Numerical and experimental study of building integrated solar tile collectors

Abstract

This paper is dealing with the development of a new type of shell-structured solar collector for the heat exploitation of solar energy for building use and to determine its thermal efficiency. The literature review confirms that solar collectors appreciated not only by their usefulness, but also according to their aesthetic considerations. In addition to traditional solar collectors it is viable to study the solutions how the structural elements of the buildings can also be used to capture solar energy, when the architectural design would not change, but the required surface operates as solar collector. During the modelling and simulation of the shell-structured solar system strong consideration was given to the efficiency issues. The energy balance equation of the collector includes the influencing factors especially the radiation and heat convection, which are expressed by their heat loss coefficients. Based on the measurements it can be stated that in the case of the simplest structural design (no thermal insulation, no surface covering) the working fluid can warm up to 20–25 °C. Concerning to the structural design the built-in pipe diameter cannot be increased over the half of the concrete tile thickness, and it is not suggested to increase the pipe length beyond 3 m within the tile. A recommended use of such architectural elements can be designed for renovation of buildings, along with the active utilization of solar energy in order to meet the increasingly stringent energy standards for buildings.