PV-Trombe Wall Design for Buildings in Composite Climates

Abstract

The design of the novel PV-Trombe wall in Hefei is theoretically processed in this paper. The area of winter air vents and width of PV-Trombe wall are determined, the effects of two improvements (thermal insulation and shading curtain) are investigated, and the different operating results for winter heating and summer cooling are also obtained. Results show that if compared to the original PV-Trombe wall, after thermal insulating, the indoor temperature increases by 2.36°C in winter and decreases by 2.47°C in summer and the electrical efficiency decreases by <2%. After curtain shading, the indoor temperature decreases by 2.00°C in summer and the electrical efficiency increases by ∼1%. It is recommended that thermal insulation in both winter and summer and appending a shading curtain in summer are adopted for PV-Trombe wall, especially for the diurnally used PV-Trombe wall.