Parametric study of a passive solar-heated house with special attention on evaluating occupant thermal comfort

Conference · Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1981 · Proc. Annu. Meet. - Am. Sect. Int. Sol. Energy Soc.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6273668

Emery, A F; Heerwage, D R; Kippehan, C J; Waki, T

A parametric study has been conducted of passive heating devices that are to be used to provide environmental conditioning for a single-family house. This study has been performed using the thermal simulation computer program UWENSOL. Climatic data used in this analysis were for Yokohama, Japan, which has a subtropical humid climate similar to Washington, D.C. (in terms of winter air temperatures and useful radiation). Initial studies considered the use of different wall thicknesses, glazing types, and orientations for a Trombe wall and alternate storage quantities for a walk-in greenhouse. Employing a number of comparative parametric studies an economical and efficient combination of devices was selected. Then, using a computer routine COMFORT which is based on the Fanger Comfort Equation, another series of parametric analyses were performed to evaluate the degree of thermal comfort for the occupants of the house. The results of these analyses demonstrated that an averaged Predicted Mean Vote of less than 0.3 from a thermally-neutral condition could be maintained and that less than 10% of all occupants of such a passively-heated house would be thermally uncomfortable.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Washington, Seattle
• OSTI ID: 6273668
• Report Number(s): CONF-810925-
• Journal Information: Proc. Annu. Meet. - Am. Sect. Int. Sol. Energy Soc.; (United States), Vol. 6; Conference: 6. national passive solar conference, Portland, OR, USA, 8 Sep 1981
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
HOUSES
PASSIVE SOLAR HEATING SYSTEMS
PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS
THERMAL COMFORT
ATTACHED GREENHOUSES
GLAZING MATERIALS
JAPAN
ORIENTATION
TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION
TROMBE WALLS
WINDOWS
ASIA
BUILDINGS
ENERGY SYSTEMS
EQUIPMENT
GREENHOUSES
HEATING SYSTEMS
MATERIALS
OPENINGS
RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SOLAR HEATING SYSTEMS
WALLS
140901* - Solar Thermal Utilization- Space Heating & Cooling