Numerical and Experimental Investigations of Composite Solar Walls Integrating Sensible or Latent Heat Thermal Storage

Enghok Leang,Stéphane Lassue,Pierre Tittelein,Laurent Zalewski

doi:10.3390/app10051854

Enghok Leang, Stéphane Lassue + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/app10051854

Copy DOI

Abstract

This article studies a composite solar wall with latent storage (TES) designed to heat rooms inside buildings during the cold season. No numerical model of the composite solar wall is currently available in the Dymola/Modelica software library. The first objective of this work is to develop one such model. The article describes the elementary components, along with the equations that allow modeling the heat transfers and storage phenomena governing both the thermal behavior and performance of the solar wall. This model was built by assembling various existing basic elements from the software’s “Building” library (e.g., models of heat transfer by convection, radiation and conduction) and then creating new elements, such as the storage element incorporating the phase change material (PCM). To validate this solar wall model, numerical results are compared to experimental data stemming from a small-scale composite solar wall manufactured in our laboratory, and the experimental set-up could be tested under real weather conditions. After verifying the level of confidence in the model, the energy performance of two solar walls, one with a conventional storage wall (sensible heat storage) the other containing a PCM (the same as in the experiment), are compared. The result indicates that the solar wall incorporating a PCM does not in this case release any more energy in the room to be heated.

Highlights

To limit the energy consumption required to heat building space in winter, several strategies were explored, including the passive solar wall
Whether heating or cooling applications, can reduce annual energy consumption in the residential building sector, i.e.: the electrical consumption of a passive cooling wall containing phase change material (PCM) cubicles by 15% [6]; a solar heating system and air-water heat pump [7]; 35% offered by a passive solar agricultural greenhouse over a 2-year period [8]; passive cooling strategies to reduce the annual cooling energy consumption by up to 23.6% [9]; and a state-of-the-art report on possible methods relative to heating and cooling energy consumption [10]
The results showed that for an equivalent effect, the latent heat storage wall can reduce 4 times the thickness of the concrete Trombe wall weighing a total of 6 times more than the PCM Trombe wall

Summary

Introduction

To limit the energy consumption required to heat building space in winter, several strategies were explored, including the passive solar wall. A solar heating system and air-water heat pump [7]; 35% offered by a passive solar agricultural greenhouse over a 2-year period [8]; passive cooling strategies to reduce the annual cooling energy consumption by up to 23.6% [9]; and a state-of-the-art report on possible methods relative to heating and cooling energy consumption [10]. This strategy started development decades ago, ever since its.

Objectives

Results

Conclusion