Abstract
Abstract Despite their great significance, lightweight structures have poor thermal inertia. In order to enhance the thermal comfort inside such buildings, architects need lightweight thermal storage. In this paper a model was used to experimentally investigate Heating Load profiles in lightweight shelters. The profiles were created for the climate in Jordan, then simulated for other climate zones. The proposed design concept was used to create a replacement for a thermal mass in lightweight structures such as shelters; by combining passive solar gain with energy storage embodied within the shelter floor (thermal-floor) to absorb solar radiation. This shelter design decreased the Heating Load during the winter season by acting as heat storage that releases energy at night time after being exposed to solar radiation during the day. The passive design depends on shading elements and overhangs shades to control solar gain during different seasons to prevent overheating during the summer. An experimental investigation of this model was performed to validate the simulation results. Validated simulation results showed that the designed thermal-floor is 25 % of the total shelter’s floor area, which was crucial for obtaining favourable results. With CO2 as a thermal mass, heat load was reduced up to 68 % compared to a 20 cm concrete slab floor. The use of this thermal storage material yielded a reduction in annual heating demand by 85 kWh/m2.
Highlights
Buildings are an integral part of all civilised societies, yet they are the largest source of pollution
The main goal of the experiment was to track the behaviour of the material when subjected to radiation of 500 W/m2 for 5 hours, which is the solar radiation in winter in Amman
This research investigates the thermal mass for a prefabricated lightweight shelter by replacing the traditional thermal mass with lighter materials, phase change materials (PCMs) and CO2 Hvacloadexplorer software validated by experimental data is used to improve thermal comfort in lightweight shelters with PCM for different climate zones
Summary
Buildings are an integral part of all civilised societies, yet they are the largest source of pollution. Researchers showed that a small sustainable change in buildings and employing energy-efficient techniques [1] have a great effect on greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and global warming. Residential and commercial buildings’ energy consumption on average increases by 1.5 % annually, and in 2016 buildings consumed 20.1 % of the global energy. Buildings in Jordan accounted for 23 % of the total energy consumption in 2003 and are expected to rise in 2010 by 30 % [3]. While efforts to limit the emissions of greenhouse gases are considered in developed countries, economic growth in developing countries is causing an increase in emissions; these emissions must be reduced by utilising climate-friendly technologies [4]
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