Transient performance of a solar selective thermal insulation system

Abstract

A prototype of a thermal insulation system to offer high selectivity of the solar gain regarding the solar incidence angle (SATIS) was applied to a typical solid brick masonry for existing buildings in Germany. Light conducting elements (LCEs) inclined at 19 ° were incorporated in SATIS, which equals the average solar noon angle in southern Germany during winter. The entire wall construction was experimentally investigated in a differential climatic chamber test bench at four different irradiation angles according to a dynamic test procedure. In addition, a conventional wall construction (CWC) has been measured. At SATIS’ design angle of 19 °, the SATIS wall construction shows a solar gain (SG) of 394.5 Wh/m², while the SG of the CWC amounts to only 25.4 Wh/m². The validated transient model of the SATIS wall construction showed that, at the end of the irradiation period of the dynamic test procedure (8 h), the solar heat penetrates to a depth of 253 mm and 111 mm inside the 385 mm thick brick wall masonry at the irradiation angles of 19 ° and 50 °, respectively. During the same time, the stored solar energy at 50 ° amounts to only 24.4 % of that stored at 19 °.