EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON COMBINED WINDOW / SOLAR COLLECTOR FOR PASSIVE THERMAL COMFORT AND WATER HEATING
Zeeshan Ali1; Muhammad Toseef Akram1
1 UNICAMP - Universidade Estadual de Campinas
Resumo
Thermal comfort and water heating in buildings are two services which consume a lot of electric energy. Windows are essential esthetic elements in a building permitting natural illumination and visual contact with the external ambient. They are responsible for the big thermal load and degradation of the room interior due to UV radiation. Hot water is equally energy consuming service necessary for domestic and commercial sanitary activities. To reduce energy consumption and emissions while keeping passive thermal comfort and supply of hot water for general use, a novel window that combines the function as a window and also as a solar collector for hot water is proposed. This window can also be used as skylight element for natural internal illumination. The window is composed of double glass separated by a gap where water is allowed to flow under a head. A radiation reflecting film is fixed on inner surface of the second glass sheet. The combined window/solar collector was tested under real open air conditions at different angles of inclinations ranging from nearly 0° to 90°. The results indicate a thermal efficiency varying from 45% to 67% and hot water volume of 47(L) at final temperature of 57 oC for collector area of 0.5358(m2).Also it was found that, at small inclination angles the collector performance was also good confirming its suitability as an element for skylight.
Palavras-chave: Thermal comfort; Solar collector; Passive comfort; Combined window/solar collector; Free hot water