THERMAL DESIGN

PASSIVE CONTROLS
Feb, 2023 1
 CONTENT:
• Passive Control of Heat Flows
• Control Functions of Design variables
• Condensation and Moisture control
• Microclimatic controls
• Climatic Design Archetypes

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 PASSIVE SOLAR DESIGN

• Passive Design is design that works with the local climate to

maintain a comfortable temperature in the home.

• Good passive design should reduce or eliminate the need for

additional heating or cooling depending on location and often
relies on an active occupant to work properly.

• A passively designed volume can deliver a lifetime of thermal

comfort, low energy demands, and low greenhouse gas
emissions.
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 PASSIVE SOLAR DESIGN
• It responds to local climate and site conditions to maximize
building users’ comfort and health while minimizing energy use.

• It achieves by using free, renewable sources of energy such as

sun and wind to provide household heating, cooling, ventilation
and lighting, thereby reducing or removing the need for
mechanical heating or cooling.

• Using passive design can reduce temperature fluctuations,

improve indoor air quality and make a home drier and more
enjoyable to live in.
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 KEY FEATURES OF PASSIVE DESIGN

The first step in any Bioclimatic Design approach is to examine

the given climate and establish the nature of the climatic problem
and relate the climate to human requirements.

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 PASSIVE SOLAR DESIGN
The Key Elements of Passive Design are:
• Building location and orientation on the site
• Building layout
• Window design
• Insulation (including window insulation)
• Thermal mass
• Shading
• Ventilation

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 PASSIVE SOLAR HEATING

• Passive heating, or passive solar heating, means trapping heat

from the sun inside your home and using thermal mass, heat
flow and insulation effectively to store, distribute, and retain the
heat.
• Requires no more than a good window facing the equator.
• The performance of such a system would also depend on the
available thermal storage mass.

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Passive Solar Designs:
• Trombe wall system,
• Attached sun space,
• Mass effect,
• Air movement,
• Evaporative cooling
•…

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 PASSIVE SOLAR HEATING
Trombe wall system

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 PASSIVE SOLAR HEATING
Mass Effect
• For a continuously occupied building (e.g. a house or a hospital),
where it would allow the use of intermittent heating and still
keep a stable temperature. In an intermittently used and heated
building (an office or a school) lightweight (insulated)
construction may be better.
• A storage mass can be manipulated according to the climatic
needs. In a typical hot-dry climate, with a large diurnal variation,
where the temperature varies over the daily cycle between too
high and too cold, massive construction may provide the full
solution, it may ensure comfortable indoor conditions without
any mechanical cooling (or night heating).
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 PASSIVE SOLAR HEATING
Attached Sun Space
• Attached sunspaces (also called
"conservatories") work much like
vented Trombe walls. They can heat
spaces both through radiation and
convection.
• The difference is that the space between
the glass and the thermal mass creates a
habitable space.
• Sunspaces are primarily used for
indirect solar heat gain and generally
have more glazing area than floor area.
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 PASSIVE SOLAR HEATING
Air movement
• The critical point is to ensure an air velocity at the body surface
of the occupants. This may be provided by cross-ventilation.

• Cross ventilation demands that there should be both an inlet and

an outlet opening.

• The difference between positive pressure on the windward side

and negative pressure on the leeward side provides the driving
force.

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 PASSIVE SOLAR HEATING
Evaporative cooling
• Evaporative cooling is a process that uses the effect of
evaporation as a natural heat sink.

• Evaporative cooling is based on the thermodynamics of

evaporation of water
• Sensible heat from the air is absorbed to be used as latent heat
necessary to evaporate water.

• The amount of sensible heat absorbed depends on the amount of

water that can be evaporated.
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 PASSIVE SOLAR HEATING
Evaporative cooling
• Evaporative cooling can be direct or indirect; passive or hybrid.
• In direct evaporative cooling, the water content of the cooled air
increases because air is in contact with the evaporated water.
• In indirect evaporative cooling, evaporation occurs inside a heat
exchanger and the water content of the cooled air remains
unchanged.
• Since high evaporation rates might increase relative humidity
and create discomfort, direct evaporative cooling can be applied
only in places where relative humidity is very low.

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 PASSIVE SOLAR HEATING
Evaporative cooling
• Where evaporation occurs naturally it is called passive
evaporation.
• A space can be cooled by passive evaporation where there are
surfaces of still or flowing water, such as basins or fountains.

• Where evaporation has to be controlled by means of some

mechanical device, the system is called a hybrid evaporative
system.
• The roof pond is a system that passively incorporates water
elements to passively cool and heat the building.
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 CONTROL FUNCTIONS OF DESIGN VARIABLES
Component heat flows

• Qi (Internal heat gain)

• Qs (Solar heat gain)
• Qc (Conduction heat flow)
• Qv (Ventilation heat flow)
• Qe (Evaporative cooling)

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 CONTROL FUNCTIONS OF DESIGN VARIABLES
Design variables
1. Shape …
a. Surface-to-volume ratio
b. Orientation
2. Fabric
a. Shading
b. Surface qualities
c. Resistive insulation
d. Reflective insulation
e. Capacitive insulation
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 CONTROL FUNCTIONS OF DESIGN VARIABLES
Design variables
3. Fenestration …
a. Size, position and orientation of windows
b. Glass & its quality
c. Closing mechanism
d. Internal blinds and curtains
e. External shading devices
f. Insect screens
4. Ventilation

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 CONDENSATION AND MOISTURE CONTROL
Design variables
The causes of Condensation are:
(1) Moisture input, increased humidity of the room air.

(2) Lack of ventilation, which means that the vapor generated

stays in the room.

(3) Inadequate heating and poor insulation can produce very cold
inside surface temperatures.

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 MICROCLIMATIC CONTROLS
Local factors that will influence the site climate:
• Topography, slope, orientation, exposure, elevation, hills or
valleys at or near the site;

• Ground surface, natural or man-made, its reflectance

permeability, soil temperature, paved areas or vegetation;

• 3D objects, such as trees, tree-belts, fences, walls and buildings

as these may influence the wind, cast shadows and may
subdivide the area into smaller distinguishable climate zones.
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 MICROCLIMATIC CONTROLS

Microclimatic controls can serve two purposes:

(1) Control the conditions (sun, wind) in outdoor spaces

(2) Assist building performance by ameliorating outdoor

conditions adjacent to the building

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Reading Task: CLIMATIC DESIGN ARCHETYPES

• In cold climates
• In temperate climates
• In hot-dry climates
• Warm-humid climates

Thank you.
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