Heat Pipe Augmented Passive Solar System for Heating of Buildings

Abstract

A passive solar heating system was built using heat pipes bonded to the absorbing surface of a solar collector mounted on the south wall of a building. The heat pipes provided one-way heat transfer from the absorber through the insulated wall of the building to water tanks placed inside the space to be heated. The space was then heated by means of natural convection from the surfaces of the tank. The evaporator and condenser ends of the heat pipe were designed to be connected by means of a flexible hose so that the system could be retrofit to an existing building. Simulations were carried out to match the experimental and simulated results. The conductance values obtained as a result of matching showed good agreement with theoretically calculated values. Potential performance improvements were identified, including increased liquid fill fraction in the heat pipes and increasing the heat transfer surface area of the water tanks at the condenser end of the pipe.