Experimental evaluation of the heat balance of an interactive glass wall in a heating season

Abstract

The paper presents an evaluation of the energy efficiency of an interactive glass wall (IGW) prototype. It is a design analogous to Trombe wall. It is capable of giving out the solar radiation heat gains after the sunset. It responds interactively to solar exposure and temperature conditions, regulating the thermal resistance adequately to the requirements. The evaluation of the efficiency of the IGW was based on the analysis of density of heat flux measured on the inner surface of the wall. The experiments were conducted in field conditions using a test chamber of regulated air temperature. The identified parameters of solar energy losses and efficiency enable the IGW heat balance in a heating season in selected climatic conditions to be predicted. In the present paper the IGW heat balance is calculated for the climate in Poland. The calculations proved that the gains of the heat absorbed from solar radiation wall overweigh the losses.