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mechanical-ventilation-sonne-2200w
Dampers_IRIS
iris
bslab_blower_doors
Credit: Nick Waters
2296-011
Credit: Nick Waters
DSC_3615
Credit: Nick Waters
Psychometric-Lab-750_0327
Psychometric-Lab-750_0326
FSEC engineer Carlos Colon installs an innovative roof integrated solar water heater at the underside of the roof decking at the FRF. Subsequently, he measured the performance of this low cost solar water heater and found it to be effective during warm weather conditions. The Flexible Roof Facility (FRF) is a highly instrumented research facility capable of testing several energy efficient roofing strategies side-by-side. The facility can measure temperatures from the ceiling, attic, roof decking and shingles along with associated ceiling heat fluxes. The FRF is located in Cocoa, ten miles (17 km) west of the Atlantic Ocean. The FRF is a 24 ft by 48 ft (7.3 x 14.6 m) frame building with its long axis oriented east-west. The roof and attic are partitioned to allow simultaneous testing of multiple roof configurations. The orientation provides a northern and southern exposure for the building materials under evaluation. The attic is sectioned into six individual six foot (1.8 m) test cells spanning three 2 ft (0.6 m) trusses thermally separated by partition walls insulated to R-20 ft2-hr-oF/Btu (RSI-3.5 m2-K/W) using three inches (7.6 cm) of isocyanurate insulation. The gable roof has a 5/12 pitch (22.6o) and 3/4 inch (1.9 cm) plywood decking. On the attic floor, R-19 (RSI-3.3) unfaced batt insulation is installed between the trusses in all of the test bays in a consistent fashion. One half inch (1.3 cm) gypsum board separates the attic from the conditioned interior. The interior of the FRF is a single open conditioned space. The roof lends itself to easy reconfiguration with different roof products and has been used in the past to examine different levels of ventilation and installation configurations for tile roofing. A black asphalt shingle roof on one of the test cells serves as a reference for other roofing types.









