Energy and Buildings 84 (2014) 575–585

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Energy and Buildings

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enbuild

Design and operation methodology for active building-integrated

thermal energy storage systems
Yuxiang Chen ∗ , Khaled E. Galal, Andreas K. Athienitis
Concordia University, 1455 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3G 1M8

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A methodology is presented for integrating the design and operation of active building-integrated thermal
Received 31 May 2014 energy storage (BITES) systems to enhance their thermal and energy performance. A bounding-condition
Received in revised form 7 August 2014 based design approach is proposed in conjunction with predictive control strategies. The predictive con-
Accepted 10 August 2014
trol uses frequency domain models and room air temperature set-point profile as input. The set-point
Available online 20 August 2014
profiles and BITES design are improved in a holistic manner according to the thermal dynamic response
of active BITES systems and their thermal zones. The dynamic response is obtained from the transfer
Keywords:
functions of frequency domain models. The methodology is demonstrated on ventilated systems. The
Predictive control
Frequency domain model
results show that the methodology can significantly improve the design and operation of active BITES
Transfer function systems, and hence improve their thermal and energy performance. The dynamic response of different
Integrated design and operation sizes of systems is presented to provide useful information for design selection. It is shown that concrete
Active building-integrated thermal energy thickness of 0.2–0.3 m is a good value to initiate design. Other important application considerations are
storage also discussed.
© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Building-integrated thermal energy storage (BITES) systems use
building fabric (e.g. masonry block walls and concrete slabs) as
thermal storage mass. They are considered as active BITES if they
embody internal charging system, such as hydronic, air-based or
electric systems. They are sometimes referred to as fabric thermal
storage [1], fabric energy storage [2], or thermo-active (or thermally
activated) building systems (TABS) [3]. Active charging enhances
the engagement of core mass for thermal energy storage by utilizing
core area for heat transfer.
Primary space conditioning can be supplied through active
BITES systems. The active charging systems may heat/cool the
building fabric (wall, floor or ceiling), which in turn heat/cool their
zones through radiation and convection, like large radiant heat-
ing/cooling panels [4] integrated with storage mass. Using active
BITES systems with proper control can provide low energy space
conditioning with relatively flat profile of power demand, while
maintaining or improving thermal comfort. The demand of space
∗ Corresponding author. Dept. BCEE, Rm: EV-6.139, Concordia University, 1455 de
Maisonneuve Blvd. West, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3G 1M8.
Tel.: +1 514 848 2424x7244; fax: +1 514 848 7965.
E-mail address: yuxia ch@hotmail.com (Y. Chen).
conditioning and the supply of ambient renewable energy and off-
peak power can also be well matched [5,6].
Fig. 1 shows two configurations of such active BITES sys-
tems. They will be used for demonstration in this paper. In the
without-airflow-to-zone configuration (Fig. 1a, e.g. hydronic floor
heating/cooling systems), the only function of heat transfer fluids
(e.g. air or water passing through the BITES) is to heat or cool the
BITES mass. In the with-airflow-to-zone configuration (Fig. 1b, only
for air-based systems), the airflow enters the room and mixes with
room air after passing through the BITES. It can provide ventilation
and space conditioning to the zone, besides exchanging heat with
the BITES mass.
There are two main criteria for the thermal functions of such
active BITES systems. First, they can provide sufficient space ther-
mal conditioning to their thermal zones. Second, they can store
ideal (sometimes large) amount of thermal energy for appropriate
operating temperature ranges and time. The acceptable thermal
comfort range offers flexibility but also imposes limits on their
operations.
Since an active BITES systems has a considerable amount of
thermal storage mass, its thermal response is slow. Its time con-
stant is of the order of hours. To achieve their functionality,
predictive control has to be implemented. Different predictive
control strategies for BITES systems have been proposed in the
literature [4–12].

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2014.08.013
0378-7788/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
576 Y. Chen et al. / Energy and Buildings 84 (2014) 575–585

Nomenclature
Bp total thermal output of BITES to the room (i.e.
Symbols CR.B p + A.B p)
∼ oscillatory value/response CR.B p combined convective and radiative thermal output
∼
= approximately equal to of BITES
 difference or potential cs Ratio area ratio of internal heat transfer surface to room-
← order of layers in an assembly. 1 ← N means the side surface
assembly contains layers from 1 to N, and the exci- 0 ← rm t12 the element at the first row and the second column
tations are on surface l of layer N of the transmission matrix 0←rm M of the assembly
trs
between node “0” and room air nodes
Greek
Area surface area
Arg{} argument (phase angle) of the complex number
B total number of bounding surfaces, or BITES
c specific heat capacity (J/kg/K)
CR combined convection and radiation
d mathematical symbol for differential
e TES capacity per unit area (J/m2 ) or exponential base
E energy (J)
f fluids (air for with-airflow-to-zone configuration,
and air or water for without-airflow-to-zone con-
figuration)
h convective heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 /K) or
harmonic index
M matrix of transfer functions
P heat power (W) or period in seconds
Q volumetric flow rate (m2 /sec)
rm room or room air
sc source or source layer
slr solar
t time or duration (second/sec unless specified)
ttl total
T temperature (◦ C)
T temperature difference or potential (◦ C)
Th thickness or equivalent thickness (m)
u heat transfer coefficient per unit area (W/m2/K)
Y self-/transfer-admittance, transfer function in fre-
quency domain
 density (kg/m3 )
c volumetric heat capacity (J/m3 /K)
ω angular frequency (rad/s), ωf = 2␲/P and ωh = h·ωf
 phase angle of complex number
Fig. 1. Conceptual schematics of active BITES systems and their thermal coupling
Acronyms with the interior space: (a) without-airflow-to-zone configuration, and (b) with-
ACH air changes per hour (air flow rate in terms of how airflow-to-zone configuration (“Indoor mass” includes room air, wallboards and
many times of room volume in 1 h) furniture; CNV: convection; ADV: advection; LR: long-wave radiation; HRV: heat
recovery ventilator).
AHU air handling unit
BITES building-integrated thermal energy storage
CHTC convective heat transfer coefficient
DFS discrete Fourier series Some guidelines for design and operation are provided in liter-
TES thermal energy storage ature. Ma and Wang [13,14] and Athienitis and Santamouris [15]
investigated the dynamic response of common building fabric com-
Variables ponents and provided some sizing guidelines for passive storage.
0 ← rm a21 the element at the second row and the first column Athienitis and Chen [16] studied the thermal performance and con-
of the admittance matrix 0←rm M of the assembly trol strategies of an electric radiant heating floor with thermal
adm
between node “0” and room air nodes storage. Howard and Fraker [17] reviewed the design principals
of ventilated BITES systems that use concrete masonry units. Sim-
sc h CHTC between the path inner surface and the air-
flow plified mathematical models and graphical methods are developed
in the literature for sizing the active charging system of hydronic
top h combined heat transfer coefficient on BITES top sur-
face BITES [4,18,19]. Similar approach is provided for ventilated BITES
p heat exchange between the room air and the other system by Fort [20].
0 ← rm
side of the BITES (node “0” in this case) The design and operation of buildings are interrelated, and the
operation should be taken into account in the design as a primary
A.B p advective thermal output of BITES
consideration. Frequency domain thermal modeling of active BITES
systems provides a promising approach to integrate design and pre-
dictive operation. It offers a convenient means for analyzing the
 Y. Chen et al. / Energy and Buildings 84 (2014) 575–585 577

dynamic response (e.g. time lag and magnitude) of multi-layered

building assemblies (e.g. wall/roof) [21,22]. Through the compar-
ison of dynamic response, design of active BITES systems can be
improved on a relative basis. A thermal-admittance-based tech-
nique has been widely used in the UK [23,24].
For predictive control, frequency domain transfer functions of
active BITES systems can be used to analytically calculate the pro-
file of the required active charging rates based on a room air
temperature set-point profile and the corresponding required ther-
mal output [25–28]. Set-point profiles can be enhanced based on
dynamic response. Z-transfer functions can be derived from fre-
quency domain transfer functions. It provides a computationally
efficient way for model-based predictive control [21,29,30]. Chen
et al. [31] presented a design of model-based predictive control
methodology using frequency domain functions. That study is a
necessary reference of this one. Some brief information about fre-
quency domain modeling and transfer functions can be found in
Appendix A.
In this paper, optimizing design in conjunction with predictive
control strategies is proposed to improve the energy performance
of active BITES systems. Frequency domain transfer functions of
active BITES systems are used for the integrated design and opera-
tion. An integrated design and operation methodology is presented
in this paper. It includes the following key steps:

• Analysis of dynamic response using frequency domain transfer

functions.
• Design of predictive control strategies with frequency domain
models.
• Design optimization based on operation under bounding design Fig. 2. Active BITES systems design procedure.
conditions.

The application of the methodology is demonstrated and key magnitudes are dynamic response parameters determined from a
considerations for potential applications are discussed. frequency domain analysis.

2.1.1. Thermal storage and charge/discharge capacities

2. Methodology for integrated design and operation
Thermal capacities (storage and charge/discharge) are defined
under thermal comfort compliant operating temperatures. The TES
The design procedure that takes operation into account is
capacity is the maximum possible amount of thermal energy that
illustrated in Fig. 2. Bounding conditions (e.g. design weather
can be stored in a BITES system. It is related to the volume, spe-
conditions, internal heat gain) define the most demanding space
cific heat and allowable operating temperature range. The active
conditioning load profiles and consequently the required capaci-
charge capacity is the maximum heat exchange rate between an
ties of a building’s space conditioning system (active BITES systems
active BITES system and the heat transfer fluid of its active charging
in this case). Based on operation objectives (e.g. thermal comfort,
system.
demand reduction) and bounding conditions, operation strategies
The thermal output capacity is the maximum heat exchange rate
(e.g. BITES precooling, utilization of ambient renewable energy or
between a BITES system and its thermal zone. In an active BITES sys-
off-peak utility energy) should be defined. Preliminary BITES design
tem without airflow to zone (Fig. 1a), its thermal output capacity
can be obtained according to bounding loads and guidelines to be
is the total radiative and convective heat exchange between the
drawn in this study. Predictive control strategies can then be estab-
exposed BITES surface and the rest of the room. For a with-airflow-
lished heuristically based on the dynamic response of active BITES.
to-zone configuration (Fig. 1b), the thermal output capacity equals
They can be further optimized numerically. An iterative fine-tuning
to the sum of heat exchange on the exposed surface and the advec-
is needed to further integrate the design and operation. After the
tion component due to the airflow to the thermal zone. The active
design is finished, the predictive control strategies will be used for
charging rate and the advective thermal output rate are commonly
ongoing operations. In the following subsections, the key elements
affected by the airflow rate. The calculation of the required thermal
of the methodology will be discussed.
capacities is demonstrated in the next section.

2.1. Key design parameters of active BITES 2.1.2. Dynamic response

The thermal properties of an active BITES system have to accom-
modate its functions and operations. There are five critical design
parameters, namely thermal energy storage (TES) capacity, active
charge capacity, thermal output capacity, and thermal output time
lags and magnitudes. These five parameters are closely related. The
capacities can be readily calculated based on the construction and
operations of an active BITES system. Meanwhile, time lags and
A time lag indicates the time delay between an excitation and
its corresponding output response, while a magnitude is the ratio
of the response amplitude to the excitation amplitude. Time lags
and magnitudes can be obtained from frequency domain transfer
functions (e.g. thermal admittances or impedances). As an example,
Fig. 3 shows the heat flux (response wave) of the interior surface
a BITES system responded to its exterior temperature (excitation
wave). Y is a admittance transfer function in the frequency domain.
578 Y. Chen et al. / Energy and Buildings 84 (2014) 575–585
Fig. 3. Conceptual schematic of dynamic response [15].
 is the phase angle of Y. As shown, the phase angle and magni-
tude of this assembly define the output wave. The time lag can be
obtained from the phase angle of Y (Eq. (1)). The magnitude equals
the absolute value of Y (i.e. |Y|).
Time lag = Arg{Y }/ω = /ω
where function Arg{Y} calculates the argument (i.e. phase angle)
of a complex number Y (i.e. transfer function or admittance
in frequency domain). ω is the angular frequency of interest.
ω = 2/86400 s for a frequency of one cycle per day (the most
important frequency for building dynamics).
The dynamic response to excitations of one cycle per day (i.e.
one harmonic) is of major interest for design and operation. This is
because the dominant harmonic of most loads is 1-cycle-per-day
due to the characteristic of weather conditions (e.g. solar radiation
and exterior air temperature) and the high thermal inertia of BITES
assemblies [32].
Generally, a larger time lag and smaller magnitude (e.g. thicker
BITES) is preferable in practice for two main considerations. The
first one is to enable a longer charging period during an off-peak
period (e.g. nighttime for commercial buildings) and hence to
reduce the peak charging demand during an on-peak period. The
second consideration is to stagger in time the heat inputs to the
room. More thermal energy from individual sources (e.g. direct
solar gain and heat released from the BITES system) can then be
utilized.
By comparing the dynamic response of different configurations,
a suitable configuration with desired thermal energy retaining
time (e.g. time lag) and releasing intensity (e.g. magnitude) can be
selected. Furthermore, proper active charging rates can be sched-
uled based on the time lag of a BITES system, as shown later in next
section.
2.2. Bounding conditions for design
Bounding conditions (e.g. weather and internal heat gain for
extreme conditions) define the most demanding space condition-
ing load profiles and consequently the required thermal capacities
of an active BITES system. The maximum space conditioning load
needs a matching thermal output capacity with low temperature
operation. Active charge capacity should allow a full charge of the
BITES within a limited time with desirable energy sources and
provide required space conditioning during the charging period.
The TES capacity should be close to the amount of thermal energy
needed for the most demanding discharging period. Furthermore,
active BITES systems with suitable dynamic response better match
the energy supply (e.g. renewable and off-peak) and demand (e.g.
on-peak space heating). Therefore, the bounding conditions need
to be used for design. An example using this design approach is
presented in the next section.
For a heating-dominated climate, a sunny cold day followed by
an overcast mildly cold day would be an ideal bounding weather
condition. The active BITES system will need to store as much
energy as possible during the sunny period and then release the
heat to its thermal zone to sustain its comfort level until the next
favorable charging time. A period consisting of several consecutive
cold and overcast days may cause a larger space conditioning load.
However, this period is not suitable for the TES design if storage of
solar energy is considered. This is similar in a cooling-dominated
climate, where a relatively cool night followed by a hot day should
be used as an ideal bounding weather condition to utilize cool out-
door air for night precooling of BITES.
2.3. Predictive control strategies
To reduce peak demand and energy cost, ideal operations should
allow active BITES systems to store desirable amount of off-peak
and/or renewable energy during favorable periods (e.g. sunny
period in a winter day). Yet, thermal comfort compliant room tem-
perature profiles bound the operations. However, if the room air
(1) temperature set-point profile is set according to the time lags of
the active BITES system and its zone, the BITES can be charged at
predicted favorable periods. Take BITES pre-heating for example,
the peak room air temperature can be set at a known time lag after
the peak sol-air temperature [33] is reached. Then the BITES heating
will take place at peak sol-air temperature.
The concept of the predictive control strategies proposed in this
study is as follows. The room temperature set-point profile is corre-
lated with the time lags of the active BITES system and its thermal
zone and the exterior sol-air temperature based on weather fore-
cast. The time lags of active BITES systems can be obtained from the
transfer functions of their frequency domain models. These mod-
els will also be used to calculate the active charging rates based on
known room air temperature and the required thermal output of
an active BITES system. The establishment of the set-point profile
is based on a heuristic approach. Future research can involve opti-
mization techniques to improve the set-point profile. The design of
predictive control strategies will be demonstrated in the following
section.
3. Methodology demonstration
In this section, the presented methodology will be demon-
strated. The analysis of the dynamic response of an active BITES
system with airflow to zone (Fig. 1b) will be presented first. The
dynamic responses of other configurations (without-airflow-to-
zone configuration or passive BITES) can be obtained in a similar
way. Using the dynamic response to establish a suitable room
air temperature set-point profile for predictive control will then
be presented, followed by design under bounding conditions. The
application approach of the methodology will be summarized at
the end.
3.1. Dynamic response analysis
The original cross section of a ventilated BITES system is trans-
formed to fit one-dimensional heat transfer modeling (Fig. 4 a)
required for frequency domain modeling. Chen et al. [27,28] have
presented relevant modeling techniques that were verified with
full-scale experiment. Their work is adopted in this study. Other
kinds of construction assemblies can be represented in a similar
way. Fig. 4b shows the thermal network of the active BITES system
and its zone.
The total thermal output B p from the BITES to its zone consists
of an advective part A.B p due to the airflow released directly to the
room and a combined convective and radiative part CR.B p from the
 Y. Chen et al. / Energy and Buildings 84 (2014) 575–585
Fig. 4. (a) Transformed cross section and (b) thermal network of a zone with an active BITES slab with airflow to zone.
exposed surface of the BITES (Fig. 4b). For without-airflow-to-zone
configuration, A.B p is zero. B p is normally resulting from three ther-
mal potentials—temperature difference across the assembly, heat
flux absorbed on the exposed surface, and the charging heat flux
from the source layer (Fig. 4 and Eq. (2)). The respective dynamic
response of B p to each term on the right hand side of Eq. (2) can be
obtained by analyzing their corresponding transfer functions.
B pi = A.B pi + CR.B pi = 0 rm pi + slr rm pi + sc rm pi
where 0 rm p is the heat exchange between the room air and the
other side of the BITES (node “0” in this case). slr rm p is the contribu-
tion from the solar radiation absorbed by the exposed top surface.
sc rm p is due to the heat flux from the active charging system.
The dynamic response of room air temperature related to the
active charging is most important for design and operation since the
active charge is the main heat source for primary space condition-
ing in this case. The oscillatory part of sc rm p, which is resulted from
the dynamic response, can be calculated using Eq. (3). Hence, the
dynamic response can be found by analyzing the transfer function
0←sc t12/0←rm t12 in Eq. (3). It is analogous to the current divi-
sion method [34]. See references Chen et al. [27,28,31] for detailed
information. Some brief information can be found in Appendix A.
0←sc t
= sc p̃i ·
12
sc rm p̃i 0←rm t
12
where sc p is active charging heat flux. 0 ← sc t12 is from transmis-
sion matrix trsM of assembly 0 ← sc, 0 ← rm t12 is from transmission
matrix trsM of assembly 0 ← rm. They account for the advection for
with-airflow-to-zone configuration [31].
The analysis for different equivalent concrete thicknesses (the
thickness in the transformed cross section) is plotted in Fig. 5. The
effects of the room thermal capacitance (air, furniture and wall
boards) and the location of the source layer are included. Fig. 5a
shows that the closer the source layer is to the bottom, the longer
the time lag and slightly smaller the magnitude, regardless of the
room thermal capacitance (data for thermally light zones are not
plotted). The change of magnitude is more sensitive to changes of
thick concrete and high air flow rate.
Fig. 5b shows the dynamic response for a source layer located
1/5 of the concrete layer thickness above the bottom surface of
the concrete layer. Maximum time lags for different zone thermal
capacitance levels are shown. The difference in magnitude dimin-
ishes as the room thermal capacitance level increases. For thermally
heavy zones, maximum time lag and minimum magnitude can
almost be reached with an equivalent concrete thickness of 0.4 m.
This means in a periodic charge, 1 W/m2 of charging heat flux will
be released after 10.5 h with an intensity of about 0.05 W/m2 . For
579
an extremely light zone, the maximum time lag is slightly more
than 6 h, with a corresponding magnitude of about 0.07 W/m2 .
The air flow rate for Fig. 5 is set to two air changes per hour (ACH)
of the room air volume (i.e. 2 ACH for every unit floor area). A larger
air flow rate will shorten the time lags. With a flow rate of 3 ACH,
the largest thermal lag (about 9 h) was found for a concrete thick-
ness between 0.3 and 0.4 m (data are not plotted here). The thermal
properties of the material of a BITES assembly also have significant
(2) influence on its dynamic response. Considering the practical appli-
cation of this study mainly concerns concrete building fabric, the
choice of storage mass only considers normal-weight concrete. The
thermo-physical properties of the concrete used in this study are
840 J/kg/K for specific heat, 2200 kg/m3 for density, and 1.7 W/m/K
for thermal conductivity.
The bottom insulation value is 0.5 W/m2 /K, and the combined
convective and radiative heat transfer coefficient (i.e. film coeffi-
cient) between the top surface and the rest of the room is assumed
to be 9 W/m2 /K. More accurate relationships including consid-
erations of the direction and flow rate of the outlet air, outlets
locations, and heat flow direction on the room-side surface can be
used in the future. For a without-airflow-to-zone configuration, the
top surface temperature can be calculated and hence the convection
heat transfer coefficient.
The dynamic response of a concrete slab assembly between
floors also has been investigated (data are not plotted here) by
(3)
changing the insulation (Fig. 4a) value to 9 W/m2 /K—the typical
combined convective and radiative heat transfer coefficient on a
surface. The results show that this change does not significantly
affect the dynamic response for concrete thicknesses larger than
0.2 m. Since a thickness of 0.2 m or larger is generally used for the
purpose of providing enough TES and structural capacities, and the
dynamic response will deviate from the theoretical values in real
practice, Fig. 5 alone will be sufficient for design and operation
purposes for similar BITES assemblies.
For dynamic response related to 0 rm p and slr rm p from Eq. (2),
the maximum time lags and minimal magnitudes are reached with
0.15–0.2 m of equivalent concrete thickness [15]. Therefore overall,
an equivalent thickness of 0.2–0.3 m is a good value with which to
initiate design (largest time lags and peak admittances are near that
thickness range).
3.2. Predictive control setup and simulation results
The establishment of the room air temperature set-point profile
for predictive control during a space heating design period (Fig. 6)
is used here for demonstration. The resulting thermal behavior of
the BITES and its thermal zone under this set-point profile is used
580 Y. Chen et al. / Energy and Buildings 84 (2014) 575–585

0 0.6 0 0.6
Time lag (1/2) Time lag (light)
2 Time lag (1/5) 0.5 2 Time lag (heavy) 0.5
Magnitude (1/2) Magnitude (light)
4 Magnitude (1/5) 0.4 Magnitude (heavy)

Time lag (hr)

4 0.4

Time lag (hr)

Magnitude
Magnitude
6 0.3 6 0.3

8 0.2 8 0.2

10 0.1 10 0.1

12 0 12 0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Concrete thickness (m) Concrete thickness (m)
(a) location of source for thermally heavy zones (b) buildings with different levels of effective
thermal storage mass; source layer at “1/5” level
Fig. 5. Dynamic response of room air temperature due to 1-cycle-per-day active charge (negative values in the left y-axis means time lag; “concrete thickness” in x-axis is
the thickness of the transformed concrete layer, the equivalent thickness; “light”: thermally light zones, room thermal capacitance is insignificant; “heavy”: thermally heavy
zones, effective thermal capacitance (including wall boards) is about 70 times that of enclosed air; “1/2”: source layer (Fig. 4a) is in the middle of the concrete; “1/5”: source
layer is 1/5 of the concrete thickness above the bottom surface of the concrete.

to improve the initial design of the active BITES system, as shown
in a later subsection.
At first, 22.5 ◦ C is used as the average set point with a diurnal
range of 5 ◦ C. In other words, the room temperature will be allowed
to float between 20 and 25 ◦ C. One peak and one low temperature
pivot points will be identified for each day. The room air tempera-
ture set-point profile will be generated by connecting the adjacent
pivots with straight lines (e.g. ramp segments). The temperature
values (y-axis) of the peak and low pivots are a function of out-
door peak and low sol-air temperature, respectively. For example,
the peak room air temperature for the first day (sunny and cold) is
25 ◦ C. See Appendix B for information of the function. The time dif-
ference (x-axis) between the peak room temperature and the peak
sol-air temperature equals the time lag of the thermal zone (i.e.
BITES and the room).
There are three reasons for adopting this set-point profile:
first, to reduce space conditioning load by reducing the differ-
ence between room and exterior sol-air temperature (for example,
TL TL
26
22
18
higher set point during hot sunny days and lower set point during
cold and cloudy winter days); secondly, to take more advantage of
the TES capacity of BITES by allowing the BITES temperature to fluc-
tuate within comfort range; thirdly to pre-condition the BITES and
its associated thermal zone during favorable periods. For example,
allowing the temperatures of the room and its BITES to rise dur-
ing a sunny daytime in winter periods will allow more storage of
solar thermal energy from active and/or passive solar heating, so
that auxiliary heating requirement is reduced for the following cold
night.
In this case, the zone is thermally medium heavy. The advec-
tion rate through the BITES is 2 ACH of the room. The source
layer is located at the middle of the concrete slab, and the equiv-
alent thickness of the slab is 0.3 m. Therefore, based on Fig. 5,
the time lag for active charge is about 8 h. Hence, the peak room
temperature is set to occur 8 h after the time when the peak
sol-air temperature occurs (Fig. 6). By setting the wet-point pro-
file in this way, the charging of the BITES will start at the most
favorable time (e.g. sunny time for slab heating). The dynamic
response of the active BITES system allows the heat to be released
TL TL
slowly after the passive solar heating period. Maximum amount
900 of solar thermal energy is stored in the room and its BITES with-
out space overheating. The time lag can be fine-tuned during
800
commissioning since the actual room capacitance is not precisely
700
Radiation (W/m^2)

known.
Temperature (C)

14 600 In general, for a space heating scenario, the global solar radia-
10 500 tion on equator-facing façades or solar thermal collector surfaces
is recommended for the calculation of the sol-air temperature. For
6 400
a space cooling scenario, the horizontal global solar radiation can
2 300
be used, although for a building with large glazed facades (e.g.
−2 200 facing west), the facades may be used for an average sol-air tem-
−6 100 perature. To enable off-peak period charging even when ambient
− 10 0
renewable energy is unavailable, a weighting factor (higher value
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 for space heating, and lower value for cooling) can be assigned to
Time (hr) the exterior temperature of off-peak period in the calculation of
the sol-air temperature. Similarly, other weighting factors (e.g. for
Exterior temperature
natural ventilation, photovoltaic) can also be applied. In this study,
Set room air temperature
weighting factors have not been applied. However, since favorable
Equator-oriented facade global solar radiation
periods generally coincide with off-peak periods (e.g. sunny day-
time during winter, and nighttime during summer), the adopted
Fig. 6. Weather conditions and room air temperature set-point profile during a two-
day space heating period (Round dots: pivots, TL: time lag). approach also enables utilization of off-peak purchased energy to
 Y. Chen et al. / Energy and Buildings 84 (2014) 575–585 581

25
BITES source
layer temperature
24

Temperature (C)
23

22

21
BITES room-side
surface temperature Simulated room
20
air temperature

19
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48

Time (hr) (a)

50
Space
40
Heat flux (W/m^2 floor area)

conditioning Smoothed
load heat injection
30
at AHU
20

10

10 Simulated thermal
output from BITES
20
to room air
30
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48

Time (hr) (b)

Fig. 7. Thermal energy injection rates at the AHU and corresponding room air and BITES temperatures: (a) temperature profiles; (b) heat flux profiles (with-airflow-to-zone
configuration).

a certain extent. A systematic approach for the optimization of
the room temperature set-point profile that accounts for different
parameters is worth further study.
The profiles of room air temperature set-point and correspond-
ing space conditioning load are then used in the frequency domain
model of the ventilated BITES slab to calculate the desired active
charging rates. With the charging rate, the thermal behavior of
the zone in question is simulated with its lumped-parameter finite
difference model (Fig. 7). See Chen et al. [31] for more informa-
tion. Even though the temperature set-point profile shown in Fig. 6
seems preliminary, the final room air temperature is satisfactory,
with the calculation approach adopted from Chen et al. [31]. As
shown in Fig. 7, the resulting room air temperature rises signif-
icantly during the sunny period of the first day thus allowing
significant solar heat gain to be stored in the BITES and the rest of
the room. The room air temperature profile also reduces the space
heating load after sunset by reducing the temperature difference
between exterior and interior (allowing the room temperature drop
gradually). Peak power demands take place during the sunny period
(possibly also the off-peak period). Regarding thermal comfort, the
temperature profile satisfies temperature limits and avoids rapid
changes.
3.3. Design under bounding conditions
The previous subsection presents the thermal behavior of the
ventilated BITES system under a set of bounding conditions. The
results will be used to improve the initial design of the BITES
system in this subsection. To generalize the approach, calcula-
tions are conducted on unit room-side surface area of the BITES
system.
3.3.1. TES capacity
The required TES capacity, TES.requires e (unit: kWh/m2 or J/m2
of BITES surface) can be approximately calculated by summing the
energy flows (i.e. thermal output and thermal energy charged) dur-
ing the period unfavorable for charging (Eq. (4)). For the space
heating bounding conditions in this case, the energy flows between
the peak sol-air temperatures in the two days of the design period
can be used for Eq. (4). Hence, the unfavorable period equals 24 h.
This choice of time period is also applicable to the space cooling
scenario.
i=I
TES.required e
∼
= (B pi + sc pi ) t (4)
1
where I is the total time steps, t, in the chosen period.
For the profiles shown
 in Fig. 7b, the total thermal output from
the BITES to the room ( B pi · t in Eq. (4)) between hour 12 and
2 6 2 ), and the thermal energy
36 is about0.24 kWh/m (0.87 × 10 J/m
charged ( sc pi · t) is 0.14 kWh/m (0.51 × 106 J/m2 ). Also note
2
that the slab was not charged to an ideal temperature (i.e. 25 ◦ C as
the set upper limit of the room air temperature) during the sunny
period. This is because there was excess solar gain, and hence some
space cooling is required from the slab. Ideally in practice, useful
solar heat gain and free cooling should be controlled at a suitable
level so that no excess heat or cool is admitted to the thermal zone.
Under that condition, the space conditioning load (e.g. thermal out-
put from BITES) will be zero (or set to zero). Hence, the BITES will
be fully charged, and less auxiliary thermal energy will be required.
The TES capacity for unit square meter of exposed surface area
(unit: J/m2 ) can be calculated as follow:
TES e = B Th · B T · B c (5)
582 Y. Chen et al. / Energy and Buildings 84 (2014) 575–585
where B Th is the equivalent thickness of the thermal storage mass,
B c is the volumetric heat capacity of the mass, and B T is the
operation temperature range of the BITES.
Let us take 0.38 kWh/m2 (0.24 + 0.14) as the required TES
capacity, and B ␳c of normal weight concrete of 0.51 kWh/m3 /K
(1.85 × 106 J/m3 /K). The temperature drop (i.e. operation temper-
ature range) of the BITES after the sunny day is about 1.75 ◦ C
(Fig. 7a, source layer is about 0.5 ◦ C warmer). For design purposes
and based on previous studies [35], it is practical and sufficient to
assume 0.5 ◦ C, or no significant temperature difference between
the exposed surface and the source layer of the BITES. Let us take
the operation temperature range (B T) of 2.25 ◦ C (extra 0.5 ◦ C with
ideal operation). Therefore, the required concrete thickness accord-
ing to Eq. (5) is about 0.33 m, by setting TES e = TES.required e. This is
thicker than the initial slab thickness used (0.3 m). The required
TES e can be achieved either increase the concrete thickness and/or
the area of the BITES.
3.3.2. Thermal output capacity
In satisfying the required thermal output under bounding con-
ditions, the design parameters related to thermal output capacity
can be determined. By assuming uniform temperature distribution
within the slab and the temperature of the airflow equals to that
of the concrete, the thermal output capacity per unit BITES surface
area B.max p (unit: W/m2 ) can be calculated as follow:
 
f.ttl QC
B. max p ≈ rm B. max T top h + (6)
B Area
where rm B.max T is the maximum temperature difference
between the room air and the BITES temperature. top h (unit:
W/m2 /K) is the combined convective and radiative thermal out-
put from the exposed surface. B Area is the top exposed surface
area. f.ttl Qc = f.ttl Q · f c with f.ttl Q being the total volumetric flow rate
of the heat transfer fluid (air in this case), and f c the volumetric
heat capacity of the fluid. f.ttl Q is zero for a without-airflow-to-zone
configuration.
The allowable maximum and minimum BITES tempera-
ture, B.max T and B.min T, and maximum and minimum room
air temperature, rm.max T and rm min T, should comply with
thermal comfort standards and are subjective to occupants.
To accommodate a larger range of occupant preferences,
less extreme values can be chosen. For a space heating
◦
scenario, rm B.max T = B.max T − rm.min T ≈ 28 − 20 = 8 C, and
T = ( T − T) ≈ 25 − 19 = 16 ◦ C for a space cooling
rm B.max rm.min B.max
scenario.
Once the allowable maximum f.ttl Qc is determined, the exposed
surface area of the BITES can be obtained. top h is tempera-
ture dependent, but approximate values can be used for design
purposes. For a without-airflow-to-zone configuration, 6 and
8 W/m2 /K can be used for space cooling and heating, respectively.
9 W/m2 /K can be used for with-airflow-to-zone configuration
regardless of cooling or heating, since room air is being stirred
by BITES outlet airflow. Hence, the combined radiative and con-
vective thermal output capacity is about 64–72 W/m2 for heating
and 36–45 W/m2 for cooling, comparable to reported values in the
literature [36,37].
For the profiles shown in Fig. 7, the maximum required ther-
mal output (i.e. B.max p in Eq. (6)) is about 20 W/m2 (630 W for a
floor area of 31.5 m2 ). It can be satisfied alone by the convective
and radiative thermal output from the exposed surface. If the max-
imum flow rate is 2 ACH, f.ttl Qc/B Area will be about 2.2 W/m2 /K.
A relatively high temperature operation is needed for creating the
maximum allowable temperature difference between the room air
and average BITES temperature, (i.e. rm B.max T). To perform low
temperature space conditioning, suitably large BITES surface area
should be used. Furthermore, a large floor area will be needed if the
BITES surface is partially covered.
3.3.3. Active charge capacity
For unit square meter of room-side surface area, the active
charge capacity sc u (unit: W/m2 /K) can be calculated with Eq. (7).
After knowing the required TES capacity under bounding condi-
tions, the needed charge capacity can be calculated with Eq. (8).
sc u = sc h · core Area/B Area = sc h · cs Ratio (7)
where sc h is the CHTC between the path inner surface and the air-
flow (e.g. source layer). cs Ratio is the area ratio of internal heat
transfer surface to room-side surface. It is created in this study to
calculate the required active charge capacity based on unit room-
side surface area, since the calculation of other thermal capacities
are also based on unit room-side surface area.
TES.reqiured e = sc f T · sc u · charge t = sc f T · sc h · cs Ratio · charge t (8)
where sc f T is the average temperature difference between source
layer and heat transfer fluid. charge t is the charging time (e.g. sunny
hour during a typical winter day). It can be assumed to be half of
the annual shortest daytime in this space heating case.
Since the outlet air is close to the source layer temperature
(around 23 ◦ C during charging period (Fig. 7a)), and inlet air is less
than 35 ◦ C for low temperature operation or using solar-heated air
directly from solar thermal collectors [38], sc f T can be conser-
vatively assumed to be about 6 ◦ C. Once flow rate and hence sc h
is known, cs Ratio and hence the air channel (i.e. core) surface can
be obtained. Note that the charging capacity also has to satisfy the
thermal output capacity requirement.
For the profiles shown in Figs. 6 and 7, the charging period
is about 4 h (daytime is about 9 h). The TES.Required e is about
0.38 kWh/m2 as calculated above. The sc h is about 5.1 W/m2 /K for 2
ACH flow rate (0.62 m/sec air velocity in the air channel) for the air
channel cross section used in this case. The resulted cs Ratio is about
3.1. That means the required air channel surface is 3.1 m2 per square
meter of BITES surface area. Comparison with the values (less than
2.5) of hollow core slabs [39] indicates that 3.1 is too high and hence
not practical. Further design fine-tuning is needed. For a given TES
capacity, increasing the BITES surface area can reduce the required
storage capacity per unit surface area. Hence, a smaller cs Ratio will
be required.
3.4. Application approach
The BITES room-side area B Area and the thermal storage mass
thickness play important roles. The capacities of TES, active charge
and thermal output are commonly affected by the room-side area
of the BITES. The thickness significantly influences the dynamic
response and the TES capacity. Hence, designers can initiate the
design with an initial BITES effective thickness (0.2–0.3 m for
concrete as suggested previously) and one interior surface area
(normally the floor or the ceiling). One entire interior surface can
be used for practical construction and uniform room air tem-
perature considerations. Normally, larger thermal output means
more thermal energy needs to be stored. The area requirement
for capacities of TES and active charge is usually higher than that
for thermal output as shown in the previous calculation, except
in the case where buildings have high space conditioning spikes
occasionally (e.g. conference room). In this case, the exposed sur-
face area should be first determined through the required thermal
output capacity. Then the thickness can be determined by the
required TES capacity. Sometimes, the requirement of the surface
area has to consider the possibility that the room side surface of
BITES maybe partially covered (e.g. carpet, acoustic panels). The
largest impact due to covering is on the thermal output capacity
 Y. Chen et al. / Energy and Buildings 84 (2014) 575–585
and the dynamic response, especially for a without-airflow-to-zone
configuration.
If the initial surface area is not sufficient for the required peak
thermal output or charging capacity (assuming maximum allow-
able flow rate have been reached), additional surface area can be
added to increase the total exposed surface area. In the meantime,
thickness can be adjusted while maintaining the desired dynamic
response. This will slightly change the suitable room air temper-
ature set-point profile and hence the space conditioning load. An
iterative process is necessary. However, since the temperature set-
point profile will not change significantly, one iteration is expected
to be sufficient.
The general design procedure can be summarized as follows
(Fig. 2):
(1) Identify bounding conditions (e.g. design weather conditions,
internal heat gain).
(2) Decide on operation strategies that enhance energy per-
formance under the bounding conditions (e.g. allow room
temperature to swing within comfort zone; pre-condition
active system with ambient renewable energy or off-peak util-
ity energy).
(3) Design active BITES (e.g. storage mass thickness) to provide
suitable dynamic response (Fig. 5) for the decided operation
strategies.
(4) Select control approach. In this study, active BITES is operated
based on room air temperature set-point profile (with linear
segments connected by pivot points), which is heuristically
established based on the information from steps (2) and (3).
(5) Estimate the corresponding space conditioning load profile
using numerical models of the thermal zone, excluding the
BITES system.
(6) Select one or multiple available interior surfaces as the BITES
room-side surface according to the maximum thermal output
capacities of the selected active BITES systems and the peak
space conditioning load under bounding conditions. Attention
is needed for potentially covered area.
(7) Calculate the required active charging rates for the active BITES
system, and the thermal output of the system (e.g. Fig. 7).
(8) Then:
(i) Check the inlet fluid flow rate and temperature, if they are
within design ranges.
(ii) Check the sufficiency of the TES capacity.
(iii) Check the maximum thermal output capacity.
(iv) Calculate the required minimum area ratio of internal heat
transfer to room-side surface (i.e. air channel surface area for
ventilated systems and pipe perimetric area for hydronic sys-
tems).
(9) Adjust the active BITES design if needed and repeat the steps
(3) to (8), which is the “Design optimization” in Fig. 2.
Steps (4) and (5) are for the control approach presented in this
study. This design procedure can be applied with other control
approaches.
The design of the building should consider the design and oper-
ation of BITES. For example, if the space conditioning load exceeds
the thermal output capacity of the selected active BITES system,
the envelope of the building (e.g. insulation level or shading device)
should be improved or other types of active BITES systems should
be chosen.
4. BITES application considerations
Supplying primary space conditioning through active BITES sys-
tems is not suitable for two kinds of load conditions. The first
583
kind is with large space conditioning loads, and the second one is
thermally lightweight buildings with rapidly varying thermal load.
Nevertheless, active BITES systems can still be used to assist space
conditioning in these two situations. Reported studies showed that
hydronic BITES floors have a cooling capacity of 40–60 W/m2 and a
heating capacity of 30–40 W/m2 , under operations compliant with
thermal comfort standards [40,41]. Active BITES with airflow to
zone can handle larger ranges of space conditioning load and fluc-
tuation due to their advective thermal output (e.g. the supply air
from the BITES in Fig. 1). The second limiting condition is mainly
due to the large thermal inertia of the BITES. The system’s tem-
perature cannot change rapidly enough to accommodate a sudden
large change of space conditioning loads. To eliminate these two
kinds of load conditions, the building’s heat gain and loss need to be
controlled with a properly designed building envelope. For exam-
ple, proper shading design is important for passive solar buildings.
Internal heat gain needs to be controlled as well (e.g. small lighting
power intensity). The effective thermal storage mass level should
be medium to high in order to reduce the temperature fluctuation
in case of large load fluctuations.
Thermal output rate per unit degree temperature can be seen
as the thermal coupling between BITES system and the rest of the
room. Sufficient thermal coupling between the BITES systems and
their thermal zones should be provided in order to enable effec-
tive heat exchange [42], especially in passive solar design [38]. On
the room side surface, the heat exchanges may be weakened by
coverings such as furniture, carpet or wooden flooring. However,
the advection from with-airflow-to-zone configuration (Fig. 1b)
can compensate this weakness. Furthermore, local re-circulation
of room air through BITES systems, which acts as a short cut to
avoid sending air back to the plant unnecessarily, can be adopted
to enhance the thermal coupling.
Increasing the thermal coupling can also reduce the temper-
ature difference between the BITES and its thermal zone for a
given heat exchange rate. This reduction has significant benefits.
The operating temperature of the BITES systems can be lower for
space heating and higher for cooling. This will reduce the operation
energy consumption and the initial costs of the mechanical equip-
ment and service systems (by downsizing them). It also creates a
wide set of solutions in the choice of energy sources (e.g. renewable
and recovered waste heat).
To accomplish desirable operations, a matching design (e.g. suit-
able thermal capacities) is needed. On the other hand, design has
constrains, and operations have to adapt. For example, the max-
imum amount of thermal storage mass may be limited by the
allowable structural load.
5. Conclusions
A methodology for the integrated design and operation of active
building-integrated thermal energy storage (BITES) systems was
presented in this study. The methodology is demonstrated on ven-
tilated BITES systems, and its application approach is provided.
Considerations for the application of active BITES are also discussed.
The methodology uses frequency domain models for design and
predictive control. Dynamic response of BITES systems is obtained
from the transfer functions of their models. It is used to improve
the BITES design on a relative basis and to establish room air tem-
perature set-point profiles. The dynamic response of different sizes
of ventilated systems is presented to provide useful design infor-
mation for designers. It shows that concrete thickness of 0.2–0.3 m
is a good value to initiate design. Using time lags obtained from rel-
evant transfer functions to improve the set-point profiles is robust
and it allows BITES to be charged at desirable period.
584 Y. Chen et al. / Energy and Buildings 84 (2014) 575–585

Bounding conditions (based on extreme load/weather condi-
tions) are proposed for design in this methodology. With initial
design and predictive control, the thermal behaviors of the BITES
systems under bounding conditions can be used to fine tune the
design. The equivalent thickness of the BITES storage mass should
not be more than 0.3 m for ventilated systems; otherwise, prac-
tical active charge capacity will not be sufficient for fully charge
where left-hand-side superscript “1←N” indicates this transmis-
sion matrix is of the assembly containing layers from 1 to N. As
indicated by Eq. (A2), the temperature and heat flux on surface l of
layer N have to be the excitations for this formulation. ntrs M h is the
transmission matrix of layer n (Eq. (A3)). In this study, surfaces 0
and 1 are the opposite outer surfaces of any layer, such as the room
air and the wall surface in an air film layer.
requirements.    
cosh(n l · h ) sinh(n l · h ) t11h t12h
n
trs M h = =
Acknowledgments nk · h sinh(n l · h ) cosh(n l · h ) t21h t22h
(A3)
The work is funded by Postgraduate Scholarship from Natural
Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada, the where n l is the n

thickness of layer n, and k is the thermal conductiv-
NSERC Smart Net-zero Energy Buildings Strategic Research Net- ity (W/m/K). jωf h/n ˛, and n ˛ = n k/n  · n c is the thermal diffusivity
work (SNEBRN), and Graduate Student Support Program from the (m2 /sec) of the material of layer n.
Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science of Concordia Univer- For a layer that can be considered as purely resistive/conductive
sity, Montreal, Canada. (e.g. insulation,
  air film), the transmission matrix becomes trs Mh =
1 r
. r is the thermal resistance of the corresponding layer. For
Appendix A. Appendix 0 1
an exterior air film, r = 1/cnv h, with cnv h being the exterior CHTC.
A.1. Frequency domain modeling
A.2. Formula for establishing room air temperature set-point
An active BITES system (Fig. 4) can be represented with an profile
assembly consisting of N layers of material (Fig. A1). Using discrete
frequency response modeling, the oscillatory responses of heat flux The temperature value of the pivots is calculated based on the
1 p̃
0 i,h
and temperature 10 
Ti,h at surface 0 of layer 1 due to excitations exterior sol-air temperature, but limited within the throttling range
Np and 
1 i,h
Ti,h on surface l of layer N can be calculated with Eq. (A1) (Eq. (A4)).
[26,43]. The right-hand side subscript i means the ith time interval,  − 1c

sa Ti
and h is the harmonic index (h = 1 for 1 cycle per day excitations). pivot Ti = sp T + sp T · Limit −1, ,1 (A4)
The mean responses can be obtained in a similar way with the trans- 2c

fer functions matrix 1←N trs Mh replaced with a thermal resistance where sp T is the room air temperature set point, and sp T is half
matrix. Then the total responses in frequency domain at surface the throttling range. sa T is the maximum or minimum exterior sol-
H 1  H 1
0 will be 10 T̂i = 10 T̄ + T̃ , and 10 p̂i =10 p̄ + ( p̃ ). Time air temperatures of one day. Function Limit[a,x,b] takes a value
h=1 0 i,h h=1 0 i,h
1T
1
from x, but limits it between a and b, inclusively. Coefficient 1 c is
domain values can then be obtained through = Re T̂ and
1p
1
0 i 0 i
23.3 ◦ C, and 2 c is 11.1 ◦ C in this case. Their values are obtained from
0 i
= Re 0 p̂i , where Re{}takes the real part value from the com-
simultaneously solving
plex number.
    sp T = (sa. max T − 1 c) /2 c and − sp T = (sa. min T − 1 c) /2 c
1 T̃ N T̃
0 i,h 1←N l i,h
= trs M h · (A1) where sa.max T of 56.7 ◦ C and sa.min T of −10 ◦ C are the maximum and
1 p̃ N p̃
0 i,h l i,h minimum sol-air temperatures in this study, respectively.
where 1←N
trs M h is the overall transmission matrix, equal to the
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