Effect of indoor mass on the time constant and thermal delay of buildings

✍ Scribed by K. A. Antonopoulos; E. P. Koronaki

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 148 KB
• Volume: 24
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0363-907X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-114x(200004)24:5<391::aid-er585>3.0.co;2-l

✦ Synopsis

A numerical procedure is presented for predicting the transient thermal behaviour of buildings and estimating time constant and thermal delay t . The proposed procedure is used to examine the e!ect of indoor mass on the above characteristics. The predicted e!ect of these is considerable; for example, the usual indoor mass in houses increases and t by up to 40 per cent, which is analysed to 25 per cent for interior partitions and 15 per cent for furnishings. Both and t are found to be linear functions of the mass of interior partitions M and furnishings M . These functions are given for typical buildings. A simple &time constant and thermal delay model' is also proposed, which is in satisfactory agreement with the developed rigorous numerical solution. Components of and t are introduced, which express the contribution of any indoor construction element or piece of furniture to the &total' time constant and thermal delay of buildings. The analysis in components, which are related to the corresponding ones of the &e!ective thermal capacitance', provides useful information for the maximization of heat or cool storage in buildings.