THE USE OF TEST ROOMS TO DETERMINE THE THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF A TRANSPARENTLY INSULATED OPAQUE WALL

A side by side comparison between a test room equipped with an opaque wall clad with a proprietary polycarbonate, honeycomb transparent insu lation material (TIM) and a reference room is described. The measured data are analysed in terms of straight forward comparisons between the energy consumptions of wall heat fluxes in the two rooms. The results are parameterized by a steady state specific heat loss (U-value: air to air) and a solar collection efficiency (epsilon) for the wall. Usin g these values the performance is extrapolated to a whole year under U .K. climate.