A new type of passive solar energy utilization technology—The wall implanted with heat pipes

• We put forward a new wall for passive solar energy utilization.
• We study the wall theoretically and experimentally.
• Heat transfer performance of the wall is adjustable and controllable.
• The wall improves the heat transfer capacity and inside surface temperature.
• The wall can reduce the heating load and improve the thermal environment.

The heat transfer performance on the wall has a great influence on the energy conservation and the indoor thermal comfort. Once it can be adjustable according to the requirement, the wall can effectively regulate the indoor temperature, thereby directly reducing the building energy consumption. In this paper, a new type of passive solar energy utilization technology, the wall implanted with heat pipes (WIHP), was proposed, and its heat transfer performance and energy-saving characteristic were investigated theoretically and experimentally with the typical meteorological data of Jinan. The results indicate that the theoretical results agree well with experimental ones. The heat transfer performance of the WIHP is adjustable and controllable, which can reduce the heating load and improve thermal environment. During the winter in a typical year, the heat loss of the south external wall is reduced by 14.47%. Therefore, such a type of wall can apparently improve the indoor thermal environment, which can be popularized in engineering applications.