Experimental studies on the energy performance of a novel wavy-shape Trombe wall

Abstract

Trombe wall is widely used as a passive solar technique to reduce energy consumption in buildings. Numerous studies have been carried out on improving the conventional Trombe wall, but few of them have focused on the impact of its shape on energy performance. In this research, the energy performance of the novel wavy-shape Trombe wall has been investigated. The experimental results showed that the novel wavy-shape Trombe wall model with an intersection angle of 90° or 120° has significantly improved the air velocity, surface and airflow temperatures, resulting in better overall performance. The heat flux of the wavy-shape Trombe wall model with an intersection angle of 90° is 24% and 68% higher than that of the flat model with the incidence angles of 40° and 60° respectively. The heat flux of the wavy-shape Trombe wall model with an intersection angle of 120° is 7%, 8%, and 4% higher than that of the flat model with the incidence angles of 20°, 40°, and 60° respectively. The results showed that a wavy-shape Trombe wall with a proper intersection angle, within a considerable percentage of daytime, has a much better energy performance than a traditional Trombe wall.