User Facilities
Industry is invited to collaborate in the use of these facilities. In each issue of Fenestration R&D, we will take a closer look at one of our user facilities. Please Contact the individual researcher listed under each facility to discuss potential use.
Mobile Window Thermal Test Facility (MoWiTT)
The MoWiTT facility contains two highly instrumented, side-by-side calorimetric test chambers that are used to test window and wall elements under actual outdoor conditions. The facility may be rotated to face in any direction and is currently located in Reno, Nevada, which experiences both summer and winter extreme climate conditions. It can directly measure solar heat gain and can be used to determine window and shading system properties for a wide variety of solar control options. With 200 data channels collecting data every few seconds, the facility can directly measure cooling load shapes on peak summer days with excellent time resolution. The facility can also be used to validate computer models and to compare various technologies in real time. Industry has used MoWiTT results to justify new product development.Contact
Joseph Klems
(510) 486-5564 Fax (510) 486-4089
e-mail: JHKlems@LBL.gov
IR Camera Test Facility
This facility includes a high-resolution, infrared imaging camera, a computer processor/printer, and a cold/hot chamber to hold samples for testing. The camera system is portable and can measure surface temperatures that can then be correlated to various heat loss or gain parameters. The IR camera is useful for assessing heat loss from existing buildings in the field as well as from building components and appliances in the laboratory setting.Contact
Dariush Arasteh
(510) 486-6844 Fax (510) 486-4089
e-mail: D_Arasteh@LBL.gov
Thin-Film Materials Laboratory
This laboratory includes a wide range of apparatus to deposit and analyze thin-film coatings for energy control purposes. The laboratory's thin-film deposition systems are used to make new types of selective and electrochromic coatings. The laboratory also includes spectrophotometers to measure solar, near IR, and far IR properties.Contact
Mike Rubin
(510) 486-7124 Fax (510) 48 -6099
e-mail: MDRubin@LBL.gov
Sky Simulator
The 24-foot-diameter sky simulator is a hemispherical facility used to test daylighting performance in scale-model buildings under controlled and reproducible conditions. Computerized control of light sources within the hemisphere can create luminous distributions typical of clear, uniform, or overcast skies representative of any desired location, orientation, climate, and season on Earth. It can also be used as a sun simulator to test shading strategies in scale models up to 1.5 square meters in size. Light levels within the models are measured by 60 photosensors and the measurements are used to predict daylight illuminance conditions within full-sized buildings. The facility is well-suited to test the effect of shading from overhangs, fins, awnings, shade systems, vegetation, and adjacent obstructions.Contact
Stephen Selkowitz
(510) 486-5064 Fax (510) 486-4089
e-mail: SESelkowitz@LBL.gov
Solar Heat Gain Scanner
This device is used to characterize the complex optical properties of glazings and shading systems that are geometrically complex, such as venetian blinds. The system measures transmitted and reflected energy and light at all incidence and outgoing angles. The scanner has been used to develop a new procedure to predict solar heat gain through complex shading systems.Contact
Joseph Klems
(510) 486-5564 Fax (510) 486-4089
e-mail: JHKlems@LBL.gov
Mulimedia Laboratory
Design tools of the future will not only have faster and better modeling algorithms but will also have vastly improved user interfaces incorporating new multimedia software and hardware capabilities. The ability to integrate data and text with advanced graphics, animation, sound, and video will greatly enhance the value and usefulness of the next generation of design and analysis tools. The hypermedia computer lab contains the equipment needed to experiment with these emerging technologies and to prototype and test promising solutions.Contact
Michael Wilde
(510) 486-6847 Fax (510) 486-4089
e-mail: GMWilde@LBL.gov
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