2nd Canadian Solar Buildings Conference Calgary, June 10 14, 2007

DESIGN AND SIMULATION OF A NET ZERO ENERGY HEALTHY HOME IN MONTREAL

Type of Paper: Refereed
1

Jos A. Candanedo , Sevag Pogharian2, Andreas K. Athienitis1, Andr Fry3 Dept. of Building, Civil and Environmental Eng., Concordia University, Montral, Canada Tel.: (514)-848-2424, ext. 7080, e-mail: j_candan@encs.concordia.ca 2 Sevag Pogharian Design, Montral, Canada Tel.: (514)-935-5210, Fax: (514)-935-9672, e-mail: sevag@spd.ca 3 Concept-R Inc., Sorel-Tracy, Qubec, Canada Tel.: (450-780-0608), Fax: (450-780-0062), e-mail: andre.fry@conceptr.ca

ABSTRACT
In 2006, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) launched the Net Zero Energy Healthy Housing (NZEHH) competition (recently renamed EQuilibrium Housing), an initiative to encourage the design of energy efficient and environmentally friendly homes. This paper presents the energy design process of Alstonvale Net Zero House, one of the winning designs of this competition. Key features of the house include a unique passive solar design with adjustable shutter area, a BIPV/T roof with heat recovery linked to an air-water heat pump and a large thermal storage tank connected to a floor heating system. This paper presents the models and simulations that were performed to optimise the proposed design.

Figure 1. Rendering of Alstonvale Net Zero House The location chosen for the design was the town of Hudson, Qubec (N4527, W749), a suburb of Montral. The objective market for this house is a mid-income Canadian family.

INTRODUCTION
The objectives of the EQuilibrium Housing initiative can be briefly summarised as follows: 1. To develop grid-tied homes with net zero, or near net zero, energy consumption over a twelve month period. 2. To achieve high resource efficiency during its construction and operation. 3. To obtain a high quality indoor environment. 4. To reach specified levels of affordability and marketability. CMHC formulated a point system attributing weighting factors to the variables that were considered for the evaluation of the projects. Alstonvale Net Zero House, the design solution discussed in this article, is one of the twelve selected teams from across Canada to continue to the next phase: the construction of the house. Team Montral ZERO, the team that designed Alstonvale Net Zero House, began work circa August 2006. The team included architects, engineers in diverse disciplines (civil, mechanical, and electrical), consultants, water management expert and suppliers. Most of the team members had previous experience in the design of energy efficient homes.

DESIGN PROCESS: INITIAL APPROACH

Although general guidelines exist for designing an energy efficient and environmentally friendly house in a cold climate (good level of insulation, windows facing south, etc.), an optimal solution requires a methodical approach, taking numerous design constraints into consideration. In a traditional approach to building design all the professionals involved work sequentially: the architect makes a conceptual design, the structural engineer then performs the structural calculations, and finally the electrical and mechanical engineer each make their contributions. However, the complexity of the design of a net-zero energy home requires that all the professionals involved collaborate very closely from the beginning. One of the requirements of the competition was the organisation of a design charrette. This word has been used traditionally by architects to refer to an intensive brainstorming session in which several professionals contribute ideas.

2nd Canadian Solar Buildings Conference Calgary, June 10 14, 2007 The charrette for the design of Alstonvale Net Zero House took place on October 10th and 11th 2006. The first architectural sketches and design proposals were presented during this charrette, and subjected to the scrutiny of the team members. General consensus was found on the following recommendations: 1. A high-quality building envelope. 2. Implementation of passive heating and cooling design strategies. 3. Use of technologies taking advantage of renewable energies (photovoltaic panels, solar thermal energy). 4. Energy efficient lighting and appliances. 5. Adequate construction materials to guarantee a healthy indoor environment. 6. Restriction of the dimensions of the house to a minimum size guaranteeing health and comfort of the occupants. 7. Allowing for future expansions of the house by leaving a section of the interior unfinished. 8. Employing standard construction methods as much as possible. 9. Water management strategies to reduce water waste. Other design decisions were not so straightforward. For instance, several alternatives were discussed concerning the heating and cooling systems, as well as the method for distributing the heat in the building. The general consensus was that building simulations, also an important requirement in the competition, were needed to decide on these and other key issues such as the values of several important parameters (size of the PV system, window sizes, R-values of the building envelope components, thermal mass of the building, etc.). HVAC systems, while keeping adequate levels of comfort and health for the building occupants, and guaranteeing that reasonable assumptions of energy usage were employed. A new index, labelled EGH*, was calculated using the results of the second simulation, as follows:
Annual Estimated Energy Consumption EGH * = 100 20 Reference Energy Consumption

(1)

The reference energy consumption, calculated as a property of a given house, depends on the volume of the building, the temperature of the tap water, the number of heating degree-days, and the intended heating system (i.e., furnace or electric). The minimum acceptable value of EGH* was 90; however, the competitions marking system was nonlinear. For instance, EGH* ratings of 90, 95 and 98 correspond to 20%, 45% and 72% of the marks assigned to the energy performance section. This circumstance made it extremely desirable to reach or approach EGH* = 100, corresponding to net zero energy performance. CMHC also required that the parameters employed for the second simulation be used to determine the necessity of a cooling system. No cooling system was required for cooling loads below 1500 MJ per year. The HOT2000 simulations were very useful as a decision making tool for some critical aspects of the building envelope. For instance, the size of the overhangs on the south facing faade had to be increased in order to obviate the need for an air conditioning system. It was also found that above a critical R-value (near R-30) the benefit of increasing the insulation in the walls was very marginal, and not economically justifiable because of the cost of additional insulation in walls. Custom Simulations Although the submission of the simulations in HOT2000 was a competition requirement, supplementary simulations performed in other software packages could also be submitted. HOT2000 cannot represent the performance of new renewable energy systems (such as BIPV/T) and passive solar behaviour of the custom is not accurately represented in this bin method-based software. Also, HOT2000 can not accurately model thermal mass and overheating. It was found that other tools, more suitable for this purpose, were therefore necessary. Mathcad 2001, a general purpose mathematical programming tool, was employed for simulating the most innovative elements of Alstonvale Net Zero House. Mathcad has been used as a tool for building simulation (Athienitis, 1994; Athienitis, 1999; Tzempelikos, 2005). An advantage of using Mathcad

SIMULATIONS
HOT2000 Simulations CMHC rules required all the contestants to submit numerical simulations of the performance of the final design of the house. HOT2000, a program developed by NRCan as an assessment tool for professionals in the building industry, was the mandatory tool for two simulations (http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca). The first one required that parameters such as the HVAC system, temperature set-points and hot water consumption be fixed in order to evaluate the performance of the building envelope alone. HOT2000 simulations generate an index called EGH (which stands for Energuide for Houses, the name of a previous government incentive program) which is taken as an indicator of the performance of the building envelope. The minimum acceptable value of EGH was 82. The second simulation was intended to account for the effect of using renewable energies and alternative

2nd Canadian Solar Buildings Conference Calgary, June 10 14, 2007 is the flexibility that it allows for incorporating new models. The forcing functions (i.e., heat source and temperatures) are based on hourly data of solar radiation and temperature from a typical meteorological year file (TMY2) for Montral (TRNSYS 16). This kind of file includes relatively extreme conditions, such as very cold or very hot days, but maintains the yearly average values corresponding to a given location. Since the time step used in the calculations was 150 s (2.5 min), linear interpolation functions were used to estimate intermediate values between the hourly values available in the TMY2 file. This procedure generated a set of approximately 17,300 data points per variable per month. The Perez model (Perez et al., 1990) is a useful tool for calculating solar radiation incident on surfaces having any given orientation, based on two input values: beam radiation and diffuse horizontal radiation. The Perez model was used to calculate the value of solar radiation for the north, south, east and west walls, and north and south roofs. Sol-air temperatures were calculated for every wall, based on the incident solar radiation, the exterior temperature and the external heat transfer coefficients. The area of the windows for every orientation was introduced as an input to calculate the incoming solar heat gains. Figure 2 shows the result of the Mathcad simulation for the interior temperature, for the first 15 days of February. Passive solar heat gains account for most of the reduction of the heating load. Auxiliary heating is needed on days 35 and 38. BIPV/T System Several alternatives were considered as the main source of heat for the space heating system: a ground source heat pump, a heat pump linked to a Canadian tunnel system, and a BIPV/T system, also with a heat pump. In the BIPV/T system considered (Figure 3), a cavity is located underneath the PV panels. At the bottom of the cavity, there is an absorber plate made of corrugated metal. When solar radiation allows, exterior air is drawn upwards, recovering some heat from the PV panels. A glazed section following the PV panels is intended to further increase the temperature of the air in the cavity during the winter. The hot air exiting the cavity can be used as the heat source of an air-to-water heat pump. When its temperature is high enough (typically higher than 40C), it can be passed through an air-to-water heat exchanger, without resorting to the refrigeration cycle. A large water tank is used as a heat reservoir.
Tinit Toutit 0 10 20 30 30 32 31 34 36 38 LST it day 40 42 44 46 46

Some benefits of the BIPV/T with glazed air collector at the top coupled to an air-water heat pump as compared to a separate geothermal heat pump were apparent: the cost of digging or drilling is avoided; advantage is taken of the existing framing system to support the PV panels; and the cooling effect due to the circulating air improves the electrical conversion efficiency of the PV panels. Obviously, the BIPV/T system can only recover heat when solar radiation is available. The interaction of the BIPV/T system with the storage tank, and with the rest of the house, is critical for assessing the performance of the system. It was necessary to determine whether the heat supplied during the heating season would justify relying on the BIPV/T system as the primary heating source (the installation
ea PV pa n el s flo w G la z ed ar

Ai r

Insulation

Absorbing Plate Absorber Plate

Figure 3. Conceptual representation of the PVthermal system intended for EQuilibrium House #1.
30 30 20 10

Figure 2. Exterior temperature from TMY2 file (Toutit) and simulated interior temperature (Tinit), February 1st to February 15th. of an auxiliary heating system, employing renewable fuels, had already been decided). As previously mentioned, HOT2000 is not the ideal tool for simulating the capabilities of a BIPV/T system coupled to a heat pump. The closest module available in HOT2000 was an air-source heat pump.

2nd Canadian Solar Buildings Conference Calgary, June 10 14, 2007 In order to have an approximate idea of the performance of the system, the HOT2000 simulation was run employing an existing subroutine for a heating system having an air-to-air heat pump with a high COP value of 5.6 and a cut-off temperature of -20 C. Naturally, a more accurate simulation was required. At this point, the custom simulation became more important, both for the decision-making process, and for the validation of the system. The BIPV/T system was modelled by dividing the roof in three segments: one for the PV section, and two corresponding to the glazed section. The air nodes were connected to the other surfaces through convection heat transfer coefficients. The two sides of the cavity were connected by means of radiation heat transfer coefficients. The inlet temperature for the first segment is simply the exterior temperature; for the other two segments, the inlet temperature is the outlet temperature of the previous section. The heat transfer problem of the air in the cavity is a complex one. Air flow within a cavity having isothermal walls is expected to follow an exponential temperature rise. However, the temperature of the surfaces in contact with the air is not uniform along the cavity, although it is reasonable to assume an exponential temperature rise for a short section. An accurate solution for this problem requires solving simultaneous equations for the cavity surfaces and the air, either by iterations or through a suitably designed calculation sub-routine. For simplicitys sake the calculation of one month of data for 35 nodes requires the calculation of 604,800 temperatures a linear approximation for the temperature rise within each segment was employed as a first rough approach. The linear approximation allowed the integration of the BIPV/T roof with the rest of the nodes of the house. The custom simulations also considered a well-mixed storage tank, having uniform temperature, which would typically store heat between 40 and 90 C. The storage tank capacity was set to 1000 gal (which would provide 62 hours of storage for a heating load of 3.5 kW). The simulations indicate that this volume provides satisfactory results: however, the determination of an optimum tank size is definitely not a trivial problem, and deserves careful study. An excessively large tank may be too difficult to heat, and a much smaller tank may have too small storage capacity. Tanks intended for solar heating systems, with volumes comparable to 1000 gal are commercially available (www.stsscoinc.com) and have been installed in houses (www.solarhouse.com, www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/SolarS hed/solarshed.htm). As mentioned by Duffie and Beckman (2006), a onenode tank represents a conservative design approach. In practice, significant stratification will be experienced depending on the design of the tank. This is beneficial, since hot water from the top will be used for the radiant floor heating system, while cold water from the bottom will be used to recover heat from the BIPV/T air. Stratification will be considered for the control of the house. An algorithm was developed to estimate the energy consumption of the heat pump, and the circulating pump driving the flow through the heat exchanger as a function of the exit temperature of the air in the
75 75

65

Ttank it

55

45

35

35

31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 31

LST it day

46

Figure 4. Simulated tank temperature Feb. 1st to 15th (Julian days 31 to 46, LST = local standard time). cavity. The resulting average tank temperature variation is shown in Figure 4. BIPV/T System: Model Enhancement The model of the roof for Alstonvale Net Zero House employed in the simulations considered a cavity having 3 meters of PV panels, followed by 3 meters of glazing. This configuration is not necessarily optimal or the most economically appealing. An optimization exercise was needed to decide on the final configuration of the roof. However, the mathematical model of the PV-roof required several improvements to be an effective design tool. The use of actual weather data and the Perez model is maintained. The main improvements introduced to the BIPV/T model were: (a) more sections for calculations, (b) an exponential temperature rise within each section, (c) iterations within each section to solve the corresponding set of equations, (d) correlations for external heat transfer coefficients, and (e) improvement of the correlations for the internal heat transfer coefficient. The determination of the convection heat transfer coefficient on both sides of the cavity is particularly challenging. For a rectangular cross-section channel, it is customary to assume that the correlations for circular cross-section are valid, using the hydraulic diameter instead of the diameter as the length scale. The use of a correction factor for the hydraulic diameter of rectangular cross sections, based on the laminar solution, has been recommended (Jones, 1976). This practice is especially advisable when the

2nd Canadian Solar Buildings Conference Calgary, June 10 14, 2007 aspect ratio of the cavity is much larger than unity (as in this case). The presence of the PV-panel framing together with the unavoidable surface imperfections, and the corrugated surface of the absorbing plate, strongly suggests the use of a correlation that takes into consideration the surface friction factor (or equivalent friction factor, since the cross section is not uniform) for the determination of the Nusselt number. For instance, it is not appropriate to use the common Dittus-Boelter correlation, which is intended for fully developed turbulent flow in smooth pipes (Incropera and DeWitt, 2002; Lienhard and Lienhard, 2006). The problem is further complicated as the Reynolds number is in the vicinity of the critical region between laminar and turbulent flow for most of the flow rates considered. In the laminar flow regime, the thermal boundary layer is not fully developed for most of the cavitys length, and it is reasonable to expect relatively high heat transfer coefficients. Depending on the flow regime, two correlations were used for calculating the heat transfer coefficient in the cavity (Lienhard and Lienhard, 2006): the Gnielinski correlation for turbulent regime:
NuD =
60 60 50 40 30

Texitit 20 Tout it
10 0 10 20

30
30 31 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 46

tit day

Figure 5. Exterior temperature (TMY2) and simulated exit temperature of the BIPV/T cavity from February 1st to February 15th. Roof slope = 45, air speed = 0.5 m/s, cavity height = 2 in, length of PV section = 5 m, length of glazing section = 1 m, length of vertical section = 1.4 m. However, in June, the presence of the vertical section reduces the exit temperature. In general, high temperatures are desirable in order to have higher COP values when operating the heat pump, but higher temperatures are usually associated with low flow rates, and consequently, lower heat removal from the roof. For the basic simulations it was assumed that the fan of the heat pump would drive the flow through the system, overcoming the pressure drop of its own heat exchanger. The pressure drop across the BIPV/T system is small due to the low velocities, large cross sectional area of the cavity and short hydraulic length of the roof. The design also considered bypassing the first heat exchanger when the heat pump is running. A separate variable speed fan is being considered for controlling the flow rate, with the possibility of also bypassing the heat pump heat exchanger. The proper size of the fan is currently under study.

( f / 8) ( ReD 1000) Pr 0.5 1 + 12.7 ( f / 8 ) ( Pr 2 / 3 1)

(2)

and a correlation for thermally developing, laminar flow

Nu D = 3.657 +

0.0668Gz1/ 3 0.04 + Gz 2 / 3

(3)

In both cases, the hydraulic diameter was used as the length scale. The exterior convection heat transfer coefficient on the surface of the PV panels and glazing is a strong function of the wind speed. The McAdams dimensional equation (Duffie and Beckman, 2006), based on wind speed, was used for these calculations. Incorporating an additional vertical glazing section has been suggested as a method for recovering heat during the winter (Pantic, 2007), when the solar altitudes are low, while avoiding overheating during the summer months. Figure 5 compares the outlet temperature of the cavity and the exterior temperature, for a particular configuration with 1.4 m of vertical section for the first 15 days of February. According to this simulation, the temperature rise within the cavity can exceed 50 C. Figure 6, showing the temperature rise for 3 days in winter and one day in late spring, illustrates the effect of the vertical section. During the winter months, the vertical section keeps warming the air (although the change in slope is hardly noticeable).

60

60

50

T356dn T4dn T40dn T161dn

40

30

20

10 0

0 0

0.93

1.85

2.78

3.7

4.63

5.55

6.48

7.4 7.4

coordn

Figure 6. Simulated temperature rise for Julian days 356 (December 22nd), 4 (January 4th), 40 (February 10th), and 161 (June 10th).
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2nd Canadian Solar Buildings Conference Calgary, June 10 14, 2007

FEATURES OF THE FINAL DESIGN

The final configuration of the mechanical system is shown in Figure 7. After numerous simulations the final design of Alstonvale Net Zero House included: 1. A 5.5 kW photovoltaic system will be installed on the roof (45 tilt angle, due south azimuth). According to a mandatory RETScreen simulation performed for this competition, this system should generate approximately 6745 kWhr annually. 2. A two stage, 3.5 ton heat pump (14 kW) will be used to recover the heat from the roof and use it to heat the water of a large storage tank. 3. The temperature of the storage tank for the radiant floor heating system will often be below the required temperature for domestic hot water (55 C). For this reason, and to serve as a significant supplementary energy source, the inclusion of a hydronic solar collector was deemed appropriate. A 40-gal tank will be used to store the domestic hot water. The main storage tank and the small DHW will be linked through a coil (Figure 7) which will permit, if necessary, heat transfer both tanks. The use of efficient faucets and nozzles, and a heat exchanger, will allow the reduction of the daily use of domestic hot water to 120 L. The annual water heating load will be about 9,000 MJ. 4. The annual consumption of the main

5.

6.

7.

electrical appliances has been estimated at 1,435 kWhr (5166 MJ), or 3.93 kWhr per day. Adding lighting and other loads, the use of electricity for uses other than ventilation or heating are about 4,358 kWhr per year (12130 MJ) or 11.94 kWhr/day. Moderate use of non-essential loads (stereo, TV, computer, coffee maker, etc.), from a few minutes to a couple of hours daily, has been assumed. The house has been designed for two adults and two children occupying it 50% of the time. In order to improve thermal comfort a radiant floor heating system will be the main heating method. An additional hydronic heating coil will provide supplementary heating to the ventilation air. No air conditioning system will be installed. A solar chimney on the roof of the house, with an opening to the east, is intended to take advantage of low pressures due to the winds coming from the west thereby enhancing the effect of natural convection to remove hot air from the house. The south facing windows have been set to approximately 29% of the habitable area (172 m2), or 43% of the south faade, to take advantage of solar heat gains. Several measures are taken to avoid overheating due to this rather large glazing area: a) a large thermal mass behind the windows, b) controllable roller blinds, working under an

Figure 7. Mechanical System of Alstonvale Net Zero House.

2nd Canadian Solar Buildings Conference Calgary, June 10 14, 2007 anticipatory control algorithm, and c) adequately sized overhangs (especially for summer). The fact that most of the south facing windows are located in front of a central hall, also helps to distribute the heat more evenly in the house. A fireplace or furnace fed by a renewable fuel will provide auxiliary heating. The fresh air intake will pass through a heat recovery ventilator (HRV). The EGH rating of Alstonvale Net Zero House was estimated to be about 85. The EGH* rating obtained from the HOT2000 simulation was 99.6. Based on the numbers from the Mathcad simulation, the EGH* rating would be about 101 (more energy is obtained from renewable sources than it is consumed annually by the house).

8. 9.

CONCLUSIONS
This paper presents salient features of the design process of Alstonvale Net Zero House. Details of a supporting simulation in Mathcad are presented and discussed. BIPV/T roofs, coupled with a heat pump and a storage system, are a realistic alternative as a heat source for Canadian homes. The construction of Alstonvale Net Zero House has been scheduled to begin this year. We are looking forward to the monitoring of the performance of the house. BIPV/T systems have the potential to become an important technology for residences in the Canadian climate. Further research is recommended to evaluate several design alternatives such as the use of multiple inlets for the air in order to increase the efficiency of heat recovery and the incorporation of fins of different shapes. A discussion on the design of solar air collectors (akin to BIPV/T systems) is presented by Duffie and Beckman (2006). The house control system should take into account flow rate variation (and associated changes in the exit temperature of the cavity and heat recovered), heat pump COP, storage tank and indoor air temperatures. In particular, weather forecast data, essential for predictive control, would improve the performance of the system.

KEY FINAL RESULTS

The HOT2000 simulations corresponding to the final design produced the results shown in Table 1. The space heating consumption corresponds to the Table 1. Annual Energy Consumption (HOT2000 Simulation)
Annual Energy Consumption Space Heating Water Heating Ventilation Lighting/appliances Total MJ 8929 496.3 2841 15688 27954.3 kWhr 2480.3 137.9 789.2 4357.8 7765.1

electricity consumption of the heat pump (6,872 MJ) plus the energy consumed by the fuel of the auxiliary heating system (2,057 MJ). If ethanol is used as the fuel, this would correspond to about 90 L per year. The space heating load is much larger than the effective energy used to supply it. According to the HOT2000 simulation, the gross annual heating load is nearly 89,299 MJ. Passive solar gains through the south-facing windows reduce this load by providing 54,174 MJ for the space heating load. Internal loads account for 12,157 MJ. The rest of the heating load (20,910 MJ) is provided by the heat pump. The effective COP of the heat pump would then be 20,910/6,872 = 3.04. A sizeable amount of energy, 2,841 MJ per year, is used to drive the ventilation system. According to this simulation, domestic water heating would use approximately 496 MJ of electric energy per year. The rest of the load is provided by the solar collector. The custom simulations provided similar results: the annual energy consumption is about 25,546 MJ, of which 9,856 MJ correspond to space heating. The simulations estimate less electric energy consumption for space heating, but the use of the auxiliary heating source (renewable fuel) is larger (more than 5,000 MJ). Perhaps the most relevant fact from both the custom and HOT2000 simulations is the realization that they mutually validate their results of heating loads. EGH and EGH* ratings

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The collaboration of all the members of team Montreal ZERO is gratefully acknowledged. The authors would like to express their recognition to CMHC for its commitment towards energy efficient, green buildings. Financial support of this work was provided in part by NSERC through the Solar Buildings Research Network.

NOMENCLATURE
COP
f

Coefficient of Performance of the heat pump Darcy-Weisbach friction factor, defined by this expression:
L V 2 / 2

P D

Gz

Graetz number ( RePrD / x )

2nd Canadian Solar Buildings Conference Calgary, June 10 14, 2007

Nu D Nu D Pr ReD TMY2

Local Nusselt number (hD/k) Average Nusselt number (hD/k) Prandtl number ( / ) Local Reynolds number ( VD / ) Typical meteorological year file (2nd generation)

APPENDIX: THERMAL NETWORKS

The mathematical model developed in Mathcad 2001 makes use of the thermal network concept, so named because of its reliance on analogies between heat transfer phenomena and electric circuits. Electric potential and current are analogous to temperature difference and heat flux. Similarly to electric resistors, thermal resistances provide a good model to calculate the heat flux between points at different temperatures. Thermal capacitances adequately describe the heat storage capacity of materials and the resulting time lag between heat flux and their temperature change. Despite the simplicity of their operating principle, thermal networks are a powerful tool for treating complex heat transfer problems. Electric circuit analysis techniques can be transposed and applied for simplifying and solving thermal networks. Finite volume numerical analysis methods can also be used to study the transient response of the thermal network to forcing functions, such as exterior or interior heat sources, or temperature variations. The heat balance principle is used to write the equations. For the Alstonvale Net Zero House simulations, a fully explicit scheme was used: the temperatures corresponding to a future time step (p+1) are functions only of the temperatures of the current time step (p). For instance, for the nodes having a thermal capacitance the energy balance equation in thermal network form is given by (Athienitis, 1994):

REFERENCES
Athienits, A.K.. 1994. Buiding Thermal Analysis, Mathcad Electronic Book. Athienitis, A.K. 1999. Thermal Analysis of Buildings in a Mathematical Programming Environment and Applications. Building and Environment, Vol. 34, pp. 401-415. Duffie, J.A.; Beckman, W.A. 2006. Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes. Third Edition. John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey, USA. Incropera, F.P., DeWitt, D.P. 2002. Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer. Fifth Edition. John Wiley & Sons. Jones, O.C. 1976. An Improvement in the Calculation of Turbulent Friction in Rectangular Ducts. ASME Journal of Fluids Engineering, Vol. 98, pp. 173-181. Lienhard, J. IV; Lienhard, J. V. 2006. A Heat Transfer Textbook. Third Edition. Internet Book. Phlogiston Press. Pantic, S. 2007. Energy Analysis of Photovoltaic Thermal System Integrated with Roof and HVAC System. Masters Thesis. Concordia University, Montral, Canada. Perez, R., Ineichen, P., Seals, R. 1990. Modeling Daylight Availability and Irradiance Components from Direct and Global Irradiance. Solar Energy Vol.44, No.5, pp. 271-289. TRNSYS 16. 2004. Transient Simulation Studio. Tzempelikos, A. 2005. A Methodology for Integrated Daylighting and Thermal Analysis of Buildings. PhD Thesis. Concordia University, Montral, Canada. www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/SolarS hed/solarshed.htm http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca www.solarhouse.com www.stsscoinc.com

Ti p +1 =

t p n p p p Qi + U ij (T j Ti ) + Ti Ci j =1

(4)

Where Ti refers to the temperature of the node, Ci to its capacitance, Qi represents all the incoming heat sources, Tj refers to the temperature of adjacent nodes, and Uij refers to the conductances between Ti and Tj. Figure 8 shows a typical thermal sub-network employed for the construction of the larger model for the entire building. Node 15 and 16 represent the state of two planes in the wall. C15 represents the thermal inertia of the wall. Thermal resistances connect nodes 15 and 16, and node 15 with the exterior. A current source corresponds to the solar the solar heat gains incident on the walls interior surface, while a voltage source stands for the solair temperature on the exterior.
16 R15_16 15 R15_o

S16

C15

Teo_north

Figure 8. Typical network model for a wall.

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