Ventilation pre-heating effectiveness of a pcm solar air collector with ventilated window system

Abstract

This paper proposed a PCM solar air collector with ventilated window system to store solar energy for ventilation pre-heating purpose. The PCM stores the solar energy when the solar radiation is available and releases the heat to the ventilated air when the room is occupied and the fresh air is needed. The additional heat gained from solar radiation is used as a substitute energy demand of the building. A conduction finite difference model is built in Energyplus to simulate the heat transfer of the PCM solar air collector and the energy balance of the system. The model is validated by a full-scale experimental test. The model is then used to evaluate the energy saving potential of applying the PCM solar air collector for residential and office buildings in 3 cities for the represent of 3 different climate zones. The climate analysis shows that the percentage of the days when PCM is activated is 33.11%, 33.77% and 62.91% for Copenhagen, Geneva, and Rome respectively in winter and spring seasons. The energy analysis found out that the HVAC energy saving potential of applying PCM solar air collector for residential building is 29.19%, 33.69% and 65.11% for Copenhagen, Geneva and Rome respectively. For office building it is 26.86%, 31.64% and 41.09% for Copenhagen, Geneva and Rome respectively.