真空玻璃与单层玻璃盖板PV/T集热器性能的对比研究

提出一种真空玻璃盖板平板式PV/T集热器,建立了真空玻璃和单层玻璃盖板PV/T集热器的传热模型,并分别搭建了两种PV/T热水系统的实验平台进行模型的实验验证。预测结果与实验测量结果的均方根偏差（RMSD）在0.71% ~ 11.17%之间。利用数学模型模拟了真空玻璃与单层玻璃盖板PV/T集热器在合肥冬季的热、电性能,并比较了两者性能的差异。模拟结果表明真空玻璃盖板PV/T集热器的顶部热损失平均为22 W,而单层玻璃盖板PV/T集热器热损失平均为107 W。使用真空玻璃盖板能显著减少PV/T集热器的顶部热损失。真空玻璃盖板PV/T集热器相对单层玻璃盖板PV/T集热器的全天热效率提高了5.68%,二者分别为41.76%和36.08%,全天电效率分别为11.76%和12.79%,相差1.03%。     

Low heat loss double-glazed windows

We propose a simple and relatively inexpensive method to reduce the heat loss of standard double-glazed windows. This result is achieved by the introduction of thin, transparent, convection-suppression, transverse slats between the glass panes and increasing the glazing gap so as to increase the conductive resistance. These windows have about 3/4 of the thermal resistance of evacuated windows at far lower cost and greater reliability.     

Visual and energy performance of switchable windows with antireflection coatings

The aim of this project was to investigate how the visual appearance and energy performance of switchable or smart windows can be improved by using antireflective coatings. For this study clear float glass, low-e glass and electrochromic glass were treated with antireflection (AR) coatings. Such a coating considerably increases the transmittance of solar radiation in general and the visible transmittance in particular. For switchable glazing based on absorptive electrochromic layers in their dark state it is necessary to use a low-emissivity coating on the inner pane of a double glazed window in order to reject the absorbed heat. In principle all surfaces can be coated with AR coatings, and it was shown that a thin AR coating on the low-e surface neither influences the thermal emissivity nor the U-value of the glazing. The study showed that the use of AR coatings in switchable glazing significantly increases the light transmittance in the transparent state. It is believed that this is important for a high level of user acceptance of such windows.     

Numerical analysis of the thermal behaviour of glazed ventilated facades in Mediterranean climates. Part II: applications and analysis of results

Double-skin envelopes are an attractive design option for high-end buildings. They allow architects to combine completely transparent external facades with an internal skin, which can also be transparent, or partially opaque. Between both skins there is an air channel that is used to collect or evacuate the solar radiation absorbed by the facade. This design may be a solution for reducing thermal overheating, which is common in completely transparent facades in Mediterranean climates. A numerical code was developed to analyze and predict the thermal behaviour of these facades. This code was applied to the analysis of the ‘standard’ geometry of a double-skin facade. A parametric study was carried out for typical Mediterranean climates to determine the influence of different variables, such as the position of blinds, the introduction of solid–liquid phase-change materials (PCM) and the use of low-ε glazing, etc. In order to characterize the thermal performance of the facades, two coefficients were defined that relate the indoor and enthalpic gains to the solar radiation. If they are designed carefully, ventilated facades will exhibit a significantly better passive behaviour than conventional glazed facades and also allow energy to be collected in the form of hot air to be used to reduce energy consumption in winter.     

Collector cum storage solar water heaters with and without transparent insulation material

The integrated collector–storage solar water heaters are less expensive and can offer the best alternative for domestic applications particularly to small families to meet hot water requirements. The top heat losses of such solar water heaters are quite high during the night and the temperature of stored hot water is considerably reduced unless covered with extra insulating cover in the evening which is a cumbersome job. The transparent insulation material widely used in Europe for space heating can also minimize top heat losses, if used in such solar water heaters. For this purpose, two units of solar collector cum storage water heaters have been designed to study the relative effect of TI for retaining solar heated hot water for a night duration. Both units were identical in all respects except one of them was covered with TIM. The theoretical exercise was carried out to evaluate design parameters of ISC which revealed total heat loss factor (U_L) 1.03 W/m² K with TIM glazed against 7.06 W/m² K with glass glazed. The TIM glazed has been found to be quite effective as compared to glass glazed SWH and yielded hot water at higher temperature by 8.5 to 9.5°C the next morning. The storage efficiency of such solar water heaters has been found to be 39.8% with TIM glazed as compared to 15.1% without TIM. The TIM glazing means not having to cover the ISC solar water heater with a separate insulator cover in the evening and thus makes its operation much simpler.     

Mathematical modeling of a box-type solar cooker employing an asymmetric compound parabolic concentrator

A novel design of solar cooker is introduced. The cooker is of box-type equipped with an asymmetric compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) as booster-reflector. It consists of an insulated box equipped with a vertical double glazing cover on a side, and a vertical absorber plate laid out just behind the transparent cover. The booster-reflector is fixed on the glazed side of the box. The absorber plate and the glazing form a vertical channel, open at the top and bottom, and enclosed at the sides. The two openings allow the inside air circulation. A mathematical model of the heat transfer processes involved with this solar cooker, containing a cooking pot loaded with water and deposited on the box floor; was developed and the effects of various parameters, such as solar radiation, load of water and clouds on the dynamic behavior of the cooker are studied.     

Numerical analysis of the thermal behaviour of ventilated glazed facades in Mediterranean climates. Part I: development and validation of a numerical model

Ventilated glazed facades are formed by two layers of different materials, opaque or transparent, that are separated by an air channel, used to collect or evacuate the solar radiation that is absorbed by the facade. For architectonic reasons, the outer layer is usually made entirely of glass, while the indoor layer may be partially opaque. This allows direct solar gains to be reduced and increases the thermal inertia of the building. This paper is a presentation of a code for the numerical simulation of ventilated and conventional facades. It is based on time-accurate, one-dimensional discretizations for the channel and the different solid zones, and allows heat fluxes and temperature distributions in the facade to be obtained over the course of one year. The numerical code allows advanced elements to be integrated into the facade, such as phase change materials, selective surfaces and improved glasses. The code has been validated by comparing it with analytical solutions where possible, with reference situations and with experimental measurements obtained in real-site test facilities in different climatic conditions. The numerical code is a useful tool for optimising the design of facades so as to take advantage of different materials, orientations, geometries and to address different climatic conditions.     

Heat loss coefficients and effective πα products for flat-plate collectors with diathermanous covers

This paper presents an efficient algorithm for solving the set of nonlinear equations governing the total heat transfer across an arbitrary number of parallel flat plate solar collector covers, each of which can be partly transparent to longwave thermal radiation. The governing equations are sufficiently general to permit each cover to have assymetric radiative properties and to account for absorption of solar energy on the individual covers. This theory is shown to be in good agreement with the approximate equations of Whillier (provided certain interpretations are placed on his quantities) and with experiments using a plastic inner cover and bounding plates of various emissivities. Using this theory, it is demonstrated that if the absorber plate has a selective surface, an inner cover transparent to long wave radiation is to be preferred over one which is opaque.     

Novel glazing technologies to mitigate energy consumption in low‐carbon buildings: a comparative experimental investigation

Buildings play a key role in total world energy consumption as a consequence of poor thermal insulation characteristics of facade materials. Among the elements of a typical building envelope, windows are responsible for the greatest energy loss because of their notably high overall heat transfer coefficients. About 60% of heat loss through the building fabric can be attributed to the glazed areas. In this respect, novel cost‐effective glazing technologies are needed to mitigate energy consumption, and thus to achieve the latest targets toward low/zero carbon buildings. Therefore in this study, three unique glazing products called vacuum tube window, heat insulation solar glass and solar pond window which have recently been developed at the University of Nottingham are introduced, and thermal performance analysis of each glazing technology is done through a comparative experimental investigation for the first time in literature. Standardized co‐heating test methodology is performed, and overall heat transfer coefficient (U‐value) is determined for each glazing product following the tests carried out in a calibrated environmental chamber. The research essentially aims at developing cost‐effective solutions to mitigate energy consumption because of windows. The results indicate that each glazing technology provides very promising U‐values which are incomparable with conventional commercial glazing products. Among the samples tested, the lowest U‐value is obtained from the vacuum tube window by 0.40 W/m²K, which corresponds to five times better thermal insulation ability compared to standard air filled double glazed windows. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Entransy flux of thermal radiation and its application to enclosures with opaque surfaces

Entransy is a new concept developed in recent years to measure the transport ability of heat at a temperature in conduction and convection. This paper develops the concept of entransy flux for thermal radiation in enclosures with opaque surfaces. The entransy balance equation and entransy dissipation function are derived. The minimum principle of radiative entransy loss is developed. The potentials and the heat fluxes distribution which meet the Stefan–Boltzmann’s law and the energy balance equation would make the radiative entransy loss minimum if the net heat flux of each surface or the thermal potentials of the surfaces are given. The extremum entransy dissipation principles (EEDP) for thermal radiation are developed. The minimum radiative entransy dissipation leads to the minimum average radiative thermal potential difference for prescribed total heat exchange and the maximum radiative entransy dissipation leads to the maximum heat exchange for prescribed average radiative thermal potential difference. The minimum and maximum principle can be concluded into the minimum thermal resistance principle (MTRP) for thermal radiation by defining the thermal resistance with the entransy dissipation. The EEDP or MTRP is proved to be reliable when they are used to optimize some radiative heat transfer problems, and a comparison is made between the minimum principle of entropy generation and the EEDP.     

Thermal balance at heat reflecting windows

The program described in this paper computes the heat loss by convection and radiation from one or two pane windows, glazed with plastic or glass, coated with infra-red reflecting layers, bloomed to reduce reflection of visible radiation, and whose interpane space is filled with various gases. Comprehensive weather measurements from Kew (London) for the years 1959–1969 are read in for each hour. Energy losses at each glazing element are calculated using data concerning the behaviour of the various coatings and glazing materials towards visible and infra-red radiation. the advantages of coated windows for passive solar heating are discussed.     

Effect of absorption of solar radiation in glass-cover(s) on heat transfer coefficients in upward heat flow in single and double glazed flat-plate collectors

Absorption of solar radiation in the glass cover(s) of a flat plate solar collector increases the temperature of cover(s) and hence changes the values of convective and radiative heat transfer coefficients. The governing equations for the case of single as well as double glazed collector have been solved for inner and outer surface temperatures of glass cover(s) with/without including the effect of absorption of solar radiation in the glass cover(s), with appropriate boundary conditions. The effects of absorption of solar radiation on inner and outer surface temperatures and consequently on convective and radiative heat transfer coefficients have been studied over a wide range of the independent variables. The values of glass cover temperatures obtained from numerical solutions of heat balance equations with and without including the effect of absorption of solar radiation in the glass cover(s) are compared. For a single glazed collector the increase in glass cover temperature due to absorption of solar radiation could be as high as 6°. The increase in temperatures of first and second glass covers of a double glazed collector could be as high as 14° and 11°, respectively. The effect on the convective heat transfer coefficient between the absorber plate and the first glass cover is substantial. The difference in the values of the convective heat transfer coefficients between the absorber plate and the first glass cover (h_cp1) of a double glazed collector for the two cases: (i) including the effect of absorption and (ii) neglecting the effect of absorption in glass cover, could be as high as 49%. Correlations for computing the temperatures of inner and outer surfaces of the glass cover(s) of single and double glazed flat plate collectors are developed. The relations developed enable incorporation of the effect of absorption of solar radiation in glass cover(s) in the relations for inner and outer surface temperatures in a simple manner. By making use of the relations developed for inner and outer surface temperatures of glass cover(s) the convective and radiative heat transfer coefficients can be calculated so close to those obtained by making use of surface temperatures of glass cover(s) obtained by numerical solutions of heat balance equations that numerical solutions of heat balance equations are not required.     

Electrically switchable chromogenic materials for external glazing

The development of chromogenic materials is important for their potential applications as electrically adjustable or thermally self-adjusting light and heat filters in the external glazing of buildings. Recently, we have reported our investigations on electrolyte-liquid crystal dispersions, which show independent electro-optical and electrochromic properties characterized by fast bleaching times. Nevertheless, for the external glazing of buildings, it is recommended to have a transparent off state, which turns opaque upon application of the external field. In this paper, we present our efforts to homeotropically align by rough surfaces fluid mixtures of a low molecular mass liquid crystal with a negative dielectric anisotropy, a liquid crystalline monomer, and electrolyte molecules in order to obtain transparent films after a polymerization process. Upon application of an ac electric field, the device becomes opaque and if a dc field is added, the cell changes colour too. We have also investigated the relationship between electro-optical/chromogenic response and physical chemical properties of the components.     

Influence of thermal emittance on the performance of laminated solar control glazing

Influence of thermal emittance on the performance of laminated solar control glazing is presented. A transient one-dimensional mathematical model allowing the prediction of conductive heat transfer within the glazing and convective and radiative heat transfer from the glazing towards the interior and exterior are considered separately. A constant normal incidence of air mass 2 solar radiation of 750 W/m² was assumed. The redistribution of the component of the solar radiation absorbed by the laminated glass and the shading coefficient (SC) were calculated for solar transmittance, 0.05 to 0.35; thermal emittance of the inner surface of the glazing, 0.15 to 0.85; convective heat transfer coefficient for the exterior surface, 10–100 W/m² K and exterior ambient temperatures of 15°C, 32°C and 45°C. The results indicate that as the emittance decreases, the SC decreases by 10–20% for all cases of ambient temperatures considered. The contribution from the convective mechanisms to the heat transfer to the interior is always higher than that from radiative process in the range of ambient temperatures considered. The results presented in this paper would help to decide whether for a given location of interest, the incorporation of a heat mirror glazing would make a meaningful reduction in the cooling load in enclosures with single glazed windows.     

Energy and exergy analysis of photovoltaic–thermal collector with and without glass cover

In photovoltaic–thermal (PV/T) technology, the use of glass cover on the flat-plate hybrid solar collector is favorable to the photothermic process but not to the photovoltaic process. Because of the difference in the usefulness of electricity and thermal energy, there is often no straight forward answer on whether a glazed or unglazed collector system is more suitable for a specific application. This glazing issue was tackled in this paper from the viewpoint of thermodynamics. Based on experimental data and validated numerical models, a study of the appropriateness of glass cover on a thermosyphon-based water-heating PV/T system was carried out. The influences of six selected operating parameters were evaluated. From the first law point of view, a glazed PV/T system is found always suitable if we are to maximize the quantity of either the thermal or the overall energy output. From the exergy analysis point of view however, the increase of PV cell efficiency, packing factor, water mass to collector area ratio, and wind velocity are found favorable to go for an unglazed system, whereas the increase of on-site solar radiation and ambient temperature are favorable for a glazed system.     

CFD analysis of the thermal losses on the upper part of a flat solar collector

To investigate the reduction of heat losses on the upper part of a flat solar collector, a two‐dimensional study was carried out by CFD analysis using Fluent. For this purpose, the heat transfer behavior in the air gap over a wide range of thicknesses of the latter (1‐20 mm) and the addition of a second glass cover fixed at midheight of the air gap spacing have been investigated. For small thicknesses of the air gap (1‐8 mm), the heat transfer is essentially conductive. An increase in the thickness leads to the intensification of the natural convection which induces high thermal losses. The simulation results have shown that the addition of a second cover glazing leads to the weakening of the natural convection and thus to an average enhancement of the solar collector temperature over the range of thicknesses studied of approximately 17%. The overall thermal losses coefficient is then reduced by an average of 26% compared with the single‐glazed solar collector. They have also shown that the thickness of the air gaps resulting in the minimum overall heat losses is 8 mm and that the thickness of the second glass cover has no significant effect on these results. In addition, this study has highlighted the importance of taking into account the radiation heat transfer in establishing the thermal balance of a flat solar collector. Indeed, this consideration leads to an average decrease of the absorber temperature of about 30%.     

Dynamic performance of a façade-based solar loop heat pipe water heating system

This paper reported a dedicated study of a novel façade-based solar loop heat pipe (LHP) water heating system using both theoretical and experimental methods. This system employs a modular panel incorporating a unique loop heat pipe that is able to serve as part of the building façade or a decoration layer of the façade, thus creating a façade integrated, low cost, highly efficient and aesthetically appealing solar water heating structure. Taking into account heat balances occurring in different parts of the system, e.g., solar absorber, heat pipes loop, heat exchanger and storage tank, a dedicated computer model was developed to investigate the dynamic performance of the system. An experimental rig was also established to evaluate the performance of such a prototype system through measurement of various operational parameters, e.g., solar radiation, temperatures and flow rates of the heat pipe fluid and water. Through comparison between the testing and modelling results, the model has been approved to be able to give a reasonable accuracy for predicting the performance of the LHP system. Two types of glass covers, i.e., double glazed/evacuated tubes and single-glazing plate, were applied to the prototype. It was found that for both covers, the heat pipe fluid temperature rose dramatically at the start-up operation and afterwards remained a slow but steady growth; while the water temperature remained a steadily growing trend throughout the operational day. The temperature rise of the circulated water at 1.6 l/min of flow rate was around 13.5 °C in the double-glazed/evacuated tubes based system and 10 °C in the single-glazing based system; correspondingly, their average solar conversion efficiencies were 48.8% and 36%, and the COPs were 14 and 10.5 respectively. In overall, the double-glazed/evacuated tubes based system presented a better performance than the single glazing based one.     

Comparative study of transparent insulation materials cover systems for integrated-collector-storage solar water heaters

The thermal performance of transparently insulated integrated-collector-storage solar water heaters is investigated theoretically as well as experimentally for a comparative study of cover systems having transparent insulation materials devices placed between the top glazing and the absorber. The data on solar transmittance, heat loss reduction characteristics and solar collector-storage efficiencies of various configurations is generated for the system performance comparisons. These hot water systems exhibit average (diurnal basis) solar collection and storage efficiencies in the range of 20–40% at a collection temperature of 40–50°C. The performance of water heaters with cover system having absorber-perpendicular configuration of TIM excel over absorber-parallel TIM covers. The effect of variation in the temperature of heat collected and cost of cover systems on the performance comparisons is also discussed.     

Ground level solar radiation prediction model including cloud cover effects

The model Estimated Solar Radiation (ESR) was developed to predict solar radiation on a horizontal surface for any latitude as a function of total opaque cloud cover. ESR was verified by comparing predicted and observed daily totals of solar radiation on a horizontal surface for Salisbury, Maryland (lat. 38.5°N), and Ely, Nevada (lat. 39.2°N), using hourly values of observed total opaque cloud cover for each location obtained from the National Climatic Center, Asheville, North Carolina. Although the model slightly underpredicts on those days when total opaque cloud cover is high (9–10) and overpredicts on those days when total opaque cloud cover is low (0–1), it provides excellent correlation with observed data (R = 0.87 for Salisbury and 0.94 for Ely).     

窄缝高真空平面玻璃作为太阳能集热器盖板的实验研究

窄缝高真空平面玻璃是一种带高真空夹层的平板玻璃,它是将两块普通平板玻璃之间的狭缝抽高真空而成,由于它具有良好的透光,隔热和隔音特性,因而有广阔的应用前景,通过对采用窄缝高真空平面玻璃作盖板的太阳能焦热器的集热性能进行实验测试,介绍了在空晒和有负载条件下焦热板的温升速率与太阳辐射强度的关系,对真空平面玻璃两面温差及其保温性能也作了测试,并与用普通双层玻璃作盖板的情况作了比较。