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Solar Passive Building Cooling: Recent Trends and Novel Approaches

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 International Journal of Mechanics and Design
Vol. 5: Issue 1
www.journalspub.com

Solar Passive Building Cooling: Recent Trends and

Novel Approaches
Anfas Mukram T.1,*, Joseph Daniel2
1
Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yenepoya
Institute of Technology, Mangalore, Karnataka, India
2
Associate Professor, School of Mechanical and Building Science, Vellore
Institute of Technology (deemed to be university), Vandalur, Chennai,
Tamil Nadu, India

ABSTRACT
Global warming is one of the major threats that mankind faces in the 21th century. About
40% of global energy consumption and Green House Gas (GHG) emissions are accounted by
buildings and they play a vital role in global warming. Estimates show that their damaging
influence will grow by 1.8% per year through 2050, which specifies that future usage and
emissions will be worse than today. Therefore, the necessity of cooling systems cannot be
ignored, as they, along with ventilation and heating systems, measures for 60% of the energy
consumed in buildings. Passive cooling methods are dominating alternative to conventional
cooling systems. Of the various passive cooling strategies, thermal energy storage by means
of latent heat is an efficient way to increase the thermal inertia of building envelopes, which
would reduce temperature fluctuations, leading to the improved thermal comfort of
occupants. Phase change materials (PCMs) with high density for thermal energy storage can
be efficiently employed to this purpose. This paper narrates the recent applications of PCMs
for passive cooling in buildings.

Keywords: Energy efficient building, phase change materials, building envelope, passive
cooling

*Correspondence Author
E-mail: anfasmukramt@gmail.com

INTRODUCTION increase by 1.8% per year through 2050

The buildings energy consumption in the
world is increasing day by day as the floor
area and usage is increasing drastically.
The major portion of the energy used by
the buildings is for space heating/cooling
and ventilation purpose. It is estimated that
about 60% of the energy consumed by
building is utilized for space conditioning
applications. Apart from the energy
consumption, the greenhouse gas emission
is also deteriorating effect. The destructive
impact of this huge consumption will
[1] clearly indicating the worst trend
towards future.
While analysing the energy consumed by
buildings, it is noted that, a large portion is
utilized for space conditioning applications.
A considerable amount of savings is
possible if we can replace this energy by
some passive measures that utilizing
renewable energy sources like solar energy.
This will also help to reduce the GHG
emission considerably. The thermal energy

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Solar passive building cooling
storage (TES) systems are very useful in
building applications, which along with
reducing the energy consumption will
reduces the mismatch in supply and
consumption.
Before the invention of mechanical
refrigeration and cooling systems, many
natural methods are practiced for building
cooling. (e.g. moist fabrics hung in
draughts created by the connective stack
effect in buildings) The introduction of
mechanical refrigeration allowed not only
the ability to increase the probability of
obtaining complete thermal comfort for
more prolonged time, but also provide a
great flexibility in building design, and
simultaneously led to changes in life style
and work habits. However, as a result of
the use of increasingly 'higher technology',
the natural-cooling techniques being
ignored. Now with the flourishing
understanding of the rapid reduction of
non-renewable energy sources and of the
harmful environmental impacts of fossil-
fuel dissipating processes, it is accepted
that it is foolish to continue the use of
large amounts of non-renewable fuels for
the air-conditioning of buildings, when our
ancestors achieved thermal comfort by
natural means [2]. Hence, to reduce the
GHG emission, caused by fossil fuels to
power the cooling requirement of the
buildings has stimulated the interest
towards adoption of passive cooling
techniques for buildings. This paper
discusses various passive cooling
techniques with a special focus on thermal
energy storage (TES) techniques, as they
are the most promising technique and can
be used by commercial buildings.
PASSIVE COOLING METHODS FOR
BUILDINGS
Passive cooling means the use of natural
processes for heating or cooling to achieve
indoor thermal comfort. In this process,
without the use of electrical devices, we
IJMD (2019) 10–23 © JournalsPub 2019. All Rights Reserved
Mukram and Daniel
can attain the flow of energy by
conduction, convection or radiation. For
maintaining a comfortable indoor
condition in the buildings in a hot climate
depends on reducing the rate of heat gains
into the building and encouraging the
excess heat removal from the buildings. To
avoid heat from entering into the building
or to eliminate once it has entered is the
vital principle for executing cooling in
passive cooling concepts.
This is subjected to the accessibility of a
heat sink which is at a lesser temperature
than indoor air, and the advancement of
heat transfer towards the sink. The
naturally available heat sinks for a
building are outdoor air water, the night
sky and ground. By applying passive
techniques, the ultimate cooling loads can
be reduced and hence the system size can
be reduced. The various passive methods
for buildings are discussed below.
Solar Shading
Solar shading is a cost-effective way of
keeping building cool. In the recent years
there is a steep increase in the RCC
buildings across rural India and Middle
East countries. In most of the villages, the
availability of electricity is limited
especially in the summer. The RCC
buildings will increase the room
temperature up to 41°C. This is due to
high roof top temperature of around 65°C
in arid regions. Solar shading with locally
obtainable materials like terracotta tiles,
straw, inverted earthen pots, date palm
branches etc. can decrease this temperature
meaningfully.
Shading the walls by trees is another way
for reducing the interior temperature by 2
to 4°C [3]. Other than the natural methods,
by overhangs, louvers and awnings etc. are
also used for the buildings.
The various shading methods used for
building cooling are shown in Figure 1.
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Shading of walls and windows exposed to
sun light by various fittings like overhangs,
louvers and awnings, etc.
Shading of roof by trees and vegetation,
textured surfaces and insulation. Here the
roof top is prevented from sunlight by
natural or artificial methods.
Induced Ventilation Techniques
Various modern induced ventilation
techniques are used in building cooling,
especially as an integration of one or more
methods to increase the effectiveness.
Solar Chimney
Solar chimneys are natural draught devices
that utilize solar energy to produce stack
pressure are an advanced passive design.
Solar chimney donates to an increase in
efficiency for space heating and cooling in
residential buildings in addition to a
significant reduction of greenhouse gas
emissions. Solar chimneys are primarily
used to increase the night ventilation, but
they can also be used to improve daytime
ventilation. This chimney mounted on
rooftops or attached to the building walls.
Vertical chimney is the most common
layout. However, it has negative impact on
the artistic aspect of the building. So, it is
cheaper and less visual to lay the collector
along the roof slope [4].
In modern techniques, the solar chimney is
integrated with other passive techniques
for efficient cooling/heating. Monghasemi,
N and Vadiee A. [5] explain the
integration of earth-air heat exchanger
with a solar chimney. Figure 2 represents
an earth-air heat exchanger coupled with
solar chimney.
Air Vents
Air vents are used in combination with
curved roofs for passive cooling of air in
hot and dry climates, where dusty winds
make wind towers practically not feasible.
IJMD (2019) 10–23 © JournalsPub 2019. All Rights Reserved
International Journal of Mechanics and Design
Vol. 5: Issue 1
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Suited for single units, they work well in
hot and dry and warm and humid climates.
Wind Tower
The hot ambient air enters the wind tower
through the openings in the tower, gets
cooled, and thus moves down. Winds
towers are integrated with other cooling
systems for better performance in passive
mode, like evaporative cooling, massive
wall etc. Working of a wind tower in
curved roof is explained in Figure 3. A
coupled system with evaporative cooling is
given in Figure 4.
Radiative Cooling
It is a cost-effective cooling solution used
for buildings. The roof of a building can
be used both as a nocturnal radiator and
also as a cold store. The most widely used
modes are Diode roof and roof pond. In
this method, the roof is exposed to night
sky, and losing heat by long wave
radiations and convection. External
insulation is used in day time.
In modern techniques, the combined photo
voltaic (PV)—nocturnal Radiative cooling
(RC) are employed for better performance.
Zhao et al. [6] explains a hybrid system,
which shows improved performance. The
system description and experimental
model are shown in the Figure 5.
Evaporative Cooling
In this method, the outdoor air is cooled by
evaporating water, before it is introduced
for cooling purpose. In indirect method,
the roof is cooled by ponds, spry or wetted
pad and the living space below is cooled
by convection. Commonly used methods
are passive downdraft evaporative cooling
(PDEC) and roof surface evaporative
cooling (RSEC) (Figure 6).
Passive downdraft evaporative cooling
systems consist of a downdraft tower with
wetted cellulose pads at the top of the
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Solar passive building cooling
tower. Water is distributed on the top of
the pads, collected at the bottom into a
sump and re-circulated by a pump.
Roof surface evaporative cooling (RSEC) is
used in a climatic region where the solar
incidence is high during summer. The roof
of the building is wetted by spraying water
over some water retention material. This
will cool the room considerably.
Earth Coupling
This method is used for passive cooling and
heating of buildings, where earth act as a
massive heat sink. Earth-air tunnel and
Earth Berming are the favourite methods
used for earth coupling. In modern
applications, the earth-air heat exchangers
are coupled with other systems like solar
heating for improved performance.
The earth-air tunnel uses earth as a heat
sink or a source for cooling/heating air in
buried pipes or underground tunnels. The
air passing through a tunnel or a buried pipe
at a depth of few meters gets cooled in
summers and heated in winters as shown in
Figure 7. The exchange of heat between air
and the surrounding soil affected by the
parameters like surface area of pipe, length
and depth of the tunnel below ground,
dampness of the earth, humidity of inlet air
velocity.
In an earth sheltered building or earth
bermed structure the condensed intrusion of
outside air and the additional thermal
resistance of the surrounding earth
considerably decreases the average thermal
load. Further the addition of earth mass of
the building acts like a large thermal mass
and reduces the fluctuations in the thermal
load. Besides reducing solar and convective
heat gains, such buildings can also utilize
the cooler sub-surface ground as a heat
sink. Hence with reference to thermal
comfort, an earth sheltered building
presents a significant passive approach.
Figure 8 shows the working of an earth
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Mukram and Daniel
bermed house in combination with solar
chimney.
Desiccant Cooling
Desiccant cooling systems have been
considered as an efficient method of
controlling moisture content in supply air.
They do not use any ozone-depleting
coolants and consume less energy as
compared with the VCRS. Desiccant
cooling is effective in warm and humid
climates. Solid and liquid desiccants are
widely used for cooling applications. In the
desiccant cooling method, desiccant salts or
mechanical dehumidifiers are used to
reduce humidity in the atmosphere.
Materials having high affinity for water are
used for dehumidification. Mechanical
systems consume additional energy for the
purpose and hence less preferred.
These systems in the Figure 9 shown below
are used in applications where the latent
heat load is too high i.e. moisture content
desired in supply air is minimal. Energy is
saved by using the desiccant to absorb or
adsorb the moisture content instead of
mechanical equipment. Mechanical energy
is then needed only for reducing the
temperature of the air [7].
Thermal Energy Storage (TES) by Phase
Change Materials (PCMs)
The use of PCMs for thermal storage in
buildings was one of the first applications
studied. The PCMs are applied in the
buildings to attain the following main
goals. It uses natural heat or solar energy
for heating purpose or night cold for
cooling. It also uses artificial or man-made
heat or cold sources. In any of the above
condition, it is required to store heat energy
according to its necessity, availability and
demand with respect to time and power.
Due to the reduced expenses for
construction, light weight buildings are
more popular now a day. One of the major
disadvantages of light weight buildings is
Page 13

their low thermal mass. Due to this the
temperature fluctuations are high, which
result in a high heating and cooling
demand. The application of PCM in such
buildings is very promising, because of
their capability to smooth the temperature
variations. Some of the major applications
of the PCM in buildings are given below.
Solar Thermal Storage Wall
PCM enabled solar walls are generally
found in mixed and cold climatic regions.
The major benefit of these walls is their
heat storage capacity and the use of
renewable energy sources. The integration
of PCMs in the storage systems reduced the
total weight and size of the system
considerably. This made the retrofitting
tranquil. The working of a solar storage
wall with PCM is explained in the below
Figures 10–11. Various modifications for
this model are suggested for improving the
operation. Numbers of combinations of
materials are also tested for the solar
thermal storage wall.
Berthou et al. [9] designed a new model
and investigated the performance of an
unvented Trombe wall made up of a
Thermal Insulating Material (TIM) layer
and a PCM layer.
PCM Integrated Building Blocks
An interesting application of PCMs in
buildings is the impregnation of PCMs into
porous construction materials, like hollow
bricks, fire clay bricks, plaster boards etc.
to increase thermal mass and hence reduce
the temperature fluctuation in the living
space. The application of PCM
impregnated building blocks used in
construction helps to increase the thermal
inertia without adding more mass. Both
organic and inorganic PCMs are used for
these applications by infusing concrete,
gypsum or ceramics construction with
paraffin hydrocarbons or salt hydrates.
Other materials like butyl stearate,
IJMD (2019) 10–23 © JournalsPub 2019. All Rights Reserved
International Journal of Mechanics and Design
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dodecanol, paraffin and tetra decanol are
also used for the application.
Light weight aggregate is another high
porosity building material used as carries
for PCM to enhance heat storage.
Thermocrete is a heat storage medium
combining an appropriate PCM with the
concrete matrix, resulting in almost
isothermal storage. Chahroudi [10, 11] has
discussed potential application areas for
Thermocrete materials in general terms.
Figure 12 shows a view of a light weight
wall brick with PCM microcapsules are
attached in the interior plaster.
The major problem regarding impinging
PCM in the brick is the leakage of the
material while it is melting. Proper
encapsulation is suggested to prevent this
issue. Depending upon the size of the
PCM in the mixture, the encapsulation
may be micro-encapsulation or macro-
encapsulation.
Recent Developments in PCM Wall
Building encapsulation of PCMs can be
achieved either by using PCM integrated
building materials (such as plaster with
micro-encapsulated paraffin, gypsum
plaster boards with micro-encapsulated
paraffin, concrete with micro-encapsulated
paraffin, panels with shape stabilized
paraffin etc.) or by using PCM as a
component in the building materials. Both
the methods have its own advantages and
disadvantages. The application of PCMs in
the building wall will reduce the heat entry
into the living space and also delayed the
peak temperature time and hence increase
the thermal comfort.
Castell A et al. [12] conducted an
experimental study on various cubicles with
different type of construction materials like
conventional and alveolar bricks with
polyurethane and PCMs to find the
reduction in temperature inside the rooms.
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Solar passive building cooling Mukram and Daniel

Fig. 1. Various shading methods used for building cooling.

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Various numerical and experimental
studies revealed that, the incorporation of
PCMs in the building brick will reduce the
room temperature up to 5°. Encapsulation
is required for PCMs as it causes leakage
during melting cycle. Among the micro
and macro-encapsulation techniques,
macro-encapsulation faces the difficulties
like materials compatibility and increased
cost. For macro-encapsulation, a container
is required for storing the PCM inside the
brick.
Kant K et al [13] conducted numerical
analysis on the building brick with
centrally encapsulated PCM. The model is
given in the Figure 13. The results show
that the maximum heat flux reduction is
found to be 8.31% with capric acid filled
in three cylindrical cavities.
Fig. 2. Solar chimney integrated with earth-air heat exchanger [5].
IJMD (2019) 10–23 © JournalsPub 2019. All Rights Reserved
International Journal of Mechanics and Design
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Anfas Mukram [14] conducted an
experiment on the cement brick with
centrally encapsulated PCM. An
Aluminum container is used in the
experiment. The results show that by using
central encapsulation in the cement brick,
the interior wall temperature is reduced up
to 4°C. The experimental set up is shown
in Figure 14.
During the cooling cycle, the heat rejection
in to the interior space is the major
disadvantage of the model. Since it uses
macro-encapsulation in a metal container,
the thermal properties are also affected. To
avoid these issues the authors suggested a
new model Figure 15 with direct inserted
micro-encapsulated PCM in the holes
drilled at some distance offset from the
outer wall of the brick.
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Solar passive building cooling Mukram and Daniel

Fig. 3. Working of air vent in a curved roof.

Fig. 4. Wind tower incorporating evaporative cooling devices.

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 International Journal of Mechanics and Design
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Fig. 5. Combined photo voltaic–nocturnal radiative cooling (PVRC) system [6].

Fig. 6. Torrent research centre passive down draft evaporative

cooling, Ahmedabad.

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Solar passive building cooling Mukram and Daniel

Fig. 7. Earth coupled house.

Fig. 8. Working of earth coupled solar chimney.

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 International Journal of Mechanics and Design
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Fig. 9. Schematic diagram of desiccant cooling system [7].

Fig. 10. Working of a PCM solar thermal wall [8].

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Solar passive building cooling Mukram and Daniel

Fig. 11. TIM PCM wall model [9].

Fig. 12. Schematic of light weight wall brick—the

PCM micro capsules are attached in the interior
plaster [10, 11].

Fig. 13. Numerical model and boundary conditions of building bricks [13].

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Fig. 14. Experimental setup [14].

Fig. 15. Proposed brick model.

CONCLUSIONS PCM in the building wall for cooling

Passive cooling techniques are widely
accepted for building cooling purpose.
This method helps to save the
consumption of conventional energy
sources and also reduces the greenhouse
gas emission. In current scenario, the
traditional methods like air vents, roof
ponds, earth brimming etc. are coupled
with other techniques like PV cells,
induced draft method etc. to increase the
efficiency of operation. The application of
purpose is most promising one. Especially
for multi rise commercial buildings, where
the exposed wall area is more compared to
roof and also the operation time is suitable
for solar applications.
For building wall applications, the
selection of suitable PCM is more crucial.
The phase change temperature and the
operating temperature of the building
should match for a better result. The

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 Solar passive building cooling
selected PCM should have properties
suitable for building applications. The
quantity of PCM used and the place of
application on the wall is also important.
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Cite this Article: Anfas Mukram T., Joseph Daniel. Solar Passive
Building Cooling: Recent Trends and Novel Approaches. International
Journal of Mechanics and Design. 2019; 5(1): 10–23p.
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Mukram and Daniel
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