Abstract
Solar walls constitute an important green architectural feature that positively contributes to energy saving in buildings. Different configurations may be proposed, such as, solar wall with Phase Change Material (PCM), composite solar wall, photovoltaic solar wall, zigzag solar wall, and solar hybrid wall. Being environmentally friendly, these passive solar components can provide thermal comfort and help save energy. Their disadvantages include principally unpredictable heat transfer, heat losses by night for some systems or inverse thermo-siphon phenomenon. Appropriate energy management techniques can be used to control and optimize the performances of solar walls. An experimental study for energy management of a PCM based solar wall is described in this paper. The experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed automatic control system in regulating the capture of solar energy.
Highlights
Solar Energy, along with the other renewable energy resources, such as wind, hydroelectricity, tidal waves, and geothermal, provides a viable solution for reducing the continuously increasing global energy needs
Phase change materials (PCM) are latent heat storage materials, so the component is lighter than a classical one with the same storage capacity
The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed micro controller based automatic control system in providing overheating protection to the Phase Change Material (PCM) and in improving the efficiency of the energy management process for solar wall
Summary
Solar Energy, along with the other renewable energy resources, such as wind, hydroelectricity, tidal waves, and geothermal, provides a viable solution for reducing the continuously increasing global energy needs. For a PCM to be used in the design of a solar storage wall, it must exhibit certain important chemical, thermal and kinetic properties Included among these properties are suitable phase-change temperatures, high latent heat, no or low supercooling, and long term chemical stability. An experimental study conducted by Zalewski et al [16] involves the replacement of a concrete storage wall by another one that contains hydrated salt. The experimental results obtained through data logging following the integration of this control system in two in-situ solar walls are presented in this paper
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
