Preparation of Palygorskite-based Phase Change Composites for Thermal Energy Storage and Their Applications in Trombe Walls

Palygorskite/paraffin phase-change composites were prepared by the combination of purified palygorskite clay and sliced paraffin. Then, this composite was used in the Trombe wall to improve its energy storage ability. Further, its energy storage ability was compared to that of ordinary concrete wall through contrastive test. The experiments show that palygorskite clay is a type of clay mineral with strong adsorption ability, and the purity of natural palygorskite clay can reach up to 97.1% after certain purification processes. Paraffin is well adsorbed by palygorskite, and the test results show that the optimal adsorption ratio is palygorskite： paraffin = 2：1（mass ratio）. Palygorskite/paraffin phase change composites can be obtained by using palygorskite as the adsorbing medium to adsorb paraffin. The composite materials exhibit good heat storage（release） performance, which can store heat with increasing environment temperature and release heat with decreasing temperature. This property not only increases the inertia to environment temperature change, but also promotes the energy migration in different time and space, thus achieving a certain energy-saving effect. The application of palygorskite/paraffin phase change composite materials to the Trombe wall can significantly reduce the fluctuation of indoor temperature and enhance the thermal inertia of indoor environment. From the aspect of energy storage effect, the Trombe wall fabricated using PCMs is significantly superior to the concrete wall with the same thickness.

Numerical Study of Mixed Convection in a Photovoltaic Trombe Wall Channel Coupled with a Solar Chimney Integrated into a Building for Habitats Passive Cooling

The solar chimney can generate airflow through the living space of the building to provide cooling. Hence, solar energy represents the best renewable, environmentally friendly source of energy that can be used for heating and cooling of houses. The present paper reports the numerical study of the performance of the mixed convection in the associated hybrid Photovoltaic/Thermal chimneys integrated into building for natural habitat ventilation. The front side glass plate of the chimneys is heated by a non-uniform daily solar radiation flux. Air is considered to be the cooling fluid. The stream fucntion-vorticity formulation with a finite difference numerical discretization solution scheme has been adopted. The system of algebraic governing equations is solved by Thomas algorithm method. The aim of the present paper is to study and to predict the dynamic fields and particularly of the mass flow rate of the air thermosiphon drawing in the associated hybrid Photovoltaic-Thermal chimneys integrated into a building for passive cooling in the habitats. The effects of the governing parameters, namely Reynolds number (30 ≤ Re ≤ 200), Rayleigh number (103 ≤ Ra≤ 105), the integrated chimney width on the fluid flow and the heat transfer characteristics, are studied in detail. The local Nusselt number, streamlines, isotherms, PV cells electrical efficiency and the outlet velocity at the top of the channels are the results represented versus the above controlling parameters.

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

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 m^(2),75 m^(2) and 95 m^(2))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℃.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.

Thermal comfort in a building with Trombe wall integrated with phase change materials in hot summer and cold winter region without air conditioning

Trombe wall and phase change materials(PCMs)are two effective ways to regulate indoor thermal comfort.However,Trombe wall surfers from overheating in summer and PCMs suffer from low heat transfer rate caused by the limited thermal conductivity.To compensate the shortcomings of the two methods,this paper proposed a Trombe wall system integrated with PCMs.Based on a light-weight building envelope in Changsha,China,the thermal comfort of 10 kinds of Trombe wall systems with PCMs with a melting temperature of 18-28℃ were studied.Taking the integrated indoor discomfort duration(I_(D)),integrated indoor discomfort degree-hour(I_(DH)),indoor air temperature(T_(in)),PCM liquid fraction(γ)and heat flux across wall(q)as evaluation indexes,the indoor thermal comfort was assessed in hot summer and cold winter region.Results show that the Trombe wall helped PCMs complete the phase change process effectively.Trombe wall with PCM25 next to the wall inner surface possessed the lowest annual I_(D) and I_(DH),as 2877 h and 12,974℃·h,respectively.Compared with the values in a traditional building,the I_(D) and I_(DH) were reduced by 7.01% and 14.14%.In order to give full play to the heat storage and heat release of the Trombe wall with PCMs,PCMs with phase change temperature 7℃ lower than the peak ambient temperature in summer or 8℃ higher than the winter night temperature was recommended according to regional climate conditions.

A Novel Combined Trombe Wall System for Village Houses in Cold Regions of China

Trombe walls have significant energy-saving features and are therefore of great interest to researchers.However,additional research about the Trombe wall is needed to reduce indoor temperature fluctuations and to improve thermal behavior under different climatic conditions.A new Trombe wall system was proposed which uses Venetian blinds and a basement.The field tests were conducted to compare the thermal performance of four types of rooms:(ⅰ)no Trombe wall(control),(ⅱ)classical Trombe wall(TW),(ⅲ)Trombe wall with Venetian blinds(TW+VB),and(ⅳ)Trombe wall with Venetian blinds and a basement(TW+VB+B).The field measurements were conducted during the winter near Shihezi City in northwest China.The objective of this study was(ⅰ)to evaluate the thermal performance of a novel Trombe wall system under different operation conditions,and(ⅱ)to confirm the optimal angle of Venetian blinds during the heating period.The results demonstrated that the TW+VB+B system effectively reduced indoor temperature fluctuations after sunset.Furthermore,during the daytime,the average air temperatures in the test rooms were 13.6℃higher in the TW+VB+B system than in the control.The average temperature at the air outlet in the TW+VB+B system was 4.9℃higher than that in the TW+VB system during the daytime,and the average predicted mean vote(PMV)of the test room was 1.02 units greater in the TW+VB+B system than in the control.The thermal efficiency remains in the range of 40%-65%when the Venetian blind angle was set at 45°.In conclusion,the experiment results showed that the TW+VB+B system can not only reduce indoor temperature fluctuations but also improve thermal performance in winter.Both the heating energy consumption in buildings and pollutants emission in the environment were lessened through the application of this passive solar energy-saving technology.Therefore,this can provide valuable insights for improving the thermal performance of the novel Trombe Wall system in such village houses.

A Study of Passive Solar House Design

This paper deals with the investigation of the principles of passive solar house design, passive solar systems, and techniques for solar house design. It is expected that the research is to be of momentous significance to the design and construction of passive solar house, and may make contribution to the massive energy efficient housing construction in our country.