Detecting sources of heat loss in residential buildings from infrared imaging

Infrared image analysis was conducted to determine the most common sources of heat loss during the winter in residential buildings. 135 houses in the greater Boston and Cambridge area were photographed, stitched, and tallied to characterize nine major causes of heat loss: window frames, window surfaces, window cracks, basements, door cracks, corners, chimneys, roof ridges, and soffits. The nine causes of heat loss were mapped to the three modes of heat transfer: conduction, convection, and radiation. It was found that heat losses through window surfaces, window cracks, chimneys, and soffits dominated as common sources of energy leakage, each represented in more than 70% of the houses analyzed. Opportunities for future work include more thorough examination of losses through ducts and walls, as well as developing methods for improvements.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Shao, Emily Chen

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Sanjay Sarma.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/68921

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/68921