Towards zero energy buildings: A novel passive solar house integrated with flat gravity-assisted heat pipes

Better utilization of renewable energy is necessary to replace fossil fuels to reach low-carbon. Passive solar houses (PSHs) can be much helpful for enhancing indoor thermal comfort by solar energy instead of fossil energy. However, for the existing PSHs, solar energy absorbed by the exterior walls is used inefficiently since the exterior walls play the synthetic role of solar energy absorption, storage and release. This study proposed a novel PSH integrated with flat gravity-assisted heat pipes (the FGHP house) to overcome this drawback. A numerical model for the FGHP house was developed and validated by experiments. Several energy performance indexes were defined to evaluate the thermal process of the FGHP house. The simulation results showed that the average indoor operative temperature of the typical FGHP house reaches 16.7 degrees C, 6.8 degrees C higher than that of a reference house. The south wall and the interior walls of the FGHP house are able to store 36% of the absorbed solar energy during daytime, and release 41% of the absorbed solar energy indoors during the whole typical day, while 14% and 7% for the reference house, respectively. The FGHP house provides a new possible way to achieve zero energy buildings.

Automated summary

This study introduces a novel solar passive house integrated with flat gravity-assisted heat pipes (FGHP house) to improve the efficiency of energy utilization, increasing indoor operative temperature by 6.8 degrees C compared to a reference house. The FGHP house can store 36% of absorbed solar energy during daytime and release 41% indoors throughout the day, offering a new potential way to achieve zero energy buildings.