Trombe walls with porous medium insertion and their influence on thermal comfort in flats in Cusco, Peru

Abstract

The Trombe wall is a passive indirect heating system which should be used in Cusco, Peru to improve thermal conditions against the typical frosts and low temperatures during winter in the high Andean regions. Due to this problem, the use of a modified Trombe wall with insertion of porous medium is proposed to improve thermal comfort in flat buildings in Cusco. This research aims to analyse and compare the performance of dwellings without Trombe wall, with traditional Trombe wall, and with Trombe wall with glass and plastic pellets insertion in thermal comfort improvement. Autodesk® CFD was used to simulate and analyse the system. The simulation was performed with three prototype flats (55 m2, 75 m2 and 95 m2) for six months of the year. From the results obtained, the level of thermal comfort in the traditional scenarios is low with an average PMV of -1.86, in the scenarios with Trombe wall is good and in the scenarios with Trombe wall with insertion of porous medium is slightly better than the previous one, reaching an average PMV of +0.10 and a temperature of 21.90°C. The study carried out is important because it represents an efficient eco-sustainable heating alternative that improves the thermal comfort sensation in houses during the coldest months of the year.