| General
Engineering Reference Sites |
| The Engineering Tool Box
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/
|
A wide ranging engineering
reference site. Material properties, Fluid Mechanics, Piping, HVAC
calcs, ... |
| Software Tool Lists |
| Interactive Evaluation Tools
for Small Wind, hydro, water heating, space heating, pool heating...
http://www.eere.energy.gov
|
List of Interactive
Evaluation Tools for renewable energy sources. From the EERE DOE
site. |
| EERE Energy Software Tools
Directory
www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/tools_directory/
|
DOE EERE site list of
software tools for a wide renewable energy applications. Some free. |
| Solar Position and Radiation Tools |
| Sun Charts
http://solardat.uoregon.edu/SunChartProgram.html
|
 A Sun Chart for your area is
a must have tool to determine how much of the time sun will shine on
your collectors. See site
survey for how it works. |
| NREL Solar Radiation and
Climatic Data
http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/pubs/redbook/
|
Average weather conditions
and solar radiation of collectors at various orientations for many
US cities. Based on 30 year weather records. Try downloading the
pdf version for your state. |
| Surface meteorology and Solar
Energy
NASA
http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/sse/sse.cgi?na+s01#s01
|
Solar radiation and solar
geometry data from derived from satellite observations. Provides
data for anywhere in the world. |
| Sustainable By Design Solar
Tools
http://www.susdesign.com/design-tools.html
|
 Some very well
done (and free) tools for designing overhangs, determining sun
position, ...
The overhang design tool is very good.
|
| Radiation
On Collector
Gary
|
 A tool that
provides radiation levels on a flat plate collector for sunny days
as a function of collector location (lat and long) and
orientation. Use to answer questions like what if I can't aim my
collector due south? |
| Windows and Glass |
Efficient Windows
https://www.efficientwindows.org/ |
Good information on choosing
windows for your exposure, climate, aims... Try the "Window
Selection Tool". |
|
http://www.pnl.gov/fta/13_glazings/13_glazings.htm |
Good write up on spectrally
selective glazing. |
| Pilkington Glass
http://www.pilkington.com
|
Good technical data on a wide
variety of glasses and some useful calculators. |
|
Home Heat Loss/Gain and Passive Solar Home Design Software |
| HEED
http://www2.aud.ucla.edu/heed/
Additional documentation:
http://www2.aud.ucla.edu/energy-design-tools/papers.html
|
 This is very
easy to use, yet very capable simulation software for estimating the
energy/thermal performance of a passive solar or conventional home.
Weather files for over 500 worldwide locations. While it initially
appears almost too simple, by using the "advanced tab" it can handle
a wide variety of situations. It uses a one hour simulation time
step, and weather files that cover a full year of typical weather.
It has been carefully validated. It is limited to 1 zone, and does
not handle sunspaces. It is a free download. |
| Resfen
http://windows.lbl.gov/software/default.htm
For precompiled Resfen data on many window types for many
locations, use the "Window Selection" tool here:
http://www.efficientwindows.org
|
Resfen allows detailed analysis of window choices for a wide
variety of windows. It is a full hourly simulation, and offers
weather files for many locations. Easy to use.
|
|
Energy10
http://www.nrel.gov/buildings/energy10/
|
 ENERGY-10 is a PC-based
design tool that helps building designers quickly identify the
most cost-effective, energy-saving measures for small commercial
and residential buildings. It supports rapid comparisons of
energy saving strategies. Limited to 2 zones.
Cost is $300, or $60 for
students -- just think how much energy would be saved if this
program was made free!
|
| Infiltration Heat Loss
http://coloradoenergy.org/procorner
/forumulas/air_infiltration.htm
|
Estimating the saving for
reducing infiltration heat loss. |
| Energy
Savings Calculators |
| Infinite Power
www.infinitepower.org/calculators.htm
|
A good calculator for
calculating the cost saving for installing a solar hot water heater. |
| Solar
Collector Design |
| CoDePro -- Flat Plate
Collector Design Program
http://sel.me.wisc.edu/codepro/new_codepro.html
|
Program develops the
efficiency curve given inputs on the collector glazing, absorber,
insulation etc. |
| 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.
|
| Heat
Exchangers |
| U in Heat Exchangers
Download pdf (287K)
|
Thermal conductivity
coefficient for various heat exchange circumstances |
| DTL Tube and Shell Heat
Exchanger Sizing Guide
http://www.thermo-dynamics.com/download.html
|
Sizing guide for tube and
shell heat exchangers for DTL |
| Pumps
and Solar Pumping |
|
A Graphic Guide to Solar Water Pumping
Windy Dankoff
www.homepower.com
|
 Home Power
Magazine article, issue 46
Very good article on designing and selecting the components for a
solar electric water pumping system. Covers a wide variety of
pumping head requirements, flow requirements, and system types.
|
| Dankoff Pumps Solar Pumps for
Space Heating Guide
http://www.dankoffsolar.com
|
Information on pumps used for
space heating fluid circulators. |
| Solar Pump Selection Guide
http://www.thermo-dynamics.com/download.html
|
PV powered pump sizing
information. |
| HVAC |
| Duct Sizing Calculator
http://www.connel.com/freeware/airduct.shtml
|
Duct sizing calculator --
calculates pressure losses for various types of ducts |
| Free Calc -- a variety of
HVAC calculators
http://www.freecalc.com/
|
Duct losses, fluid flow, heat
exchangers, ... |
| Pipe flow and Duct Flow
Calculators
Mike Rocchetti
http://www.connel.com/freeware/index.shtml
|
Calculators for pressure loss
in pipes and ducts, steam tables, and a Psychrometric Calculator |
| Refrigeration |
| Optimum Refrigeration
Temperatures for Foods
http://www.glacierbay.com/Foodstoretemp.asp
|
Chart compiled by Glacier Bay
Inc provides ideal short and long term storage temperatures for
various foods. |
| Electrical |
| Wire Current Tables
http://www.teicontrols.com/ampacity.html
http://www.teicontrols.com/conduit.html
Wire Table
|
Maximum allowable current in
wires as a function of insulation type.
Maximum number of conductors in conduit as a function of wire
gauge and conduit size.
Another wire table for AWG that includes resistance per 100 ft
and much more.
|
| Electric
Motor Current Draw |
|
http://www.teicontrols.com/motoramp.html
|
Approximate motor current
draw at full load. |
| Units |
| Online Units Conversion
http://www.onlineconversion.com/
|
Online calculator to convert
units (eg metric to English) |
| |
|
| |
|
| Heat
Transfer Analysis Methods |
| The Thermal Wizard -- A
variety of heat loss calculators
http://www.thermal-wizard.com/tmwiz/
|
 Heat loss calculators for a
variety of gas and liquid flow conditions. |
| Watlow - Reference
Engineering Data
http://www.watlow.com/reference/refdata/
|
Data on heat loss from
surfaces, material properties, ... |
| Materials
Specs |
| 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, ... |
| Material Specs on High
Temperature Plastics
http://www.texloc.com
|
Material specs on some high
temperature plastics, including PTFE (Teflon). |
| Emissivity of many materials
http://www.electro-optical.com
|
Emissivity of many materials
(paints, metals, plastics, ...) |
| Pollution
and Emissions Calculators |
| Infinite Power
www.infinitepower.org/calculators.htm
|
Calculators to estimate
carbon dioxide and other pollutants generated by activities like
driving, using electricity etc. Lot of other good renewable energy
information on this site. |
| Energy
Conversion |
| Heat Content of Common
Fuels
Fuel BTU
|
Heat content in BTU for
common fuels |
| Fuel Energy Equivalence
Calculator
SHEC labs
http://www.shec-labs.com/calc/
|
Compare fuels for energy
content. |
| Heating System Efficiency
Furnace Efic
|
Efficiency for various types
of heating systems and fuels. |
| Books and Publications
Technical reference books that I have used and like, or have been
highly recommended by others. Sites with an extensive library of
solar publications.
|
| Solar Thermal Engineering
Peter Lunde
|
Covers a wide selection of
topics, well written, practical, manageable math.
1980, 600 pages Out of print, but available used at Amazon.com
and the like.
|
| The Passive Solar Energy Book
-- Expanded Professional Edition
Edward Mazria
|
Covers all the basics, very
readable, very little math.
1979, 700 pages Out of print, but available used at Amazon.com
and the like.
|
| Solar Engineering of Thermal
Processes, 2nd Edition
John Duffie and William Beckman
|
Very complete -- widest
coverage of the books listed here.
1991, 900 pages
|
| CANMET Energy Technology
Center -- Buildings Group -- Publications
www.buildingsgroup.nrcan.gc.ca
|
Outstanding list of
publications on solar and renewable energy. Canada government site. |
| Solar Air Heating Systems
Steve Kornher with Andy Zaugg
Excerpts
from this book
|
 This is a fine
book on designing and building solar air collectors and solar air
heating systems of many types. Very good on design, very good on
construction. Covers both active and passive air collectors. The
book is out of print, but available at Amazon.com used books for
less than $10 -- highly recommended.
The link provides extensive excerpts from the book courtesy of
Steve and Andy -- Thanks!!
|
| Pumps and Turbines
Arthur Williams
|
Nice combination of
understandable physics and sensible economics.
2003 ITDG Publishing
|
| Design: Solar Heating Of Buildings and
Domestic Hot Water
MIL-HNBK 1003/13A
www.ccb.org/docs/UFC/3_440_04.pdf
(1.6mb pdf)
|
170 page mil handbook on solar heating -- starts with
general descriptions, but goes on to cover solar space heating and
water heating in some depth -- and its free. |
| Active Solar Collectors and
Their Application
Ari Rabl
|
A great engineering reference
on solar collectors of almost all types. |
