Solar Building Design Research Articles

Artificial Neural Network based Prediction of Solar Radiation for Indian Stations

ABSTRACT The Artificial Neural Network (ANN) fitting tool is used for the prediction of solar radiation. Solar radiation data from 12 Indian stations with different climatic conditions are used for training and testing the ANN. The Levenberg-Marquard (LM) algorithm is used in this analysis. The results of ANN model are compared with measured data on the basis of root mean square error (RMSE) and mean bias error (MBE). It is found that RMSE in the ANN model varies 0.0486–3.562 for Indian region. Keywords Solar radiation, Levenberg-Marquard (LM) algorithm , Artificial neural network. knowledge. ANN has 1. INTRODUCTION Solar radiation data are required for a number of solar thermal and Solar photovoltaic applications like solar power generation, solar heating, cooking, drying and solar passive design of buildings [1–4]. The measured solar radiation data are not available for most of the sites due to high cost, maintenance of the measuring instruments. As such, various empirical models have been used to predict monthly mean daily solar radiation all over the world [5–9]. The Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are used to solve a number of scientific problems. It has the capability to approximate any continuous non-linear function to arbitrary accuracy [10]. A multi-layer feed-forward neural network can approximate a continuous function due to its robustness, parallel architecture and fault tolerance capability. In past years, ANN models are used by a number of researchers to estimate solar radiation [11–15] and concluded that ANN model are proven to be superior to other empirical regression models. Reddy [11] used Radial Basis Functions (RBF) and Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) models to predict solar radiation using data from eight stations in Oman. So¨zen [12] determined the solar-energy potential in Turkey using artificial neural networks. A Rehman and Mohandes [15] estimated function asdaily global solar radiation for Abha city in Saudi Arabia by taking air temperature, number of day and relative humidity as inputs to neural networks. The results obtained indicate that the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) is 4.49%. M.A. Behrang et. al [17] predicted DATAdaily global solar radiation for Dezful city in Iran by using different ANN techniques based on different combination of meteorological variables (day of the year, daily mean air temperature, relative humidity, sunshine hours, evaporation and wind speed). The MAPE for the Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) network is 5.21% while this value is 5.56% for Radial Basis Function (RBF) network. Mohandes et al. [16] has used RBF network for modeling solar radiation and compares its performance with MLP model by using latitude, longitude, altitude and sunshine duration as input parameters. The average MAPE for the MLP network is 12.6 and the average MAPE for RBF networks is 10.1. In the present study, an ANN model is developed which can be used to predict solar radiation at any given location in India.

Improved Passive Solar Hot-Air Heating of Residential Design and Research

Climate characteristics of Shihezi area, present passive solar building planning and design of residential and architectural design requirements; Through the improvement of traditional passive solar heating system, and adopt collection hot wall completely cover housing south wall and other measures to improve thermal efficiency sets. To pilot project as an example, the use of SLR method calculated, the system, in Shihezi the coldest month is January, solar fraction can reach 31%.

A study of the ventilation performance of a series of connected solar chimneys integrated with building

A series of connected solar chimneys consisting of an inclined section on the roof and a vertical section near the south wall was studied in a typical two-floor house. Specifically, the effects of the total length and width of the chimney, the inclined angle of the second floor inlet, the length ratio of the vertical to inclined section, and the chimney inclined angle on the chimney ventilation performance were numerically studied. The results showed that the ventilation was improved with the increase of the total chimney length. The air mass flow rate increased firstly then decreased with the chimney width, indicating that there existed an optimal length to width ratio, which was 12:1. Similarly, the mass flow rate increased firstly then decreased with the inclined angle of the second floor chimney inlet. The optimal inclined angle was found to be 4° from the horizontal. At the fixed total chimney length, the air mass flow rate also varied with the length ratio of the vertical to inclined section, and the maximum mass flow rate can be achieved by choosing the longest vertical length within the restriction of the building code. Finally, with the increase of chimney inclined angle, the velocity distribution inside the chimney was improved and the air flow rate increased. These results may provide the theoretical basis for the practical solar building design.

Causes and Architectural Solution to Heat and Nonconducive Air Condition in the Congregation Space of Worship Facilities

Passive Solar building aspire to maintain interior thermal comfort allthrough the sun’s daily and annual cycles at the same time as reducing the requirement for active cooling and heating systems. Passive solar building design is one fraction of green building design and does not consist of active systems such as mechanical ventilation or photovoltaic; on this premise of green solution lay architectural explanations and way out of the problems of heat and non conducive air condition in interior spaces irrespective of the facility type and use. This paper outlines the importance of creating and or finding green resolutions to thermal discomfort using the tool of architecture rather than machines in congregation spaces. It also reveals the demonstration/ case study of an existing worship facility experiencing severe internal thermal discomfort during worship activities, including processes required to finding solution against such challenges.Key words- Heat and Insulation

A theoretical study on area compensation for non-directly-south-facing solar collectors

Solar energy integrated with the building is an important approach for the synchronous development of solar energy and architecture. The energy gain of the solar collector integrated with the pitched roof has been greatly influenced by the roof azimuth and tilted angle. Investment cost of the collectors is mainly decided by the size of the collector area. Accordingly, it is significant for solar building design to economically determinate the area compensation of the solar collector at different azimuth and tilted angles. Take Kunming and Beijing as examples, area compensation for the flat-plate tube-fin solar collector used in southern regions and the evacuated tube collector with cylindrical absorbers used in northern regions in China have been theoretically calculated. The results to some extent show that the daily horizontal solar radiation, ambient temperature, the azimuth and tilted angle of the collector integrated into the roof have an influence on the area compensation. The azimuth angle and tilted angle of the roof are the main factors that influence the A/ A 0, which is defined as the collector area ratio of the non-south-facing collectors to the south-facing ones with the optimal tilted angle. Comparative studies found that the range of A/ A 0 for the evacuated tube collector used in the northern regions is close to that for the flat-plate tube-fin solar collector used in the southern regions. When the pitched roof tilted angle β ∈ [25°, 45°] and the azimuth angle ∣ γ∣ ⩽ 30°, the collectors can intercept a lot of solar radiant-energy. Considering the economic situations of the ordinary consumers in China, the optimal area compensation A/ A 0 ⩽ 1.30 is recommended in this paper.

Estimation of Luminous efficacy of daylight and exterior illuminance for composite climate of Indore city in Mid Western India

Daylighting is one of the basic components of passive solar building design and its estimation is essential. In India there are a few available data of measured illuminance as in many regions of the world. The Indian climate is generally clear with overcast conditions prevailing through the months of June to September, which provides good potential to daylighting in buildings. Therefore, an analytical model that would encompass the weather conditions of Indore was selected. Hourly exterior horizontal and slope daylight availability has been estimated for Indore using daylight modeling techniques based on solar radiation data.

Energy Use of Buildings in Central Argentina

The present work analyzes the consumption of energy of three typologically and technologically different buildings, and its interaction with dimensional, morphological, and thermal indicators. The comparison of heat energy consumed by the conventional and the solar buildings (individual and apartments) allows the evaluation of the energy saved through the use of passive solar techniques and thermal envelopes. The study buildings are located in Santa Rosa (capital of the province of La Pampa) in Argentina. The latitudinal variation of degree days oscillates between 1300 and 1600 C to the north and the south, respectively. The results show the high correlation between the energy consumption and the energy loss through the building’s envelope. In buildings with conventional technology, the envelope (without insulation) reaches a G value of 4.13 W/m3 C, higher than the admissible maximum value stipulated by the N. IRAM 11604 for the study region. The technologically optimized construction through the use of an energy-efficient envelope, a carpentry with double glazing, and a collecting area of 12% with respect to the building’s useful area allowed an energy saving of around 75% during winter. The results confirm the large potential of the solar building design to reach significant levels of energy saving, and the comparison of solar and conventional buildings in terms of natural gas consumption confirms the magnitude of such a potential.

05/01646 Development of energy-efficient passive solar building design in Nicosia Cyprus

05/01646 Development of energy-efficient passive solar building design in Nicosia Cyprus

Development of energy-efficient passive solar building design in Nicosia Cyprus

Analyses have been done on different techniques of passive solar control using local climatic data (for 25-year period) to obtain physical building design. Our main aim is to provide general and appropriate information at strategic pre-design stages to make better use of passive solar energy in urban planning and building design for better indoor ‘comfort’ climate. It utilizes manual analysis techniques or Mahoney tables and ACHIPAK to develop ‘comfort zones’, and ‘control potential zones’, for the Capital City of Nicosia (Cyprus). The use of the control potential zones (CPZs) in pre-design of buildings and their objectives are discussed. Opportunities and limitations of the pre-design guidelines are also discussed.

Heat and moisture transport in durian fiber based lightweight construction materials

This paper presents result on heat and moisture transport in durian (Durio zibethinus) fiber based lightweight construction materials composed of cement, sand and waste fiber from durian peel and the performance of the material was simulated with the surface treatment by using a computational tool. The commercial research software (WUFI 2D) was used to calculate heat and moisture transfer through a durian fiber based lightweight construction material. The materials were exposed to a climate condition similar to the one in Bangkok and the hygrothermal characteristics of the materials were investigated. The investigation reveals that the weekly mean water content on the surface of material was quite low. The effect of moisture on the apparent thermal performance of the composite was found to be higher as water absorbed in the pore structure contributed to higher thermal conductivity than the air it replaced. However, the mean value of thermal conductivity in material is still rather low as the mean value of water content in material is low. Coating the surface reduced the flow of moisture to or from the structure considerably. The results of simulation confirmed that the manufactured composite satisfied the requirement of construction materials. It is then reasonable to conclude that the use of such materials in the design and construction of passive solar buildings is promising. Laboratory investigation is undergoing to validate the simulated performance.

Daylighting as a passive solar design strategy in tropical buildings: a case study of Malaysia

The use of daylighting in buildings and architecture is not new. Natural lighting became out of vogue due to the availability of cheap electricity, the predictability and the ability to control illumination levels due to artificial lighting. However, the alarm over rapid depletion of energy resources and the environmental effects of their applications have led designers to reuse daylighting strategies in buildings in order to minimise energy use for lighting and air conditioning as a result of heat gains from the daylight sources and the electrical fixtures. This paper describes a study on the savings achieved by using daylight in passive solar design of buildings and, in this case, the size of windows. Simulated exterior illuminance levels based on long term measured solar irradiation and cloud cover data were used to estimate interior illumination on normal working planes using simple building configurations. Illumination on these planes decreases the need for artificial lighting, thus energy can be saved. A simple algorithm was then used to calculate the overall cooling load to ascertain that the daylighting strategies used do not invoke an increase in thermal gains through walls and glazings. The findings from this study show that at least 10% savings can be produced from simple daylighting strategies.

A new approach for predicting vertical global solar irradiance

Solar irradiance, particularly on vertical surfaces, plays a major role in determining the thermal and energy performance of a building. It is important to the design and analysis of both active solar systems and passive solar buildings. Many mathematical models are mainly developed to predict the sky-diffuse irradiance on inclined surfaces from the measured horizontal diffuse component. This paper presents an approach to estimate the vertical global irradiance based on direct beam and ground-reflected components which can be accurately determined. Hourly data recorded from January 1996 to December 1998 in Hong Kong were used for the model development. The performance of the proposed model and two well-known anisotropic inclined surface models (Muneer and Perez) was evaluated against data measured in 1999. Statistical analysis indicated that the proposed model gives reasonably good agreement with measured data for all vertical planes. Although the new model has been found less effective than the Perez model, its simplicity nature provides buildings designers a convenient and reliable alternative in the estimation of vertical solar irradiance.

Design of passive solar buildings in urban areas

This paper is about designing solar buildings within given urban contexts and the resulting restrictions rather than about town planning with the freedom to arrange buildings freely so as to maximise access to natural resources. A comprehensive bioclimatic design in such a given urban environment must carefully investigate and assess the building’s access to natural resources while taking into account the negative influences that might prevail around the site. The associated constraints can be a challenging but very interesting and rewarding starting point for architectural design. If understood and considered from the beginning these constraints can lead to creative, innovative and beautiful architectural solutions, in other words, to real architecture.

Bringing simulation to implementation: presentation of a global approach in the design of passive solar buildings under humid tropical climates

In early 1995, a DSM pilot initiative was launched in the French islands of Guadeloupe and La Reunion through a partnership between several public and private partners (the French Public Utility EDF, the University of Reunion Island, low cost housing companies, architects, energy consultants, etc…) to set up standards to improve thermal design of new residential buildings in tropical climates. This partnership led to defining optimized bio-climatic urban planning and architectural designs featuring the use of passive cooling architectural principles (solar shading, natural ventilation) and components, as well as energy efficient systems and technologies. The design and size of each architectural component with regard to internal thermal comfort in buildings has been assessed with validated thermal and airflow building simulation software (CODYRUN). These technical specifications have been edited in a reference document which has been used to build over 800 new pilot dwellings through the years 1996–2000 in Reunion Island and in Guadeloupe. Monitoring experiments were held in these first ECODOM dwellings in 1998 and 1999. This resulted in experimental validation of the impact of the passive cooling strategies on the thermal comfort of occupants leading to the modification of specifications when necessary. The paper presents all the methodology used for the application of ECODOM, from the simulations to the experimental results. This follow up is important, as the setting up of the ECODOM standard will be the first step towards the introduction of thermal regulations in the French overseas territories, by the year 2002.

Design tools for bio-climatic and passive solar buildings

Tools for design and evaluation of bio-climatic and passive solar buildings are presented. The paper discusses different kinds of tools for the various design stages. Accordingly, existing tools can be classified as either generative or evaluative tools. Generative design tools aid in the definition of the proper geometry and solution. Therefore, they are the best tools for the early design stages. Evaluative tools study in detail the performance of a given design. Hence, they fit advanced design stages. Moreover, evaluative tools may be used to derive design guidelines that are required for the early design stages. These guidelines can be embedded in expert systems as a knowledge base. Examples of such tools are presented. Emphasis is put on the early design stages.

Building Integration Of Solar Energy Systems

The way solar systems are used in buildings is different from what it used to be. Buildings are no longer designed to use just passive solar energy systems, such as windows and sunspaces, or active solar systems, such as solar water collectors. In fact, the words passive and active no longer make sense, as the newer buildings combine several of these technologies. They may be both energy efficient, solar heated and cooled, and PV powered, i.e. they are simply “solar buildings”. The paper discusses the various approaches in building integration of solar systems, and presents a number of successful examples. It also presents some of the work being done on improving the design processes to account for the need for a holistic approach to solar building design.

Winshade: a computer design tool for solar control

Computer-Aided Design tools have generated new possibilities in the passive solar design of buildings. WINSHADE is an integrated computer tool for the design of passive solar control through building fenestrations. It is based on the generation and the optimization paradigms of Computer Aided Design. Given the required inputs, it automatically generates prescriptive quantitative information to design optimum external shading devices and to select appropriate type of glass. The paper explains the theory and principles underlying this software and illustrates the outputs derived by running WINSHADE for a test case.

96/05142 General shading model for solar building design

This paper describes a general principle for accurate calculation of the effect of shading objects on surfaces exposed to direct solar radiation. The principle used is known as polygon clipping, a technique for determining every subpolygon that arises when two or more polygons overlap one another. In this case, the obstructing objects are approximated by polygons in space, projected as seen from the sun, at any given time of the year, onto the exposed surface of interest, so that every sunlit region and the fully or partly shaded regions of the plane surface can be determined. The technique has been implemented in a PC software application, which can function as a stand-alone design tool or may be integrated with programs for thermal simulation of buildings or solar systems. The paper gives examples of the use of application, shows its functionality when integrated with a thermal simulation tool, and presents comparative validations against the standard ASHRAE algorithms for calculations of overhangs and side fins.

Simulations and knowledge-based computer-aided architectural design (CAAD) systems for passive and low energy architecture

This paper describes a methodology for supporting computationally all phases of an energy-conscious design and evaluation process, by combining procedural simulation and knowledge-based heuristic methods in one integrated system. Based on this methodology knowledge-based computer-aided architectural design systems for the design and evaluation of solar and low-energy buildings are presented. The knowledge-base contains the heuristic rules for the design of passive solar buildings. Whenever possible, the knowledge-base guides the designer through the decision-making process. Yet, if the rules of thumb are not acceptable for the particular design problem, the knowledge-based system guides the architect by using procedural simulation models.

95/06227 Solar efficient design of buildings

95/06227 Solar efficient design of buildings