There is growing interest in zero-energy and low-energy buildings, which have a net energy consumption (on an annual basis) of almost zero. Because they can generate both electricity and thermal energy through the use of solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal collectors, and with the help of reduced building thermal demand, low-energy buildings can not only make a significant contribution to energy conservation on an annual basis, but also reduce energy consumption and peak demand. This study focused on electricity consumption during the on-peak period in a low-energy residential solar building and considers the use of a building’s thermal mass and thermal storage to reduce electricity consumption in summer and winter by modulation of temperature setpoints for heat pump and indoor thermostats in summer and additional use of a solar heating loop in winter. Experiments were performed at a low-energy solar demonstration house that has solar collectors, hot water storage, a ground-coupled heat pump, and a thermal storage tank. It was assumed that the on-peak periods were from 2 pm to 5 pm on hot summer days and from 5 pm to 8 pm on cold winter days. To evaluate the potential for utilizing the building’s thermal storage capacity in space cooling and heating, the use of simple control strategies on three test days in summer and two test days in the early spring were compared in terms of net electricity consumption and peak demand, which also considered the electricity generation from solar PV modules on the roof of the house.
30 October 2012 in Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
The Development and Performance Analysis of Compact Type Solar Thermal/Ground Coupled Heat Pump Hybrid System for Heating, Cooling and Hot water Compact Type Solar Thermal/Ground Coupled Heat Pump Hybrid System;Space Heating/Cooling and Hot Water;Zero Energy Solar House; In this study,the compact type solar thermal and ground coupled heat pump hybrid system for space heating/cooling and hot water supply has been developed. This hybrid system was installed in Zero Energy Solar House(ZeSH) in KIER for the demonstration. The thermal performance and operational characteristics of this hybrid system were analysed especially. The results are as follows. (1) This hybrid system was designed in order to address the existing disadvantages of solar thermal/ground coupled heat pump system. For this design, all parts except solar collector and ground coupled heat pump were integrated into a single product in a factory. The compact type unit includes two buffer tanks, an expansion tank, pumps, valves, a controller, etc. This system has an advantage of easy installation with simple plumbing work even in narrow space. (2) The thermal charging and discharging time of the buffer tanks and its characteristics by ground coupled heat pump, and heat pump COP according to geo-source temperature and buffer storage temperature have been studied. This system was found to meet well to the heat load without any other auxiliary heating equipment. (3) The operating hours of the ground coupled heat pump as a backup device of solar thermal can be reduced significantly by using solar heat. It was also found that the minimum heating water supply setting temperature and maximum cooling water supply setting temperature make an influence on the heat pump COP. The lower heating water and the higher cooling water temperature, the higher COP. In this respect, the hybrid system's performance can be improved in ZeSH than conventional house.
30 April 2011 in Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
An Evaluation of Application Possibility of Window System in the Building based on Optical Characteristics Analysis of DSSC DSSC;Optical characteristic;Spectroscopic analysis; It can gain both the electric energy production and disperse of light at the same time if DSSC is applied in the building as window system. It means to help facade design and to be used in lighting, heating, cooling energy directly by applicating DSSC BIPV window that is possible to daylighting and materialization of color. For this, optical characteristics analysis that is basic step must take precedence. So, basic databases of DSSC are builded and optical performances according to the double and triple glazing are evaluated by analyzing spectral data of various colored DSSC. As a result, Green(4) has the highest visible transmittance that is 28.8%, and Blue(3) has the lowest that is 0.3%. And, in case of optical performance of Green(4) depending on the incidence angle, SHGC and Tsol are decreased sharply from more than $60^{\circ}C$. Finally, It is judged that Red(4), Green(1), (4), Blue(4) are suitable for application in office building because visible transmittance is high and solar heat gain coefficient is low relatively in spite of composing to double and triple glazing.