TRANSPARENTLY INSULATED HYBRID WALL

The overheating protection of walls equipped with transparent insulati on (TI) usually requires cost intensive, often unreliable mechanical s hading devices. An effective way to avoid overheating and simultaneous ly increase the solar gains is the direct cooling of the outer wall su rface (absorber). For this purpose, water is pumped through a system o f pipes that is attached to the outer wall surface. The heat transferr ed to the fluid can be used for hot-water production and/or space heat ing. Thus, the passive solar TI system is extended to an active/passiv e solar system, called the transparently insulated hybrid wall (TIHW). In this paper the results of experimental investigations of a laborat ory model (aperture 1 m(2)) are presented: more than 75% of the absorb ed heat could be removed by the fluid. The surface temperature at the inner wall remains moderate even after a long period of high irradianc e. Already with small how rates an effective cooling is achieved. Fina lly the fast reaction of the system after turning on the fluid pump en hances the control of the TI system in order to avoid overheating in a djacent rooms. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.