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Dover Sun House is slightly different from the other MIT solar houses: sponsored by Boston heiress and sculptress Amelia Peabody, the house heating unit was designed by Dr Maria Telkes, an assistant in the MIT department of metallurgy. The heating technology was very different from that used in the MIT houses: the storage device was not water, but rather Glauber salts (sodium sulfate decahydrate).
The sun collector, composed of double layers of plate glass separated by a space filled with air immediately backed by a black metal sheet (800 sq ft), was located on the south facing wall. Warmed air was circulated by fans into heat bins which contained a metal drum filled with Glauber salts. As the warm air circulated around the drums, the salt in each was melted, enabling it to store heat at constant temperature. When the temperature of the surrounding air dropped, the chemical recrystallized and released the absorbed heat. In each room a fan blew in warm air.
Architect Eleanor Raymond drew up the plans for the five room house, which was designed to be only one room The solar collector reflected the sky. A cousin of Maria Telkes, Dr Anthony Nemethy, inhabited the house with his wife and child, but the system failed after three years.
Solar Houses at MIT
Dover Sun House
Dover Sun House is slightly different from the other MIT solar houses: sponsored by Boston heiress and sculptress Amelia Peabody, the house heating unit was designed by Dr Maria Telkes, an assistant in the MIT department of metallurgy. The heating technology was very different from that used in the MIT houses: the storage device was not water, but rather Glauber salts (sodium sulfate decahydrate). The sun collector, composed of double layers of plate glass separated by a space filled with air immediately backed by a black metal sheet (800 sq ft), was located on the south facing wall. Warmed air was circulated by fans into heat bins which contained a metal drum filled with Glauber salts. As the warm air circulated around the drums, the salt in each was melted, enabling it to store heat at constant temperature. When the temperature of the surrounding air dropped, the chemical recrystallized and released the absorbed heat. In each room a fan blew in warm air. Architect Eleanor Raymond drew up the plans for the five room house, which was designed to be only one room. The solar collector reflected the sky. A cousin of Maria Telkes, Dr Anthony Nemethy, inhabited the house with his wife and child, but the system failed after three years.
Bibliography:
"An American sun heated house," Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects (3rd series) 56 (July 1949): 417.
"Experts discuss sun-heated houses," Architectural Record 108 (October 1950): 184.
"M.I.T. builds solar-heated house," Architectural Record 105 (April 1949): 135-138. Includes plans, details, photographs.
"Solar heat," Interiors 108 (April 1949): 10.
"Solar-heat test," Newsweek 32 (December 6, 1948): 56.
"Sun heated home ready for tests through Boston winter," Heating & Ventilating 45 (October 1948): 136.
"Sun house at Dover, Mass., passes second successful winter without fuel bill," Heating & Ventilating 47 (July 1950): 95.
"Sunlight heats this house," Science Illustrated 4, no. 3 (March 1949): 28-31 [Q1.95].
"Test house heated only by solar heat," Architectural Record 105 (March 1949): 136-137.
"World's first sun-heated home," Life 26 (May 2, 1949): 90, 93. Campbell, D.C.
"Winter comfort with free heat," Minnesota Technology (January 1950): 12-13, 32. Cole, Doris. Eleanor Raymond, Architect. Philadelphia: The Art Alliance Press, 1981. See esp. Chapter 8, pp. 42-44. Includes a photograph and floor plan (appendix). [NA737 .R269 .C6]
Donovan & Bliss."Calculated performance of the Dover House collector," Technical report no. 4 [n.d.], 7 pp. continued on reverse.
Gray, Robert and Steven Baker. Survey of Solar Buildings. Center for Environmental Research, School of Architecture and Allied Arts, University of Oregon, 1975.
Raymond, Eleanor. "Architectural problems in the solar heated house at Dover Mass." In Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Course Symposium on Space Heating with Solar Energy, Cambridge Mass., 1950, Space heating with solar energy; Proceedings, 97-98.
_________. Eleanor Raymond, Architectural Projects 1919-1973. Boston: Institute of Contemporary Art, 1981. Retrospective exhibition catalog with interview and photograph of south elevation. [NA737 .R269 .A3]
Shurcliff, William. Solar-heated buildings: A brief survey. 4th ed. (1974), 14. [TH7413 .S47]
Telkes, Maria. "Low-cost solar heated house," Heating & Ventilating 47 (August 1950): 72-74.
_________. "Performance of the solar heated ouse at Dover, Mass." In Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Course Symposium on Space Heating with Solar Energy, Cambridge Mass., 1950, Space heating with solar energy; Proceedings, 95-96.
_________. "Space heating with solar energy," Science Monthly 69 (December 1949): 394397.
_________. "Warmth for comfort." Paper presented at the Centennial of Engineering, Energy Symposium, September 12, 1952.
Telkes, Maria and Eleanor Raymond. "Storing solar heat in chemicals - a report on the Dover House," Heating & Ventilating 46 (November 1949): 79-86.
Related:
"Maria Telkes: Chemist & Solar Engineering." Inventors Assistance League, Glendale CA. Available: http://www.inventions.org/culture/science/women/telkes.html (October 9, 2001).