Abstract
This article discusses the application of thermoelectric (TE) materials in building facade systems, which can be used to create active exterior enclosures. TEs are semiconductors that have the ability to produce a temperature gradient when electricity is applied, exploiting the Peltier effect, or to generate a voltage when exposed to a temperature gradient, utilizing the Seebeck effect. TEs can be used for heating, cooling, or electricity generation. In this research, heating and cooling applications of these novel systems were explored. We designed and constructed two prototypes, where one prototype was used to study integration of TE modules (TEMs) as stand-alone elements in the facade, and one prototype was used to explore integration of TEMs and heat sinks in facade assemblies. Both prototypes were tested for heating and cooling potential, using a thermal chamber to represent four different exterior environmental conditions (-18°C, -1°C, 16°C and 32°C). The interior ambient conditions were kept constant at room temperature. The supplied voltage to facade-integrated TEMs varied from 1 to 8 V. We measured temperature outputs of TEMs for all investigated thermal conditions using thermal imaging, which are discussed in this article. The results indicate that while stand-alone facade-integrated TEMs are not stable, addition of heat sinks improves their performance drastically. Facade-integrated TEMs with heatsinks showed that they would operate well in heating and cooling modes under varying exterior environmental conditions.
Highlights
Buildings consume 40% of energy in the United States, and influence greenhouse gas emissions
Since integration of TE materials in facade systems offers a promising opportunity to create active, intelligent enclosures that provide localized heating and cooling, as well as energy generation, this study focused on the design, development and experimental investigation of prototypes
This article discusses application of TE materials in exterior building enclosures to create active, energy-generating facade systems. These novel facade systems could be used for localized heating and cooling
Summary
Buildings consume 40% of energy in the United States, and influence greenhouse gas emissions. High demand for energy used for lighting, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning leads to significant amount of carbon dioxide emissions. Given the high energy usage and inefficiencies found in conventional HVAC systems, new heating and cooling sources are needed. Building envelope impacts more than half of typical energy usage in buildings, since it influences thermal performance, heating, cooling, ventilation and lighting (Aksamija, 2013). Electricity supply can actively provide cooling or heating by reversing the current direction (Zheng et al, 2014). Applications of TEMs in facade systems, as well as cooling and heating potentials were explored. How can TE materials be integrated into architectural facade assemblies to provide localized heating and cooling?. How is TE materials’ performance affected by different configuration of heat sinks?
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