A Simple Tool for the Design of Passive Solar Buildings

The design tools that are presently available for use by designers of passive solar heating or cooling systems include detailed simulation codes, correlations derived from the detailed codes, and simulations that may be used for short-term analyses using programmable handheld calculators or desktop computers. An alternative method is based on classical frequency response techniques and yields results that are in close agreement with those that are obtained from detailed computer simulations. The method may be used to quickly determine the average temperature and the magnitude of the diurnal temperature variation in a passive solar building. The effects of parameter changes may also be quickly and easily determined by this method. The method is described in the paper and results are presented for a slab-on-grade building having a thermal storage wall and a thermal storage floor incorporating off-peak load management.