Case Study of Trombe Wall Inducing Natural Ventilation through Cooled Basement Air to Meet Space Cooling Needs
Publication: Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 143, Issue 2
Abstract
Underground spaces normally are at cooler air temperature than ambient air temperature because of earth-sheltered walls. This cooler air can be circulated to occupied spaces using a solar chimney effect to exhaust air from the basement to where it is needed. This work aims to study the viability of using natural ventilation induced by a Trombe wall to draw fresh air from underground basement floors for space cooling in the dry desert climate. Outdoor air is delivered to the basement through an earth tube. A numerical model integrating thermal models of the basement space and the occupied zone, and the Trombe wall is used to predict the air temperature variation with time in the occupied space air temperature and to predict thermal comfort. The feasibility of implementing the proposed system is assessed in a case study of a residence in the inland dry desert climate of Lebanon during the summer. It was found that the proposed system achieved thermally comfortable conditions at 80% acceptability for a considerable number of hours without the need for mechanical ventilation (83.3% in June and 58.3% in August). The electric energy consumption of the system over summer (June through September) was estimated at of floor area.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Allard, F., Santamouris, M., Alvarez, S., European Commission, and ALTENER Programme. (1998). Natural ventilation in buildings: A design handbook, James & James (Science Publishers), London.
Al-Temeemi, A. A., and Harris, D. J. (2003). “The effect of earth-contact on heat transfer through a wall in Kuwait.” Energy Build., 35(4), 399–404.
Annan, G., Ghaddar, N., and Ghali, K. (2016). “Natural ventilation in Beirut residential buildings for extended comfort hours.” Int. J. Sustainable Energy, 35(10), 996–1013.
ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers). (1992). “Thermal environmental conditions for human occupancy.”, Atlanta.
ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers). (2001). “A new adaptive comfort standard for ASHRAE standard 55.” Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA.
ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers). (2004). “Ventilation for acceptable indoor air quality.”, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Atlanta.
Badescu, V., and Isvoranu, D. (2011). “Pneumatic and thermal design procedure and analysis of earth-to-air heat exchangers of registry type.” Appl. Energy, 88(4), 1266–1280.
de Dear, R. J., and Brager, G. S. (2002). “Thermal comfort in naturally ventilated buildings: Revisions to ASHRAE standard 55.” Energy Build., 34(6), 549–561.
Fanger, P. O. (1970). Thermal comfort, Danish Technical Press, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Fawaz, H., Abiad, M., Ghaddar, N., and Ghali, K. (2014). “Solar-assisted localized ventilation system for poultry brooding.” Energy Build., 71, 142–154.
Florides, G., and Kalogirou, S. (2004). “Measurements of ground temperature at various depths.” Proc., SET 2004, 3rd Int. Conf. on Sustainable Energy Technologies on CD-ROM, Univ. of Nottingham, Nottingham, U.K.
Flourentzou, F., Van der Maas, J., and Roulet, C. (1998). “A natural ventilation for passive cooling: Measurement of discharge coefficients.” Energy Build., 27(3), 283–292.
Ford, B., Patel, N., Zaveri, P., and Hewitt, M. (1998). “Cooling without air conditioning.” Renewable Energy, 15, 177–182.
Ghaddar, N., Badawiyeh, M., and Ghali, K. (2015). “The energy performance of a building air conditioning system integrated with a basement cooling source driven by Trombe wall.” Proc., AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum and Exposition 2015, AIAA, Reston, VA.
Grosso, M., and Raimondo, L. (2008). “Horizontal air to-earth heat exchangers in Northern Italy–Testing, design and monitoring.” Int. J. Ventilation, 7(1), 1–10.
Ibn-Mohammed, T., Greenough, R., Taylor, S., Ozawa-Meida, L., and Acquaye, A. (2013). “Operational vs. embodied emissions in buildings—A review of current trends.” Energy Build., 66, 232–245.
IEA (International Energy Agency). (2013a). “Transition to sustainable buildings: Strategies and opportunities to 2050.” Paris.
IEA (International Energy Agency). (2013b). “World energy outlook 2013.” Paris.
Kajtar, L., Nyers, J., and Szabo, J. (2015). “Dynamic thermal dimensioning of underground spaces.” Energy, 87, 361–368.
Kleiven, T. (2003). “Natural ventilation in buildings: Architectural concepts, consequences and possibilities.” M. Eng. thesis, Norwegian Univ. of Science and Technology, Norway.
Kruger, E. (2008). “Thermal monitoring and indoor temperature predictions in a passive solar building in an arid environment.” Energy Build., 43(11), 1792–1804.
Labs, K., and Cook, J., eds. (1989). Passive cooling, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
Laustsen, J. (2008). “Energy efficiency requirements in building codes, energy efficiency policies for new buildings.” International Energy Agency, Paris.
MATLAB version R2016a [Computer software]. MathWorks, Natick, MA.
Ong, K. S., and Chow, C. C. (2003). “Performance of a solar chimney.” Solar Energy, 74(1), 1–17.
Peretti, C., Zarrella, A., De Carli, M., and Zecchin, R. (2013). “The design and environmental evaluation of earth to-air heat exchangers (EAHE): A literature review.” Renewable Sustainable Energy Rev., 28, 107–116.
Pfafferott, J. (2004). “Enhancing the design and the operation of passive cooling concepts. Monitoring and data analysis in four low-energy office buildings with night ventilation.” Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Karlsruhe, Germany.
Pfafferott, J., Herkel, S., and Wambsganß, M. (2013). “Design, monitoring and evaluation of a low energy office building with passive cooling by night ventilation.” Energy Build., 36(5), 455–465.
Republic of Lebanon Ministry of Public Works and Transport. (2005a). “Climatic zoning for buildings in Lebanon.” United Nations Development Program, Beirut, Republic of Lebanon.
Republic of Lebanon Ministry of Public Works and Transport. (2005b). “Energy analysis and economic feasibility.” UNDP/GEF, MPWT/DGU, Beirut, Republic of Lebanon.
Roodman, D. M., and Lenssen, N. (1995). “World watch paper 124, a building revolution: How ecology and health concerns are transforming construction.” Worldwatch Institute, Washington, DC.
Spieler, A., Wagner, R., Beisel, S., and Vajen, K. (2000). “Passive solar office building: First experiences and measurements.” 4th ISES Europe Solar Congress, International Solar Energy Society, Freiburg, Germany.
Taleb, H. M. (2015). “Natural ventilation as energy efficient solution for achieving low-energy houses in Dubai.” Energy Build., 99, 284–291.
Taleghani, M., Tenpierik, M., and van den Dobbelsteen, A. (2014). “Energy performance and thermal comfort of courtyard/atrium dwellings in the Netherlands in the light of climate change.” Renewable Energy, 63, 486–497.
Todorovic, B., and Despotovic, B. (1999). “Development of calculation procedure for heat losses of underground spaces.” Proc., Transactions of 30th HVAC Congress, SMElTS, Belgrade, 427–435.
U.S. Department of Energy. (2007) “EERE consumer’s guide: Earth cooling tubes.” http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/your_home/space_heating_cooling/index.cfm/mytopic=12460.
Voss, K., Herkel, S., Pfafferott, J., Lohnert, G., and Wagner, A. (2007). “Energy efficient office buildings with passive cooling—Results and experiences from a research and demonstration programme.” Solar Energy, 81(3), 424–434.
Wagner, R., Beisel, S., Spieler, A., Gerber, A., and Vajen, K. (2000). “Measurement, modeling and simulation of an earth-to-air heat exchanger in Marburg (Germany).” 4th ISES Europe Solar Congress, International Solar Energy Society, Freiburg, Germany.
Wigginton, M., and Harris, J. (2002). Intelligent skins, Architectural Press, London.
Xing, Y., Hewitt, N., and Griffiths, P. (2011). “Zero carbon buildings refurbishment—A hierarchical pathway.” Renewable Sustainable Energy Rev., 15(6), 3229–3236.
Yassine, B., Ghali, K., Ghaddar, N., Chehab, G., and Srour, I. (2014). “Effectiveness of the earth tube heat exchanger system coupled to a space model in achieving thermal comfort in rural areas.” Int. J. Sustainable Energy, 33(3), 567–586.
Yassine, B., Ghali, K., Ghaddar, N., Srour, I., and Chehab, G. (2012). “A numerical modeling approach to evaluate efficient mechanical ventilation strategies.” Energy Build., 55, 618–630.
Yuebin, Y., Haorong, L., Fuxin, N., and Daihong, Y. (2014). “Investigation of a coupled geothermal cooling system with earth tube and solar chimney.” Appl. Energy, 114, 209–217.
Zhang, H., Arens, E., Huizenga, C., and Han, T. (2010). “Thermal sensation and comfort models for non-uniform and transient environments. Part I: Local sensation of individual body parts.” Build. Environ., 45(2), 380–388.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 4, 2015
Accepted: May 26, 2016
Published online: Jul 19, 2016
Discussion open until: Dec 19, 2016
Published in print: Apr 1, 2017
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.