SIMULATION ANALYSIS OF PASSIVE SOLAR STRUCTURES USING HEAT TRANSFER EQUATIONS

ABSTRACT Passive solar design is an economical way of using solar energy in buildings. The thermal behavior of the buildings within its environment over a period of time can easily be predicted using accurate and simple analytical tools. This provides designers the information necessary to satisfy the occupant's needs, reduce peak cooling/heating power demands, reduce the size of air conditioning/heating equipment, and the period for which it is required. There by, increasing the possibility of a successful design. The main goal of this study is to present modeling of passive solar structures using heat transfer equations. The simulation model results correlated well with the experimental data. Keywords: modeling, passive solar design, heat transfer equations. INTRODUCTION A solar energy system is a group of interacting pieces designed to collect, store and distribute the solar radiation energy as needed for some specific purpose. The performance of solar energy systems is dependent upon weather. In a solar heating/ cooling system, for example both the energy collected and the energy demand are functions of solar radiation, the ambient temperature, and meteorological variables. These forcing functions are unique in that they are neither completely random, nor deterministic; they are best described as irregular functions of time, both on a small (hourly or daily) and large (seasonally or yearly) time scale. Although significant efforts have been directed toward energy efficiency and various passive solar energy model