Experimental evaluation of insulation material in roofing system under tropical climate

The objective of this study is to determine the influence of radiant barriers on conductive and radiative heat transfers when they are integrated to a building envelope and to compare their efficiency to traditional insulation material (mineral wools, polystyrene). It is also about determining which insulation material and process can lead to a better heat flux reduction through a building roof. For this study four identical small-scale test cells were used. Their respective roof was equipped with the insulation material to be tested: One with polystyrene, the second with a radiant barrier the third one with fibber glass and the last one with no insulation material was considered as the reference cell. Different test were performed with a view to evaluate the influence of parameters such as roof absorptivity and roof air layer ventilation on the heat flux reduction through the roof. With the measured temperature, the conductive and radiative heat fluxes were calculated. With a white corrugated iron roof top the heat flux reduction provided by the radiant barrier is 37%. With a black one this material allows a reduction of 33%. It is shown that whatever the roof absorptivity value, the radiative heat flux is predominant over the conductive one. With no ventilation, the radiant barrier is comparable to polystyrene and fiber glass; when the airspace is ventilated the radiant barrier provides a better insulation.     

Modelling solar effects on the heat and mass transfer in a street canyon, a simplified approach

In urban areas, the climatic loads on buildings in summer conditions are largely affected by solar radiation. In this paper a modified simplified method for radiant interchange determination is used in a solar energy study. The good agreement with the radiosity method allows one to use this simplified method in the street canyon case. In a building pilot study, parametric analysis and building thermal behaviour can be assessed by simplified models which are useful for long-period simulation. Then this radiant interchange model is introduced in a zonal model of a canyon street and performed with a variable climatic conditions show case. The solar radiation is the only driving force in the street air movement. The interest of such approach for complex coupled phenomena studies is highlighted by obtained results and the assessment of variable climatic loads for different building zones can be considered with the model detailed herein. Future developments are planned in order to improve simulation accuracy by the addition of other local phenomena.     

Attic radiant barrier systems: A sensitivity analysis of performance parameters

During the past seven years, the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) has conducted extensive experimental research on radiant barrier systems (RBS). This paper presents recent research on the development of mathematical attic models and results from a sensitivity analysis of RBS performance parameters. Two levels of modelling capability have been developed. A very simplified model based on ASHRAE procedures is used to study the sensitivity of RBS performance parameters, and a very detailed finite-element model is used to study highly complex phenomena, including moisture adsorption and desorption in attics. The speed of the simple model allows a large range of attic parameters to be studied quickly, and the finite-element model provides a detailed understanding of combined heat and moisture transport in attics. This paper concentrates on the sensitivity analysis of attic RBS performance parameters using the simplified model. The development of the model is described, and results of the analyses are presented and discussed. Results from the finite-element model are also presented and compared with measurements from a test attic to illustrate the effects of moisture adsorption and desorption in common attics. The simplified steady-state model shows excellent agreement with measured steady-state data when thermal stratification of the attic air is modelled. Results of the sensitivity analysis using this model show that the radiant barrier surface emittance and the attic ventilation inlet air temperature are the most sensitive performance parameters for attic radiant barrier systems. The detailed, finite-element model shows that moisture sorption phenomena can have significant effects in attics. The daily temperature extremes in attics are significant, and they induce a moisture flux at the surfaces of the materials bounding the air zone(s). If this moisture flux is not accounted for in detail (i.e. with fully coupled heat and moisture transport equations) inaccurate surface temperature predictions are likely to occur.     

The importance of interior daylight distribution in buildings on overall energy performance

Simulations of daylight distribution within a house show that there can be significant visual discomfort associated with specific sky conditions. Thermal models of the same building, which include simplified daylight calculations and which calculate annual energy performance of the building, do not reflect extreme visual discomfort and high thermal load associated with these sky conditions. These results illustrate the importance of more detailed interior daylight distribution calculations in assessing the thermal and visual comfort of a building, and in developing energy performance ratings for buildings. Some techniques for incorporating more detailed interior daylight distribution calculations in simplified thermal models are discussed.     

Experimental evaluations of the building shell radiant exchange in clear sky conditions

The results of an experimental investigation on the exchange of radiant energy in the infrared band (λ = 4–100 μm) between the walls of a building and the surrounding environment, constituted in part by the sky and in part by the ground, are presented in this paper. The measures were obtained on a purpose built test module for studies and research on building energy. Through measurements of infrared radiation on a South facing vertical wall and on a horizontal roof, and of the relative surface temperatures, the radiant field between these surfaces and the outdoor environment was resolved in conditions of clear hourly diurnal and nocturnal sky. The investigation allowed for the determination of the hourly values of the radiative heat transfer coefficients between the vertical wall and the sky, between the vertical wall and the ground and between the horizontal roof and the sky. Furthermore, EN ISO 13790:2008, which is used for the evaluation of energy requirements of building air-conditioning, was considered and the various contributions used in order to evaluate the radiative exchange with the experimentally obtained values were compared.     

Field thermal performance of naturally ventilated solar roof with PCM heat sink

For decades, residential and commercial roofs have been considered a prime location for installation of building integrated solar systems. In climatic conditions of East Tennessee, USA, an experimental solar roof was tested during 2009/2010, by a research team representing Metal Construction Association (MCA), and a consortium of building insulation companies, photovoltaic (PV) manufacturers, and energy research centers. The main objective was to thermally evaluate a new roofing technology utilizing amorphous silicon PV laminates integrated with the metal roof panels. In order to mitigate thermal bridging and reduce roof-generated thermal loads, this novel roof/attic assembly contained a phase change material (PCM) heat sink, a ventilated air cavity over the roof deck, and thermal insulation with an integrated reflective surface. During winter, the experimental roof was expected to work as a passive solar collector storing solar heat absorbed during the day, and increasing overall attic air temperature during the night. During summer, the PCM was expected to act as a heat sink, reducing the heat gained by the attic and consequently, lowering the building cooling-loads.In this paper, field thermal performance data of the experimental PV-PCM roof/attic system are presented and discussed. Performance of the PV-PCM roof/attic is evaluated by comparing it to a control asphalt shingle roof. The test results showed about 30% heating and 50% cooling load reductions are possible with the experimental roof configuration.     

Effect of modelling solar radiation on the cooling performance of radiant floors

When modelling buildings, solar radiation has a large impact on the thermal balance because it usually heats the rooms. In radiant systems that are used for heating and cooling buildings, solar radiation has a large influence both on indoor temperatures and on the efficiency of the radiant system.Many analyses have already been carried out in order to study how beam and diffuse radiation can be distributed in a room. One of the most difficult issues, when modelling room thermal balance, is how to simulate the solar radiation when it enters the room, which in turn depends on the reflectance characteristics of the surface finishing elements.In this study, four different radiation models have been applied in order to solve an overall detailed, dynamic thermal balance in a room with pipes embedded in the floor. Two of the models are detailed; the other two consider the radiation entering the room to be diffuse radiation. As for the behaviour of the impinging solar radiation on the covering materials in a room, measurements have been carried out to determine the reflectance coefficients, which will be used in simulations for characteristic materials used in buildings.Results of the simulations show that a simplified model, which considers solar radiation as uniformly distributed in a room, cannot be used for a detailed comfort analysis; however, when looking at the cooling output of a radiant floor system at the design stage, a simplified model can predict energy transfer to a certain level of accuracy. Moreover, results coming from combined measurements and simulations show that the reflectance characteristic of the covering materials does not affect the cooling capacity of the radiant floor systems, since the most important parameter for cooling performance is the thermal conductivity of the covering layer.     

Simple tool to evaluate energy demand and indoor environment in the early stages of building design

A simplified building simulation tool to evaluate energy demand and thermal indoor environment in the early stages of building design is presented. Simulation is performed based on few input data describing the building design, HVAC systems and control strategies. Hourly values for energy demand and indoor temperature are calculated based on hourly weather data. Calculation of the solar energy transmitted through windows takes into account the dependency of the total solar energy transmittances on the incidence angle, shades from far objects and shades from the window recess and overhangs. Several systems including heating, cooling, solar shading, venting, ventilation with heat recovery and variable insulation can be activated to control the indoor temperature and energy demand. Predicted percentages of dissatisfied occupants are calculated for a given time period to support decisions concerning the thermal indoor environment. The simplified building simulation tool gives reliable results compared to detailed tools and needs only few input data to perform a simulation. The tool is therefore useful for preliminary design tasks in the early design stages where rough estimates of the building design are given and rough estimates of energy use and thermal indoor environment are needed for decision support.     

Development and validation of a coupled heat and mass transfer model for green roofs

This paper describes a dynamic model of transient heat and mass transfer across a green roof component. The thermal behavior of the green roof layers is modeled and coupled to the water balance in the substrate that is determined accounting for evapotranspiration. The water balance variations over time directly impact the physical properties of the substrate and the evapotranspiration intensity. This thermal and hydric model incorporates wind speed effects within the foliage through a new calculation of the resistance to heat and mass transfer within the leaf canopy. The developed model is validated with experimental data from a one-tenth-scale green roof located at the University of La Rochelle. A comparison between the numerical and the experimental results demonstrates the accuracy of the model for predicting the substrate temperature and water content variations. The heat and mass transfer mechanisms through green roofs are analyzed and explained using the modeled energy balances, and parametric studies of green roof behavior are presented. A surface temperature difference of up to 25 °C was found among green roofs with a dry growing medium or a saturated growing medium. Furthermore, the thermal inertia effects, which are usually simplified or neglected, are taken into account and shown to affect the temperature and flux results. This study highlights the importance of a coupled evapotranspiration process model for the accurate assessment of the passive cooling effect of green roofs.     

Design and Development of a Test Method for Analyzing Protective Performance of Gloves Exposed to Radiant Heat Based on Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis

Gloves are one of the most important items in the protective ensemble as they protect hand which is the most frequently burned body part. At present, no international standard or standardized test method is available for analyzing thermal protective performance of gloves exposed to purely radiant heat exposures. In the present work, a systematic approach for developing test setup for radiant heat exposure is proposed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). A coupled CFD–radiation heat transfer model is first developed and validated with available experimental data. Effects of horizontal and vertical orientations of radiant heaters are then analyzed. Based on this study, an optimized configuration of the experimental setup which results in uniform heat flux distribution throughout the hand under lower level of radiant heat exposure is proposed. Furthermore, effects of different heater temperatures on heat flux distribution are studied. It is found that the proposed configuration works satisfactorily for other higher and lower heat flux levels as well.     

Thermal performance of an innovative roof component

In this paper, the thermal performance of a ventilated roof component is investigated during the winter period. The ventilated roof component consists of a conventional roof structure—reinforced concrete with a layer of thermal insulation—an air gap that allows the movement of the ambient air and an external layer made of a prefabricated concrete slab. The experimental results of the ventilated roof component during the winter period are presented and its thermal performance is analysed. The effect of key construction parameters like the height of the air gap and the use of a radiant barrier in the air gap is also investigated. Analysis of the results showed that the performance of a ventilated roof component is comparable to a conventional structure during winter. The ventilated component is shown to be in compliance with Greek regulatory requirements in terms of U-value.     

Thermal analysis of lithium-ion batteries

A detailed three-dimensional thermal model has been developed to examine the thermal behaviour of a lithium-ion battery. This model precisely considers the layered-structure of the cell stacks, the case of a battery pack, and the gap between both elements to achieve a comprehensive analysis. Both location-dependent convection and radiation are adopted at boundaries to reflect different heat dissipation performances on all surfaces. Furthermore, a simplified thermal model is proposed according to the examination of various simplification strategies and validation from the detailed thermal model. Based on the examination, the calculation speed of the simplified model is comparable with that of a one-dimensional model with a maximum error less than 0.54 K. These models successfully describe asymmetric temperature distribution inside a battery, and they predict an anomaly of temperature distribution on the surface if a metal case is used. Based on the simulation results from the detailed thermal model, radiation could contribute 43–63% at most to the overall heat dissipation under natural convection. Forced convection is effective in depressing the maximum temperature, and the temperature uniformity does not necessarily decrease infinitely when the extent of forced convection is enhanced. The metal battery case serves as a heat spreader, and the contact layer provides extra thermal resistance and heat capacity for the system. These factors are important and should be considered seriously in the design of battery systems.     

On increasing solar gains through roof/wall with a thermal trap

This paper investigates the feasibility of increasing solar gains through the roof/wall of a building utilizing the thermal trap effect. It is seen that optimum thickness of the thermal trap is 0.05m. Corresponding to this thickness, there is a net positive heat gain into the room at all times for a 0.20m thickness of concrete wall/roof.     

Evaluation of the thermal performance indices of a ventilated double window through experimental and analytical procedures: Uw-values

Simulations to evaluate energy demand for heating and cooling and thermal comfort are becoming more and more common place in the building design process, at least in the most complex cases. In all detailed or simplified calculations, to analyse heat transfer to and from a building, several input parameters are needed. The inputs for the simulation of a whole building are at least the building geometry, the building envelope thermal indices (like thermal transmittance or the solar heat gain coefficient) and typical local climatic data. In a ventilated double window, the air flow through the channel between the two windows makes its thermal performance highly dynamic and dependent on the air flow characteristics. For a whole building simulation, single coefficients or easily calculated coefficients are needed for each facade system, including ventilated systems. In this paper, equivalent thermal transmittance coefficients for a ventilated double window are assessed and presented. For that, experimental measurements in the absence of solar radiation (night period) were used to identify tendencies and validate calculations. Furthermore, simulations were done in order to estimate the U_w-values of the ventilated double window under different windows configuration and different air flow rates. These values can then be used in whole building simulation programmes.     

种植屋面热过程的研究

种植屋面具有隔热降温作用,对其热过程进行分析,并建立热湿传递模型。实测表明,该模型合理,适用,具有指导意义。     

Measurements and application of thermal characteristics of soft-packed NCM lithium-ion power battery

锂离子电池的极化内阻是不可逆热测试的关键参数。为了更准确地计算极化内阻,针对三元软包锂离子动力电池,进行了HPPC测试、熵热系数测试、充放电温升测试,采用两种方法对极化内阻进行了计算,一种是通过电压变化量除以电流得到,另一种是通过建立二阶RC模型,结合HPPC测试工况辨识得到。根据两种方法得到的极化内阻,结合Bernardi生热速率模型公式对电池进行了1C充电和0.5C、1C、2C放电下的温度场仿真,并与红外热成像仪记录到的温度分布进行了对比。结果表明：根据二阶RC模型得到的极化内阻进行的仿真与实验数据吻合较好,说明利用二阶RC模型得到的极化内阻更加适用于电池持续充放电过程中的热分析。模型很好地模拟了电池不同充放电倍率下的温度场信息,对电池热分析及热管理可起到指导作用。     

Assessing the natural ventilation cooling potential of office buildings in different climate zones in China

This paper presents an investigation of the natural ventilation cooling potential (NVCP) of office buildings in the five generally recognised climate zones in China using the Thermal Resistance Ventilation (TRV) model, which is a simplified, coupled, thermal and airflow model. The acceptable operative temperature for naturally conditioned space supplied by the ASHARE Standard 55-2004 has been used for the comfort temperature setting. Dynamic simulations for a typical office room in the five representative cities, which are Harbin, Beijing, Shanghai, Kunming and Guangzhou, have been carried out. The study demonstrates that the NVCP depends on the multiple impacts of climate, the building's thermal characteristics, internal gains, ventilation profiles and regimes. The work shows how the simplified method can be used to generate detailed, indoor, operative temperature data based on the various building conditions and control profiles which are used to investigate the NVCP at the strategic design stage. The simulation results presented in this paper can be used as a reference guideline for natural ventilation design in China.     

Time reduction in a forced-convection thermal process using simplified transient analysis

This study investigates the utilisation of a simplified model in the transient analysis of a thermal cooling process. In such process the external thermal resistance between the surface and the surroundings is high compared to the system internal thermal resistance, so that the first controls the heat transfer process. In this case the Biot number is lower than 0.1. Aluminium reels were utilised, which, with proper internal instrumentation, furnished experimental results for the thermal cooling process. Based on experimental data, a simplified model for the determination of the process film coefficient was used. Subsequently, experimental and theoretical results were compared. The change of the airflow direction was also investigated for the cooling process, aiming at process time optimisation.     

Transient 3D analysis of borehole heat exchanger modeling

This paper presents the development and application of a three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulation model for U-tube borehole heat exchangers (BHEs). The proposed model includes the thermal capacities of the borehole components, viz., the fluid inside the tubes, as well as the grouting material, making it possible to consider the transient effects of heat and mass transports inside the borehole. In this approach, the use of simplified thermal resistance and capacity models (TRCMs) provides accurate results while substantially reducing the number of nodes and the computation time compared with fully discretized computations such as finite element (FE) models. The model is compared with a fully discretized FE model which serves as a reference. Furthermore, the model is used to evaluate thermal response test (TRT) data by the parameter estimation technique. Comparison of the model results with the results of an analytical model based on the line-source theory further establishes the advantage of the developed 3D transient model, as the test duration can be shortened and results are more accurate.