A numerical and experimental study of a dual-function solar collector integrated with building in passive space heating mode

Abstract

A newly designed solar collector named dual-function solar collector is proposed. The dual-function solar collector integrated with building can perform in two different modes: working as a passive space heating collector in cold sunny days such as in winter, or working as a facade water heating collector in hot days such as in summer. An experimental study has been carried out to investigate the performance of the novel system in space heating mode, whilst, the dynamic numerical model has been established and validated. The experimental and numerical results show that during the period of the measurement from 9 : 00 to 17 : 00, the mean indoor temperature was up to 24.7°C while the mean ambient temperature was only 4.8°C, and a temperature stratification was present in the room. Moreover, a numerical study on the effect of optical property of coatings has been carried out.dual-function solar collector integrated with building, passive space heating, water heating, building energy efficiency, selective absorbing coating, nickel-alumina coating, black paint Citation:Ji J, Luo C L, Sun W, et al. A numerical and experimental study of a dual-function solar collector integrated with building in passive space heating mode.

Recent progress on renewable energy in engineering thermophysics

“…In the field of solar energy domain [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44], many researches have focused on solar thermal applications. For example, Liu et al [33] carried out the experimental investigation on a parabolic trough solar collector for thermal power generation.…”

“…Refs. [36,37] proposed a newly designed solar collector, so-called dual-function solar collector. Chen et al [38,39] experimentally investigated several kinds of high temperature molten salts on viscosity-temperature characteristics with high-temperature viscometer, as well as the effect of a dual-function solar collector integrated with building on the cooling load of building in summer.…”

Effect of a dual-function solar collector integrated with building on the cooling load of building in summer

“…The design of the module is based on the traditional flat-plate collector, but with a broadened air gap between the absorber panel and the backboard, on which two vents are opened as shown in Figure 1. The detailed parameters have been given in [8].…”

“…By making investigation on the proposed dual-function solar collector integrated with building, a testing system has been established and the experimental measure has been achieved [8]. In this study, it is to use the experimental data to validate the model established above.…”

“…However it still has some limitations which restrict its wider use, such as the problem that there are not always sufficient suitable and right oriented roof areas available for the installation of solar collectors and the problem of water-freezing in winter [6,7]. Therefore, a novel dual-function solar collector integrated with building has been proposed, and experimental study on it has been reported [8].In the present work, the numerical and experimental study on the novel system in water heating mode with natural circulation is made. A coupled simulation model for the collector and its correlation with building environment is established and validated.…”