outward heat loss of the windows. Mark Eatherton |
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