Building façade integrated solar thermal collectors for water heating: simulation model and case studies

Abstract

This paper presents a dynamic simulation model for the energy, economic and environmental performance assessment of a novel building integrated solar thermal collector prototype, for Sanitary Hot Water (SHW) preparation. The investigated device is a Flat-Plate Collector (FPC) with water as working fluid, suitably designed to be integrated into the building envelope (Building Integrated Solar Thermal System - BISTS). The developed model was conceived for assessing the active effect of the collector as well as the influence of its building integration on the building thermal loads (passive effects: overheating and free heating). The main differences of the proposed novel collector vs. the existing technologies consist in a higher system simplicity and in low fabrication costs. In order to show the features of the developed simulation model, a comprehensive case study was developed. In particular, the proposed system layout (PS) refers to the installation of the examined FPC prototype on south facing façades of a residential building located in different climate zones and with different envelope’s weighs. A reference system layout (RS) is also taken into account for comparison purposes vs. the proposed one in terms of energy, economic and environmental performances.