Effective Pathway to Improve Indoor Thermal Comfort in Rural Houses: Analysis of Heat Efficiency of Elevated Kangs
Publication: Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 142, Issue 4
Abstract
Rural households are mainly heated using kangs in northern China. In this study, elevated kangs (EK) were constructed in six rural houses in Zhuanglang County. Indoor and outdoor temperatures were monitored hourly in houses using the traditional type of kang (TK) and the elevated kang. A polynomial regression model was designed to analyze the time series data on fuel consumption and temperature change. The thermal effectiveness of the two types of kang was modeled according to the daily life scenario of rural households. The results show that the EK can improve fuel efficiency and the indoor thermal comfort of rural residents in winter. At a given fuel consumption, the EK (hourly average temperature difference during the heating period) was 5.1°C higher than the TK in Gaoyahan village and 6.6°C higher than the TK in Xiawan village. At a given indoor temperature, EK fuel consumption was less than that of TK. Use of the EK improved fuel utilization efficiency, which indicated that the method can help solve heating problems in rural houses. The thermal efficiency of the EK was between 35 and 36%, which was more than double that of the TK. This suggests that the EK should be actively promoted in western rural China.
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Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to Jiasuo Yang and his staff for their many helpful and valuable suggestions and to the Dryland Agriculture Institute, Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Energy Administration Office of Zhuanglang County, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. 41171437). In addition, the authors thank students Yi-han Li, Xi-feng Zhang, Li-na Yang, and Yi Shen for their hard work and useful suggestions during the study survey.
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Published In
Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 142 • Issue 4 • December 2016
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 1, 2015
Accepted: Sep 1, 2015
Published online: Nov 4, 2015
Discussion open until: Apr 4, 2016
Published in print: Dec 1, 2016
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