Trombe wall

It has been found that, among the tools and methods available for the energy calculation of double envelope elements, there are some debatable aspects such as: the selection of correlations for calculating the convective heat transfer coefficient and the procedure for calculating the temperature of the air layer. In addition, the validation of some models only refers to specific cases or no information is available whether or not a validation has been performed.

Vertical solar-air collectors that are used for providing natural ventilation can be a viable solution in buildings where higher ventilation rate requirements for better indoor air quality cannot be met by traditional natural ventilation methods. Indoor air quality problems have been experienced in Portuguese school buildings where a study revealed that the C02 concentrations in classrooms in winter were higher than the recommended health limits. To improve the environment in these classrooms, solar-induced ventilation has been suggested.