Solar heating—Ventilating system using a solar chimney

Abstract This paper presents the theoretical and experimental studies of a modified Trombe wall collector. As it is well known, the Trombe wall collector is a self convective flow solar air heating collector with thermal energy stored in the mass of the wall. One of the major problems of this system is the excessive heat losses from the wall, which is insulated from outside with only a double window. The objective of this study was to investigate the possibilities of reducing these excessive heat losses by separating the heat collector panel from the heat storage mass. Thus, a collector panel with a minimum thermal inertia is used to collect the solar energy which is transferred to the inside of the house for storage. During the night time operation, the well insulated collector panel with no thermal inertia serves as a thermal buffer, to reduce the heat losses from the house. An analytical study has been carried out and the results have been verified with the experimantal studies obtained at the Solab, the Solar Research House of Ecole Polytechnique.