Design and thermo-energetic evaluation of a solar building heating system

Abstract

Abstract This paper presents the design, construction and thermo-energetic evaluation of a solar building heating system consisting of a double-pass counter-current solar air heating collector with porous matrix and a water-bed heat storage unit connected to a prototype building located at the National University of Salta, Argentina. The experimental study determined that the solar collector has an average daily efficiency of 37 % while the storage unit has an average daily efficiency of 38 %. The overall daily efficiency of the complete system is 18 %. During the test period, the night-time discharge of the storage unit ensured that the temperature of the room to be heated was always above 20 °C when the outside temperature was between 10 and 15 °C.