Optimization of thermal mass in commercial building applications
- Fleming Group, East Syracuse, NY (US)
Based on results from a one-year intensive monitoring project of a northern New York commercial building with energy-conserving design features, a thermal storage project was undertaken to optimize the design of a thermal mass storage system for a moderately sized commercial building and transfer the technology to the commercial building sector. a generic commercial building design of 27,000 square feet (2508 m{sup 2}) was selected for the optimization project. Several different types of thermal mass designs were considered as potentially practical for a commercial building. These included a sandmass design such as the mass incorporated in the previously monitored commercial building mentioned above, a foundation slab of sufficient thickness to serve as a significant building thermal mass, and the use of poured cement in interior wall and floor construction. Five different office building thermal designs were selected which represented various thermal storage features and two different building insulation levels (R10 and R20). Energy performance of the five thermal designs was modeled in building energy simulations using DOE 2.1C (Department of Energy 2.1C) energy simulation code. Results of the simulations showed a reduction in peak heating and cooling loads would be experienced by the HVAC equipment. The reduction in peak heating and cooling loads was anticipated because thermal mass within a building serves to average peak heating and cooling loads due to the capacity of the thermal mass to store and release heat from all building heat sources over a period of time. Peak heating loads varied from 1972 kBtuh (578 kW) for the R-10 light construction base case to a minimum of 980 kBtuh (287 kW) for the R-20 heavy construction sandmass storage case.
- OSTI ID:
- 5754469
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Solar Energy Engineering; (USA), Journal Name: Journal of Solar Energy Engineering; (USA) Vol. 112:4; ISSN 0199-6231; ISSN JSEED
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
320100* -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Buildings
BUILDINGS
COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
COOLING LOAD
ENERGY ANALYSIS
ENERGY CONSERVATION
ENERGY SYSTEMS
EQUIPMENT
HEATING LOAD
MASS
OPTIMIZATION
PEAK LOAD
SIMULATION
SPACE HVAC SYSTEMS
THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE EQUIPMENT
THERMAL MASS