Ventilation Performance of Solar Chimney with Built-in Latent Heat Storage

Solar-induced ventilation could be provided by incorporating the solar chimney with buildings. This technique is getting popular in new constructions which are intended to exploit renewable resources to save conventional energy without sacrificing indoor thermal comfort and air quality. Authors [1] [2] have been conducted various experimental and theoretical studies on ventilation performance of solar chimney. The experimental parameters are heat generation rate, size of chimney gaps and inclination of chimney. The new calculation model for predicting the air flow rate was proposed and the calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental ones. These studies air aimed at the solar chimney ventilation during the daytime, but the ventilation also during the nighttime is also desired if possible. Authors focus on following problems about the solar chimney ; (1) A solar chimney is not able to work for natural ventilation during the nighttime. (2) As fluctuation of solar radiation during the daytime changes air flow rate, a solar chimney is an unstable system. The idea to solve these problems is the usage of the latent heat. The latent heat stored in daytime is available for the nighttime ventilation by a solar chimney. No work has been performed on a solar chimney with built-in latent heat storage for evening / night ventilation. A solar chimney with built-in latent heat storage for prolongation of the natural ventilation operation was tried to develop. This paper presents the description of the prototype solar chimney with PCM (Phase Change Material) storage. A numerical model for predicting air flow rate in a solar chimney and temperature of aluminum (Al) plate, air and PCM are introduced as well.