Abstract
The present work focuses on the production of thermal energy in University building greenhouses in cold climate conditions. The building model uses a system of energy and mass balance integral equations, which are solved by the Runge–Kutta–Felberg method with error control. This numerical study is about the thermal behaviour of a university building with complex topology, in winter and transient conditions. The thermal comfort of the occupants, using the Predicted Mean Vote index, and the indoor air quality, using the carbon dioxide concentration, are evaluated. This building has 319 compartments distributed by four floors and it is equipped with one internal greenhouse in the third floor. This greenhouse is located on the south facing facade and the heated air in this space will be transported to compartments located on the north facing façade. The spaces subject to the influence of the heated air coming from the greenhouse improve the level of thermal comfort of its occupants. The level of indoor air quality in occupied spaces is acceptable according to international standards.
Highlights
The use of internal greenhouses in buildings to reduce winter energy consumption is a passive strategy that has been widely used for the past 50 years
The results demonstrate that the level of indoor air quality in these spaces is acceptable according to the standard [21]
This article focused on the implementation of a passive solution for the production of thermal energy in an internal greenhouse located on the south-facing façade of a university building
Summary
The use of internal greenhouses in buildings to reduce winter energy consumption is a passive strategy that has been widely used for the past 50 years. These passive solar heating systems can contribute to increase solar heat gains, reducing space heating energy demand and the related use of fossil fuels [1,2]. The building geometry is developed by Computing Aid Design and all equations will be established by the numerical software using this geometry This numerical model has been used to evaluate the thermal comfort of occupants of buildings when, for example, it was applied internal greenhouses [10], implemented passive and active solutions [8] or considering solar heat gains from different orientations [11]
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