Thermal Barrier as a technique of indirect heating and cooling for residential buildings

The paper presents a concept of an indirect heating and cooling technique of residential buildings driven by solar thermal radiation called Thermal Barrier (TB), which is composed of polypropylene U-pipes located inside of external walls. Fluid flows inside a U-pipes system with a variable mass flow rate and variable supply temperature. This creates a semi-surface parallel to wall surfaces and a spatially averaged temperature almost constant and close to the reference temperature of 17 °C all year round. The TB technique is used to stabilize and reduce heat flux normal to the wall surface and to maintain its direction from internal air out to ambient air during the entire year. The main intention of this paper is to investigate the thermal performance and stability of Thermal Barrier. A 3D FE model of a prefabricated external wall component containing a TB U-pipe system with flowing fluid is developed using the FE code of ABAQUS. The FE analysis is supported by a novel SVC control system implemented in FORTRAN to simulate real-working conditions. The advantages of the TB heating/cooling technique are outlined.