Experimental Investigation of

Energy Efficient Building for Passive

Heating/Cooling
Fazil Hassan P1, K Jothi Prakash1 & Dr. V Kirubakaran2

1M Tech Scholar, 2Assistant Professor

Rural Energy Centre, Gandhigram Rural Institute- Deemed University,
Dindigul, India

Energy efficient Buildings

Energy efficient buildings can be defined as buildings that are
designed to provide a significant reduction of the energy need for
heating and cooling, independently of the energy and of the
equipment's that will be chosen to heat or cool the building.
One of the element for achieving this is by construction of solar
passive systems.

Trombe wall
Passive solar techniques can reduce annual heating demand up to
25%.
These devices diminish environmental degradation and reduce
greenhouse gas emissions. Trombe walls, which are also known as
storage walls and solar heating walls (SHW), reduce a buildings
energy consumption up to 30%.
A Trombe wall is an important green architectural feature that
aides the ventilation, heating, and surprisingly, cooling of buildings

Principle

Green house principle

Model Building
@REC, GRI
Building Size: 1 x1 x 1 m
Vent Dia: 0.15 m
No: of vents: 5
Air Gap: 25cm
Instrument used: Hot wire
Anemometer

Air Change Rate

According to VDI, air change rate is defined as the ratio of air
suppiy Q(t) into a zone in relation to volume of this zone V R and is
generally expressed as air change rate per hour.
The following expression explains this definition:
(t) = Q(t) / VR

Analysis of Trombe wall

Condition: Cloudy

Time vs Temperature, Air

Velocity
Condition: Cloudy
Outlet Temprature
Inlet Air velocity
30.4

Inlet Temprature
Outlet Air Velocity
0.35

30.2

0.3

30

0.25

29.8
29.6

0.2

29.4
0.15

29.2
29
Temprature, C
28.8

0.1
Air Velocity, m/s
0.05

28.6
28.4

Time

Moderate Condition

Time vs Temperature, Air

velocity

Advantages of Trombe wall

Passive
Simple construction
Effective
Comfortable heat
Saves money
Clean

Conclusion
In cloudy condition the Trombe wall was less efficient in carrying the
air out from the zone.
In moderate condition it worked much efficiently compared to the
cloudy condition and the circulation of air was continuously
occurring
The ACR for the Solar passive building was found to be between 3
and 6.
Passive solar design is focussed on using already existing energy in
smart green design.

Thermal Analysis of
Building Material Using
Thermal
Imager
The thermal behaviour
of building walls made of
conventional brick and
hollow block
has been selected and have been analysed using Flir Thermal
Imager.

Thermal Analysis of Conventional Brick wall

Thermal Analysis of Hollow

Block wall

Comparison of Conventional
brick and Hollow Brick wall

Wall

Selection

Max.

Min.

Ave.

27C

26.4C

27.7C

)
Li1(Linear)

26.9C

26.3C

26.6C

Hollow

El2(Elliptical

27.7C

27.2C

27.5C

Brick wall

27.5C

27C

27.2C

Material

Convention El1(Elliptical
al Brick
Wall

Li2(Linear)

Conclusion
From the thermal analysis it is found that conventional brick wall
provides better thermal comfort when compared to hollow brick
wall.
Hence the kind of building equipped with a solar passive technology
and use of conventional brick provides better comfort conditions.

References

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Thank you