Thermally adaptive wall to enhance indoor comfort and energy performance

Abstract

Abstract In the present work, a new environment-adaptive wall is proposed, based on an inside and outside radiant panel with pipes drowned on the panels themselves and hosting a heat-carrying liquid pushed by a pump. The purpose consists of transferring heat across the thickness of the wall, in the direction required for energy saving and enhancement of inner indoor thermal comfort. A Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) analysis is reported and the results are applied on a single zone box-shaped building, where a whole-year study is implemented by means of the transient simulation tool TRNSYS. The efficiency of this solution respect to the state-of the-art static walls is finally discussed. A concept of a laboratory setup of an adoptive wall along with first result are presented and discussed.