Use of a variable parameter test-cell for the study of latent-heat solar walls

A paraffin Trombe wall with double glazing, is studied experimentally with the help of a test-cell allowing several working conditions to be checked. The efficiency of the wall itself is shown to be very similar whether thermocirculation is on or not. But an important additional contribution comes from the glazing in the first case. The analysis of the results points out that a controlled air circulation would give much better results than the two cases considered. Indeed the overheating due to thermocirculation can be cancelled by some controlled air circulation only, and the important convective front losses observed at the begining of the night have to be decreased by getting the heat back to the room through forced air circulation.