Abstract
Non-conventional thermal zones are low-cost and ecology friendly alternatives to the housing needs of populations in various situations, such as surviving natural disasters or addressing homelessness. However, it is necessary to guarantee thermal comfort for occupants, while aiming to minimize energy consumption and wastage in refrigeration systems. To reduce the cooling requirements in non-conventional thermal zones it is necessary to model the structure and analyze the principal factors contributing to internal temperature. In this paper, a geodesic dome is modellingusing the lumped parameter technique. This structure is composed of a wooden skeleton and wooden floor, with a canvas surface as its exterior. The mathematical model was tuned using experimental data, and its parameters were classified using Monte Carlo sensitivity analysis. The mathematical model was used to evaluate the impact on internal temperature and occupants’ comfort when two strategies are considered. The results obtained indicatee internal temperature reductions down to a range of 7% to 11%; this result is reflected directly in the energy used to refrigerate the thermal zone, contributing to the objective of providing houses with lower energy consumption.
Highlights
The 21st century presents a series of challenges for the current society, such as global warming, depletion of natural resources, and satisfying the requirements of the world population without destroying ecosystems
The article is organized as follows: the second section is dedicated to presenting the mathematical model and its physical and geometric parameters; in the third section, the model is tuned with experimental data and used to analyze the principal factors to guarantee the occupant’s comfort; in the fourth section, the impact of passive strategies and adaptations to the dome on the internal temperature are evaluated; and in the fifth section, some conclusions are drawn
We found that the internal temperature was 25.98% above the maximum acceptable value, making it necessary to take cooling actions
Summary
The 21st century presents a series of challenges for the current society, such as global warming, depletion of natural resources, and satisfying the requirements of the world population without destroying ecosystems. The study yielded reductions of interior temperatures by 7.4% [25] All these passive strategies can be used to reduce the interior temperature, but one drawback is that in many cases it is not possible to carry out experimental evaluations of multiple thermal coatings, such as in [26], where different products were tested in building facades. Our model involved two essential elements: a geodesic dome as a form due to the closeness of its form factor to those of vernacular architectures, and a heat-insulating coating that simulated the behavior of the vegetable fibers that make up these enclosures In this respect, the analysis of a non-conventional thermal zone, namely, a geodesic dome, is presented. The article is organized as follows: the second section is dedicated to presenting the mathematical model and its physical and geometric parameters; in the third section, the model is tuned with experimental data and used to analyze the principal factors to guarantee the occupant’s comfort; in the fourth section, the impact of passive strategies and adaptations to the dome on the internal temperature are evaluated; and in the fifth section, some conclusions are drawn
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