Indoor thermal comfort comparison between passive solar house with active solar heating and without active solar heating in Tibetan

Abstract

Passive solar house technology has been spread for many farmers and herdsmen to improve the indoor thermal environment in Tibetan. However, due to lackage of fuels and arid cold in winter, dry cow dung and coal are popularly fired in stove in passive solar houses, which leads to indoor air pollution and poor indoor comfort. For improving indoor thermal comfort of Tibetan, an active solar heating system which consists of 7 sets of tandem solar water heaters with 30 glass evacuated solar tubes, low temperature floor heating and circulation controller was developed and tested for a common house without insulation in Gan-nan Tibetan area. Its indoor environment was compared and evaluated by PMV-PPD and LPD method to that of the same passive solar house heated by coal stove. On sunny, cloudy and snow days, the active solar heating system provided 113.1, 46.4 and 26.3 kWh of heat to room. The indoor humidity and wind speed of the experimental building were better. The indoor temperatures were 17.2-20.7, 14.9-20.5 and 11.0-14.8°C, while the compared building were 8.9-14.8, 10.1-12.1 and 7.2-10.5°C. The maximum temperature difference between head and ankle were 1.7, 1.6 and 0.9℃, and the compared building were 4, 4 and 4.7℃. The PMV-PPD on sunny day were class I and II; on cloudy day were class I, II and III; on snow day was class III. On sunny and cloudy days, the LPD were class I, on snow day was class I, II and III. The PMV-PPD and LPD for typical days of the compared building were class III. During the 179 days, the mean indoor temperature exceeded 14 ℃ for 81 days, the solar active heating system provided 12471 kWh of heat to room. The CO2 emission reduction was 12905 kg. The system's dynamic payback period were 2.57 years.