A climatic variable for constructing thermal performance lines for air-conditioned commercial buildings in Hong Kong.

The article examines the feasibility of using thermal performance lines in assessing the efficiency of using energy in air conditioned commercial buildings in Hong Kong. A regression study is outlined, which was aimed at identifying a suitable climatic variable that would yield linear thermal performance lines for Hong Kong commercial buildings. Researchers based the study on the monthly electricity consumption of 26 existing office/commercial buildings obtained from a recent survey.

Assessing thermal performance of an atrium integrated with photovoltaics.

Evaluates by measurement and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modelling, the thermal performance of an atrium integrated with photovoltaic (PV) modules, situated at the Jubilee Campus of the UK University of Nottingham. The project monitored the internal and external environments of the atrium, and applied CFD to the prediction of its thermal performance. Investigated the effect of ventilation strategies on the performance of PV arrays. Found that CFD modelling showed that for effective cooling of roof mounted PV arrays, the air inlet should be situated close to the roof.

Laboratory test procedures to evaluate thermal and fluidodynamic performances of the climatised room.

In this paper the experimental results of the measurements obtained after the completion of a test room realised in the laboratories of the Dipartimento di Energetica dell'Universit di Ancona and the development of the monitoring system are reported. The same authors have already discuss in others works the preliminary studies about these themes and in which it is possible to read the first data of the effectuated studies about climatization phenomena.

Natural ventilation induced by combined wind and thermal forces.

Analytical solutions are derived for calculating natural ventilation flow rates and air temperatures in a single-zone building with two openings when no thermal mass is present. In these solutions, the independent variables are the heat source strength and wind speed, rather than given indoor air temperatures. Three air change rate parameters α,β and γ are introduced to characterise, respectively, the effects of the thermal buoyancy force, the envelope heat loss and the wind force.

Thermal and shear wall performance of building assemblies with insulated frames.

A technique for improving the thermal performance of lightweight steel- and wood-framed building assemblies is introduced in this paper. In this approach, rigid extruded insulation material is applied only to the framing members themselves (studs, plates, doubles, headers, etc.), effectively creating a composite member composed of insulation and structural framing. The depth of the envelope cavity is thereby extended by an amount that is equal to the thickness of the rigid insulation employed.

Effect of insulation and mass distribution in exterior walls on dynamic thermal performance of whole buildings.

The effect of wall material configuration on dynamic thermal performance is analyzed for six typical wall configurations. Due to different arrangements of concrete and insulation layers, these walls present a wide range of dynamic thermal properties. Newly developed thermal structure factors are used in selection and thermal analysis of these walls. A simple one-room model of the building exposed to diurnal periodic temperature conditions is analyzed to give some basic information about the effect of wall material configuration on thermal stability of the building.

Thermal performance of a low cost sustainable wall construction system.

Loose-fill pumice, fly ash, and sawdust have been used to construct insulated walls for retrofit or new construction of small residential buildings. Pumice in sandbags was demonstrated as exterior insulation for an existing adobe house in New Mexico. Such houses are rarely insulated because of the cost and difficulty of providing exterior insulation. Prototype stand-alone walls were also constructed using fly ash and sawdust blown into continuous polypropylene tubing, folded as it is filled to form the shape of the wall. Other materials could also be used.

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