Facade integration of polymeric solar collectors

The present paper examines building integrated solar collectors with absorbers of polymeric materials. Efficiency measurements of façade-integrated collectors with non-selective black and spectrally selective coloured absorbers are carried out. The performance of the polymeric absorber was compared with solar glass and polycarbonate twin-wall sheets as collector cover. Simulations demonstrate a high solar fraction for a solar combisystem with façade collectors for a well-insulated house in a Nordic climate. Two examples of house concepts with façade collectors are presented which address a new type of customer than the solar enthusiasts with special interest in renewable energy

A dislocation based theory for the deformation hardening behavior of DP steels : Impact of martensite content and ferrite grain size

A dislocation model, accurately describing the uniaxial plastic stress-strain behavior of dual phase (DP) steels, is proposed and the impact of martensite content and ferrite grain size in four commercially produced DP steels is analyzed. It is assumed that the plastic deformation process is localized to the ferrite. This is taken into account by introducing a non-homogeneity parameter, f(e), that specifies the volume fraction of ferrite taking active part in the plastic deformation process. It is found that the larger the martensite content the smaller the initial volume fraction of active ferrite which yields a higher initial deformation hardening rate. This explains the high energy absorbing capacity of DP steels with high volume fractions of martensite. Further, the effect of ferrite grain size strengthening in DP steels is important. The flow stress grain size sensitivity for DP steels is observed to be 7 times larger than that for single phase ferrite.