Calorimetric measurement of indoor sunshields
Because of the sun irradiation the incorrect dimensioning of a house can lead to excessive internal temperatures. Cooling is a common solution, but this consumes a large amount of energy. Preventing the entry of solar radiation into the building is a better solution. The main question is, which thermal effect (gand Uvalue) curtains and blinds have on the internal room temperature and cooling energy, due to less sun irradiation.
Improvements on PASSYS test cells
PASSYS test cells are outdoor test facilities for the evaluation of the thermophysical parameters of real scale samples of facades and building components. The most important application is the testing of passive solar facades. While we have the advantage of measurements under real weather conditions (real solar radiation) there is the disadvantage of non steady state boundary conditions. Various strategies are presented to enhance measurement accuracy. A so-called pseudo adiabatic shell (PAS) was introduced to reduce the heat losses through the test cell envelope and the time constant by using a controlled electric heating foil. A similar approach is described here using heat flux sensitive tiles (HFS). A special heat flux sensor was designed and tested at ITW to meet the requirements of an accurate measurement of the overall heat flux passing the test cell envelope. By the application of a movable cold box in front of the tested facade steady state outside conditions can be provided for the evaluation of the U-value according to the requirements proposed by CEN/TC 89/WG7.
Study of a Hybrid PV Integrated Building Application in a Well Controlled Test Environment
From the experience gained in several EU research projects, an improved design for a common Test Reference Environment was made allowing the assessment of experimental data for electrical and thermal performance evaluation of photovoltaic systems integrated as cladding components into the building envelope, giving input to modelling work. The specific design of the PV module and test reference environment makes it possible to study through electrical and thermal energy flow analysis, the effect of using different materials for PV modules and construction design of claddings. Beside a general introduction about building integrated photovoltaic applications an outdoor experiment and modelling results of a glass-glass PV module with forced ventilation is presented.