Abstract
This paper presented a novel solar collector that can work in air or water heating mode depending on the seasonal requirement. The dual-function solar collector (DFSC) integrated with a building as well as a reference building without the DFSC were built to test thermal behavior in passive air heating mode during winter. The buildings were equipped with an apparatus to control the room temperature. During the testing procedure, experimental study on the DFSC system was carried out under two conditions, where the indoor temperature was controlled and non-controlled. The results showed that the average temperature of the test room was about 3.43 °C higher than that of the reference room under the non-controlled condition. When the room temperature was controlled at 18 °C, the power consumptions of the test room and reference room were 4.322 kWh and 7.796 kWh, respectively. Consequently, the corresponding daily power consumption saved could reach up to around 3.5 kWh. Moreover, a dynamic numerical model on the DFSC along with the building was developed taking the fin effect of the Cu-tubes into account. The numerical results are found to be well consistent with the measured data. A parametric study on with/without Cu-tubes and depth of the air channel was carried out. It is found that the existing Cu-tubes functioning as water heating can enhance the air heating efficiency when the depth of air channel is of a suitable size.
Highlights
The utilization of renewable sources such as solar energy for building heating is an effective method to lower electricity consumption [1]
We focus on the thermal behavior on the passive heating mode
The module of a dual-function solar collector (DFSC) was integrated with a building located in heating mode would be investigated and experiments under different conditions would be carried
Summary
The utilization of renewable sources such as solar energy for building heating is an effective method to lower electricity consumption [1]. Results showed that energy heating needs can be reduced by 16.36% if a Trombe wall is added to the building envelope. Mootz and Bezian [10] set up the theoretical model of Trombe wall to analyze the influence of air channel depth on performance. Burek and Habeb [11] conducted an experimental study on the mass flow rate and heat transfer in the Trombe wall. Results showed that the mass flow rate increases with the increasing heat input and air channel depth. Results showed that more than 75% of the absorbed heat could be removed by the fluid and effective cooling was achieved. Based on this idea, a dual-function solar collector (DFSC) integrated with building was developed. This factor has been taken into account when the theoretical model was established. (iv) The theoretical model was validated by the experiment and the impact of flow channel structure was investigated
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