What Is a Passive Solar Building?

Passive solar buildings are designed to make the building fully utilize the solar radiation heat for heating in the winter, to minimize the heat loss caused by the maintenance of the structure and the ventilation and penetration; in the summer, minimize the heat caused by solar radiation and the heat dissipation of indoor personnel and equipment, so as not to use The premise of machinery and equipment, completely rely on strengthening the building's shielding function, through the architectural method, to achieve the purpose of comfortable indoor environment of environmentally friendly buildings. ^[1]

Ancient humans already knew how to use the light and heat of the sun when building houses, but this kind of

Passive solar buildings use indoor thermal energy provided by solar energy, and do not require any mechanical equipment to provide energy.

From the principle of passive solar building design, it can be seen that passive solar energy can use external energy solar energy to achieve self-regulation, can fully utilize solar thermal energy, and meet the requirements of buildings "warm winters and cool summers". Passive solar buildings collect and absorb solar thermal energy through the building orientation to achieve thermal insulation effects; use the building's reasonable layout and internal space to enhance air convection to reduce indoor temperature; use energy-saving and environmentally friendly materials to store solar thermal energy, which is beneficial to Transformation of energy. In particular, the following factors should be considered: ^[5]

There are three main types of solar buildings:

According to the way of collecting solar energy, passive solar buildings can be divided into the following categories:

Direct benefits of passive solar buildings

In winter, the sun shines directly on the indoor floor walls and furniture through a large area of south-facing glass windows, causing it to absorb most of the heat, thus increasing the temperature. The schematic diagram is shown in Figure 3-39. Part of the solar energy absorbed is transmitted in the indoor space by radiation and convection, and part is introduced into the heat storage body, and then gradually releases heat, so that the room can maintain a certain temperature at night and on cloudy days. In this way, due to the large area of the south window, thermal insulation curtains should be provided, and the sash must be well sealed to reduce the heat loss through the window. The window shall be provided with a sun visor to block the summer sunlight from entering the room.

Passive solar building heat storage wall type

This solar building mainly uses the south-facing vertical heat-storage wall to absorb sunlight passing through the glass lighting surface, and sends heat to the room through conduction, radiation, and convection. The outer surface of the chair is painted black or some kind of dark color to effectively absorb sunlight. The forms of heat collection and heat storage plugs are: solid heat collection and heat storage wall, flower format heat collection and heat storage wall, water wall heat collection and heat storage wall, phase change material heat collection and heat storage wall, fast heat collection wall and so on.

Collector wall

Passive solar building sunlight room

The sunlight room is built on the south side of the house, and its envelope structure is wholly or partly made of transparent materials such as glass. There are holes such as doors and windows in the public wall between the room and the room. The sunlight is heated by the sunlight, and its internal temperature is always higher than the external temperature. Therefore, it can not only supply solar thermal energy to the room through the convection vent during the day, but also can be used as a buffer zone at night to reduce the room heat loss.

Passive solar building roof pool

The rooftop pool solar building has both winter heating and summer cooling functions. It is suitable for areas that are not cold in winter and hot in summer. A sealed plastic bag filled with water is used as a heat storage body, and it is placed on the roof of the roof, and a heat insulation cover plate that can be opened and closed horizontally is provided thereon. When it is sunny in winter in the daytime, open the insulation board to allow the water bag to fully absorb the solar radiation heat, and the heat stored in the water bag is transmitted to the room below through radiation and convection. At night, the insulation board is closed to prevent outward heat loss. The opening and closing of the thermal insulation cover in summer is opposite to that in winter. Close the insulation cover during the day to isolate the sun and outdoor hot air. At the same time, use a cooler water bag to absorb the heat from the room below to reduce the room temperature. At night, open the insulation cover to allow the water bag to cool. The thermal insulation cover can also be automatically adjusted to open and close according to the room temperature, the water temperature in the water bag and the solar irradiance.