Heating and cooling in high-rise buildings using facade-integrated transparent solar thermal collector systems

Abstract

New facades of high-rise buildings often include renewable energy converters to allow "green building" operation. At the same time, numerous tenants value visual transparency. Transparent solar thermal collectors (TSTCs) aim at decreasing the non-renewable primary energy demand and increasing the visual transparency at the same time. On the one hand, this paper presents the main modelling challenges that arise when considering building facades and especially integrated TSTC systems. New transient systems simulation (TRNSYS) [Beckman, W. A., L. Broman, A. Fiksel, S. A. Klein, E. Lindberg, M. Schuler, and J. Thornton. 1994. "TRNSYS The Most Complete Solar Energy System Modelling and Simulation Software." Renewable Energy 5 (1-4): 486-488] types have been especially developed for this purpose. A simplified model is presented for comparison purposes. On the other hand, the overall performance for a building with facade-integrated TSTC, as measured by its non-renewable prima ry energy demand, is treated. This is achieved by considering a complete simulation model coupling the TSTC, building and heating, ventilation and air conditioning operation. Possibilities for primary energy savings are investigated using the building mass as additional thermal storage

Modelling and simulation of Building-Integrated solar thermal systems: Behaviour of the coupled building/system configuration

“…Maurer et al [51] investigated the heating and cooling performance of a high-rise building incorporating façade-integrated Transparent Solar Thermal Collectors (TSTCs). New TRNSYS types with a detailed physical model were developed to simulate the performance of the TSTC system.…”

Approaches, Methods and Tools for Solar Energy in Urban Planning

“…At the final phase in urban planning, the architectural design phase, when the building services of the buildings need to be designed, detailed physical models of the BIST building envelopes can be provided from a manufacturer (Maurer et al, 2013). BIST may be more complex than conventional building envelopes, but this complexity can be kept within a simulation model which can be handled as easily as other simulation models in simulation environments.…”

Modelling and simulation of Building-Integrated solar thermal systems: Behaviour of the system

“…In terms of integration, some systems are in building façade [2,3] or in building gutters [5][6][7]. Concerning modelling investigations, some studies give emphasis on the system itself [5][6][7] and some examine the system in conjunction with the building in a holistic approach [4,8,9].…”