Integration of Sorption Collector in Office Curtain Wall: Simulation Based Comparison of Different System Configurations
Abstract
European trends push towards the smart integration of renewables in building components guaranteeing robust and plug & play solutions. This approach seems particularly favorable for the retrofit sector, where, nevertheless, there is still a big lack of this kind of products. In this direction, a solar cooling “double integrated” system has been designed and assessed. A solution has been developed to directly integrate a triple state absorption module - with LiCl and water as working couple - in a Sydney type vacuum tube solar collector (Hallström et al. 2014). Secondly, a system layout for integrating this component in a metal-glass curtain wall has been defined. The result is a fully integrated solar active façade module directly generating and distributing heating and cooling to the indoor environment. Sorption collectors with air-based heat transfer have been modeled and simulated in order to depict components and overall system performance figures needed for the prototype integration in the building system. A TRNSYS model, based on validated components, has been parametrically run and simulation results analyzed. Results highlight a quantitative and qualitative analysis of potentials and limits of this double integrated (façade and solar collector) cooling technology.
Keywords
Solar cooling, Building integration, Sorption collector.