IBPSA2009

This document presents a study for examining the viability of hybrid ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems that use solar thermal collectors as the supplemental component in heating dominated buildings. Loads for an actual house in the City of Milton near Toronto were estimated.

The mathematical model and design software tool KOLEKTOR 2.2 with user-friendly interface for detailed modeling of solar thermal flat-plate collectors has been built and experimentally validated for different solar thermal flat-plate collector concepts.

Since naturally ventilated buildings respond to site conditions and microclimate, there is no ”one set of spe-cific criteria” for every naturally ventilated building. So natural ventilation should be optimized to deal with ther-mal comfort in passive buildings during hot season.

In this work a numerical model, which simulates the buildings thermal response with complex topology and evaluates the indoor environment comfort, in transient conditions, is used in the energy and thermal comfort evaluation for different passive solutions in a kindergarten, in Summer conditions.

An  inverter-driven air-to-air heat pump model has been developped and implemented in the thermal simulation tool COMFIE, in order to compare the seasonal performance of a variable capacity air-to-air heat pump coupled with temperate air sources (crawlspace, attic, sunspace, heat recovery ventilation, earth-to-air heat exchanger) with the performance of a conventionally installed heat pump. The empirical model of the heat pump is presented in this paper, including full-load and part-load model at rating and non rating conditions, and also frosting conditions.

The main objective of this study is to develop and validate a systematic methodology to model a system of buried pipes, assisted by a solar chimney to promote the natural ventilation, in the whole building simulation software ESP-r (Clarke 2001), from a software user perspective. This development was supported by monitored data collected at an experimental site in Évora, Portugal.  A multi-zone ESP-r model was built to represent the entire installation using a nodal airflow network approach.

The mathematic models for thermal, and PV solar power inserted in the ESP-r, which is the integrating building energy and environment simulation tool, were verified with the measured da ta. Using the verified model, the energy performance of an office building, equipped toward the south with conventional absorptive single facade or un-ventilated double PV facade or outward ventilated double PV facade installation, located at Shanghai was simulated.

This paper presents a methodology to evaluate the influence of different components of the annual heating and cooling load of buildings, analyzing the energy performance of building surfaces that are exposed to different weather conditions. The analysis was carried through the heat balance method by using the EnergyPlus program and weather files for Denver, in the United States and Florianopolis, in Brazil. The third floor of a building of 5-floors office building was used to analyze different optimum insulation thickness on external walls based on annual heating and cooling loads.

In museum buildings, air conditioning systems with precise thermal-hygrometric control of indoor environment are necessary for preventing degradation of artworks and providing a pleasant thermal environment for visitors. In traditional constant air volume (CAV) systems widely used in museums, the supply air is often cooled and then reheated for dehumidification without over-cooling conditioned spaces during warm and humid seasons. The cooling and reheating processes are energy-intensive. This paper presents a new air conditioning scheme for indoor thermal environment control in museums.

There is a rising demand for conventional mechanical cooling systems in UK buildings over the last 10 years, which is due to increase in building internal and solar heat gains.  Use of passive and low energy strategies for cooling and heating of buildings is an attractive alternative for providing comfortable indoor environments with low energy use.  Earth-air heat exchanger (EAHX) is a low-energy system that utilises the stable subsurface soil temperature to reduce ventilation air temperature.