Solar ventilation and heating of buildings in sunny winter days using solar chimney

The capability of solar chimney lonely to meet the required thermal and ventilation needs of individuals in winter days is investigated in this paper. In the analysis, the heat transfer by natural convection and surface radiation in a 2D vented room in contact with a cold external ambient is studied numerically. The dependence of the system performance on air gap depth of the solar chimney, size of openings, outdoor air temperature and solar radiation have been studied to determine the appropriate operation conditions, regarding thermal comfort criteria. The findings show that the system is capable of providing good indoor air condition at daytime in a room, even with poor solar intensity of 215 W/m(2') and low ambient temperature of 5 degrees C. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.