Design guideline for application of earth-to-

air heat exchanger coupled with solar

chimney as a natural heating system
..............................................................................................................................................................

A. P. Haghighi* and M. Maerefat

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Guilan, PO Box 3756, Rasht, Iran
.............................................................................................................................................
Abstract
In the present paper, design of solar chimney (SC) and earth-to-air heat exchanger (EAHE) to meet the
thermal need of flat buildings are studied regarding adaptive thermal comfort criteria. Investigation on
the effects of geometric features shows that the design of SC with the air gap and outlet sizes of 0.2 m and
also EAHE with the diameter and length of 0.5 and 25.0 m reveals better performance. Thermal comfort
analysis shows that the SC is capable to power the underground heating system during few hours of the
sunny days even at the ambient temperature as low as 08C and the heating demand of 1000 W without
needing the auxiliary devices. In addition, the required numbers of SCs and the underground air channels
are strongly influenced by environmental outdoor conditions and heating demand of building and are
approximately calculated by: room volume/50 and 2  ðroom volume/50Þ þ 1, respectively.

Keywords: Design; earth-to-air heat exchanger; natural heating; solar chimney

*Corresponding author.
[email protected] Received 31 July 2013; revised 23 November 2013; accepted 4 January 2014

................................................................................................................................................................................

1 INTRODUCTION glass surface oriented to the south and an absorber wall that
works as a solar radiation-capturing surface. The air in contact
Power plants, motor vehicles and industries burn fossil fuels and with this surface is heated up. Heating enhances the pressure dif-
emit a large amount of pollutants, which imperil human health, ference between the inlet and outlet of the chimney; thus, the
impose heavy economic costs and degrade the natural environ- rate of natural ventilation increases significantly.
ment. Although most of today’s energy comes from fossil fuels, Many researchers have studied the EAHE for passive heating
new technologies offer a range of options for generating electri- and cooling applications in the recent decades. Hollmuller [1]
city, heating and cooling demands where they are needed. These considered a periodic input for the air in the buried pipe, yield-
new options include renewable energy technologies. ing a physical interpretation of the amplitude-dampening and
Energy consumption in the building for providing thermal the phase-shifting of the periodic input signal. Al-Ajmi et al. [2]
comfort and ventilation continues to increase; however, new developed a theoretical model of an EAHE for predicting the
studies show that reduction or suppression of air conditioning outlet air temperature and cooling potential of these devices.
may be achieved using passive or low-energy techniques. Two of They showed that it has the potential for reducing cooling
such systems are the earth-to-air heat exchanger (EAHE) and energy demand in a typical house by 30% over the peak summer
the solar chimney (SC), which may be used for reducing energy season. Tittelein et al. [3] used response factors method for nu-
consumption in the buildings. The EAHE ventilates air to the merical modeling of earth-to-air heat exchanger. The results
indoor spaces through one or several horizontally or vertically showed that the calculation time is reduced using response
buried pipes. In this way, the ground large thermal capacity and factors compared with 3D model based on the finite volume ap-
relatively stable temperatures are used to preheat or pre-cool the proach. Bansal et al. [4] investigated the use of earth– pipe – air
supply fresh air, resulting in energy savings. The SC can be used heat exchanger to reduce the heating load of buildings in winter.
to improve the natural ventilation and provides heating demand A transient and implicit model based on computational fluid
of buildings alone or together with an EAHE. It consists of a dynamics was developed to predict the thermal performance

International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2015, 10, 294– 304

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 Design guideline for application of EAHE

and heating capacity of EAHE system. The results showed that

the system performance is not significantly affected by the ma-
terial of the buried pipe whereas the velocity of the air flow
through the pipe affects the performance of the EAHE system
significantly.
Solar chimneys have also attracted much attention of
researchers. Bansal et al. [5] analytically studied an SC-assisted
wind tower for natural ventilation of buildings. The estimated
effect of the SC was shown to be substantial in inducing natural
ventilation for low wind speeds. Gan and Riffat [6] investigated
solar-assisted natural ventilation with heat-pipe heat recovery in
naturally ventilated buildings, using a CFD technique. Mathur
et al. [7] analytically studied the effect of absorber inclination on
the air flow rate in a solar-induced ventilation system using roof
SC. They showed that optimum absorber inclination depends
on the latitude of the location. Maerefat and Haghighi [8] intro- Figure 1. Schematic diagram of proposed passive heating system.
duced and parametrically analyzed a new passive cooling system
consisted of the EAHE together with the SC system. They surface at the specific depth. The pipes are spread under the
showed that the SC can be perfectly used to power the under- ground in a parallel manner. The pipe spacing is considered more
ground cooling system during the daytime, without any need of than the thickness of the heat penetrating depth to increase the
auxiliary electrical fan. Haghighi et al. [9] studied the capability heat exchange between the soil and the air.
of one SC and EAHE to meet the required thermal need of one
person in an insulated room. They showed that SC provides
thermal comfort condition even at the ambient temperature as 3 MODELING THE SYSTEM
low as 58C and the solar radiation of 185 (w m22).
The previous available studies show that the detailed design of The modeling includes models of the EAHE (Figure 2) and the SC
EAHE–SC system for passive heating of stand-alone-houses has (Figure 3). The following assumptions are made in the analysis.
not been fully investigated yet. The present study focuses on
studying the effects of main geometric and environmental para- (1) Only buoyancy force is considered; wind-induced natural
meters on the system performance. In addition, the required ventilation is not included.
numbers of SCs and underground air channels will be determined (2) The flows in the channels are hydrodynamically and ther-
for different environmental operating conditions regarding the mally fully developed.
Adapted Comfort Standard (ACS). It should be noted that ACS (3) The glass cover is opaque for infrared radiation.
does not recommend the ventilation rate [10]; therefore, the (4) Thermal capacities of glass and absorber wall are negligible.
minimum ventilation rate is set 3 air changes per hour [11]. (5) The air flow in the channels is radiative nonparticipating
According to this standard, when the indoor air temperature is in media.
comfort zone, thermal comfort conditions will be realized. In (6) The soil is homogeneous, and the soil type does not change
addition, unlike the Fanger’s model used to evaluate thermal along the channel length.
comfort conditions in room ventilated mechanically, the local un- (7) The system is at steady-state condition.
desirable cooling sense cannot be predicted when ACS (this stand-
ard is specially used for spaces ventilated passively) is used.
3.1 Mathematical modeling of EAHE
The cross section of the modeled EAHE surrounded by soil
2 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION region is shown in Figure 2. Two vertical planes of symmetry
bound the modeled soil region. Lower horizontal boundary is
Figure 1 shows schematic plan of the integrated EAHE and SC used to impose the ground thermal loads and is a plane with
(EAHE–SC) system used for natural heating of stand-alone- constant temperature of Tsu. The lower-boundary (subsurface)
buildings. This system realizes both heating and ventilation temperature is determined by using the following equation [12]:
  rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
during daytime with the help of solar energy. It consists of two p
parts: the SC and the EAHE. The SC consists of a glass surface Tsu ð y; tÞ ¼ Tm ðannualÞ  As exp y
365  ls
oriented to the south and an absorber wall that works as a captur-   rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ing surface. The air is heated up in the SC by the solar energy and 2p y 365
 cos t  t0  ð1Þ
flows upward because of the stack effect. It causes driving force, 365 2 p  ls
which sucks the outside air through the heating pipes. The EAHE where Tm is the mean annual ground surface temperature and As
consists of horizontal long pipes that are buried under the bare is amplitude of the temperature wave at the ground surface (K);

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 A. P. Haghighi and M. Maerefat

Figure 2. Cross section of an EAHE with grid system of the soil region.

rows and columns are spaced dday (m) apart. The heat transfer
from the soil to the air is modeled as a laminated cylinder with
internal convection and external conduction. The following
equation is used to calculate the rate of heat transfer:

2pðTsoil  Tf Þ
Q¼ ð4Þ
Rtotal
where Rtotal represents the overall thermal resistance and is given
by equation (5) as follows [8]:
       
1 1 1 rti þ tt 1 dday
Rtotal ¼  þ ln þ ln 1þ
2pDL hft kt rti ks rti þtt
vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
!)ffi
u  
Figure 3. Schematic diagram of heat transfer in the SC. u dday 2
þ t 1þ 1 ð5Þ
rti þ tt
sc, solar chimney; su, undisturbed soil; s, soil. t and t0 are the
times of the year (in days) and the day of minimum surface tem- where r represents radius (m); t, pipe; i, internal.
perature, respectively. The location of lower boundary depends In the above equation, DL is the grid spacing along the EAHE
on the soil diffusivity and the temperature cycle frequency and is and Tsoil represents the soil temperature, which is the distance-
obtained through the following equation [1]: weighted average temperature of the three closest nodes to the
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffi tube node. A three-dimensional array is used to define the pos-
2ls
d¼ ð2Þ ition of each node.
v
The convection heat transfer coefficient inside the pipe is
where ls ¼ ks /ðrs Cs Þ; and v is 2p day21 and 2p year21 for daily defined by:
and annual variation, respectively, where C represents specific
heat of air (J kg21 K21). Nut kft
The upper boundary temperature is considered to be equal to hft ¼ ð6Þ
2rti
the ambient air temperature.
Following Ref. [13], the Nusselt number for air flow in the pipe
The general energy equation for solids used to determine soil
with smooth internal surface depends on Reynolds number and
temperature is as follows:
it is given by equation (7.a and b).
 
@T
rs Cs ¼ r  ks rTs ð3Þ Nu ¼ 3:66 if Re , 2300 ð7aÞ
@t

Because of the steady-state assumption, zero value is considered

ðj/8ÞðRe  1000ÞPr
for the left-hand side of equation (3). Equation (3) is written for Nu ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
each node with the space derivatives approximated by finite dif- 1 þ 12:7 ðj/8ÞðPr2=3  1Þ ð7bÞ
ference. The soil region is divided into a grid system. The grid 6
if 2300  Re , 5  10

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 Design guideline for application of EAHE

where mean air temperature is given by:

j ¼ ð1:82 log Re  1.64Þ2 if Re  2300 ð8Þ Tfsc ¼ gTfsco þ ð1  gÞTfscin ð16Þ

The system is discretized in ‘n’ sections that are perpendicular to Value of the constant g is taken as 0.74 according to Ref. [15].
the pipe cross section. The outlet air temperature along the The energy balance equation for the absorber plate is written
EAHE from each grid is calculated by the following equation. as follows:

Q aabs IAabs ¼ habs Aabs ðTabs  Tfsc Þ þ hrabsg Aabs ðTabs  Tg Þ

Tftout ðzÞ ¼ Tftin ðzÞ þ ð9Þ
mCft þ Uabsr Aabs ðTabs  Tr Þ
where f represents air flow; t, pipe; in, inlet; out, outlet. ð17Þ
The overall heat transfer coefficient from the absorber wall to
the room Uabs2r is given by:
3.2 Mathematical modeling of SC
An element of the model for SC is shown in Figure 3. Based on 1
Uabsr ¼ ð18Þ
the energy conservation law, a set of differential equations are 1/hr þ tins /kins
obtained along the length of SC as follows. In the above equation, hr has been taken as 2.8 W m22 K21)
The energy balance equation for the glass cover is as follows: according to Ref. [14].
ag IAg þ hrabsg Aabs ðTabs  Tg Þ
¼ hg Ag ðTg  Tfsc Þ þ Uga Ag ðTg  TÞ ð10Þ
3.3 Room ventilation and temperature
where A represents area (m2); I, total incident solar radiation The buoyancy-induced pressure due to the increasing air tem-
(W21 m22); abs, absorber wall; g, glass. perature in SC sucks the air through the EAHE. The friction
The overall top heat loss coefficient from the glass cover to losses due to air flow through the channels and across the fittings
the ambient air Ug2a can be written as follows: resist the fluid flow. If the buoyancy pressure overcomes the sum
of all flow pressure losses, the natural ventilation takes place. A
Uga ¼ hwind þ hrgsky þ hga ð11Þ
mathematical model based on Bernoulli’s equation has been
The convective heat transfer coefficient due to the wind is used to estimate the system flow rate. Thus, the chimney net
hwind ¼ 2.8 þ 3.0uwind as given in Ref. [14]. draft can be calculated by the following equation:
The radiative heat transfer coefficient from the outer glass
surface to the sky and that between the absorber plate and the Draf tsc ¼ ðrfto  rfsco ÞgLsc
glass cover are adopted from Ref. [15]:
X
6   ! 
Lsc rfsco u2sc ð19Þ
 cj þ jsc
s1g ðTg þ Tsky ÞðTg2 þ 2
Tsky ÞðTg  Tsky Þ ðdhyd Þsc 2
hrgsky ¼ ð12Þ j¼5
Tg  Ta
where cj is the discharge coefficients at the locations indicated in
Figure 1, d represents diameter (m) and hyd hydraulic. The
sðTg2 þ Tabs
2
ÞðTg þ Tabs Þ values of discharge coefficients depend on the type of the
hrabsg ¼ ð13Þ opening and have been considered 0.8, 0.5, 0.5, 0.65, 0.7, 0.7 and
ð1/1g þ 1/1abs  1Þ
0.6 for c1, c2, c3, c4, c5, c6 and c7, respectively [16].
The EAHE pressure loss DPEAHE is:
where the sky temperature is Tsky ¼ 0:0552Ta1:5 [14].
The convective heat transfer coefficient is given by: X4  !
LEAHE rft u2ft
DPEAHE ¼ cj þ jt ð20Þ
Nusc kfsc j¼1
dtin 2
hfsc ¼ ð14Þ
Lsc The chimney effects DraftEAHE and DraftRoom can be expressed
All property values are evaluated at average surface air tempera- as:
tures.
The following is the energy balance equation for air flow in Draf tEAHE ¼ ðrfa  rft ÞgðHtr  Lsc Þ ð21Þ
the chimney:

habs Aabs ðTabs  Tfsc Þ þ hg Ag ðTg  Tfsc Þ Draf tRoom ¼ ðrfr  rfsco ÞgHscoro ð22Þ
mCfsc ðTfsc  Tfto Þ where H represents distance (m).
¼ ð15Þ
g The required draft for heating system DraftSystem is the sum of
Based on the experimental relation reported in Ref. [15], the the pipe pressure loss DPEAHE and the positive pressure

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 A. P. Haghighi and M. Maerefat

DraftEAHE and DraftRoom.

Qr
Tr ¼ Tfscout  ð30Þ
Draf tSystem ¼ DPEAHE þ Draf tEAHE þ Draf tRoom ð23Þ mCfr
Under steady-state conditions, we can write: where Qr is sum of the heats that the room misses through the
walls and the heat generated by internal heat sources.
Draf tSystem ¼ Draf tsc ð24Þ
The coupled governing equations (9), (10), (15), (17) and
The air mass flow rate through the chimney and EAHE are the (26) provide the full description of the system and have to be
same if there is no air infiltration: solved iteratively until the convergence of the results is achieved.
 
m ¼ rAuChimney outlet ¼ rAuChimney inlet ¼ rAujEAHE ð25Þ
By expanding equation (24), the air velocity in the SC can be 4 MODEL VALIDATION
obtained as:
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi To test and verify the adequacy of the suggested mathematical
2 Bouyancy terms model, the calculation has been carried out for the SC and the
usc ¼ ð26Þ EAHE separately and the results have been compared with the
Friction terms
experimental studies of Ref. [17] and analytical and numerical
( ) of Refs. [1, 3] under same conditions of the references. The com-
ðrfto  rfsco ÞgLsc  ðrfa  rft Þ parison of data obtained for the SC by the present model with
Buoyancy terms ¼
 gðHtr  Lsc Þ  ðrfr  rfsco ÞgHscoro experimental and theoretical data reported in Ref. [17] is pre-
sented in Table 1. It should be noted that these data have
ð27Þ been obtained for a room with volume of 27 m3. The comparison
shows that the results of the present study are closer to the experi-
     mental results than the theoretical results of Ref. [17]. Therefore,
rfsco Asco 2 Lsc
Friction terms ¼ c7 rfr þ c5 þ c6 þ jsc the developed model has the satisfactory adequacy and can be
ðrfr Aro Þ ðdhyd Þsc successfully used in designing works of SC. A careful examination
(  !
  )
X on grid independence of the numerical solutions was made here
4
Lt þ 2ðHtr  Lsc Þ rfsco Asco 2
rfsco þ c j þ jt rft to ensure the accuracy and validity of the results of the model pre-
j¼1
dt rft At sented for EAHE. The accuracy of the numerical results was veri-
ð28Þ fied through numerous tests based on the grid size effect, and the
computational grid that gives the grid independence results was
The air change per hour (ACH) (h21) is calculated under found 45  45 (rectangular mesh was used here) for the soil
steady-state conditions by the following equation [7]: region (X–Y plane) and 450 for the buried pipe. To evaluate the
validity of the model presented for EAHE, the computed air tem-
3600 m perature along EAHE was compared with two other models: the
ACH ¼ ð29Þ
rfsc V analytical results of [1] and numerical results of [3] for the con-
ditions presented in Table 2. Figure 4 shows that the results of
The room air temperature depends on room heat loss and is present study are very close to those of the analytical and numer-
given by: ical models of the literature. It indicates that the present model

Table 1. Comparison of experimental and theoretical results for SC-induced ACH number.
Solar radiation (W m22) Absorber Inlet chimney Ambient ACH Errors of
length (m) dimension
(m  m) Temperature Experimental Theoretical Theoretical [17] (%) Present
(K) [17] [17] (present study) study (%)

300 0.7 1.0  0.3 295– 302 4.400 4.173 4.366 5.16 0.77
0.8 1.0  0.2 298– 304 5.330 4.054 4.757 23.94 10.75
0.9 1.0  0.1 294– 296 2.400 2.704 2.368 12.66 1.33
500 0.7 1.0  0.3 295– 302 4.800 5.160 4.454 7.50 7.21
0.8 1.0  0.2 298– 304 4.530 4.895 4.816 8.06 6.31
0.9 1.0  0.1 294– 296 2.660 3.461 2.970 30.11 11.65
700 0.7 1.0  0.3 295– 302 5.600 5.810 5.404 3.75 3.5
0.8 1.0  0.2 298– 304 5.330 5.175 5.480 2.91 2.81
0.9 1.0  0.1 294– 296 2.930 3.671 3.217 25.29 9.79

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 Design guideline for application of EAHE

Table 2. System characteristics and thermophysical properties.

Parameters Values

Air flow rate 250 m3 h21

Length of the buried pipe 20 m
Pipe diameter 0.20 m
Buried depth of the pipe 2.0 m
Soil density 1800 W m21 K21
Thermal conductivity of soil 1.49 W m21 K21
Specific heat of soil 1340 J kg21 K21

Figure 4. Comparison of present results with the reported results.

Figure 5. (a) ACH variation with changes of air gap depth of SC. (b) Room air
temperature variation with changes of air gap depth of SC.
and method can be used effectively to predict the air temperature
quite accurately and the calculated results are reliable.
properties are as follows: conductivity, 0.52 W m21 K21; density,
2050 kg m23; specific heat, 1840 J kg21 K21.
5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The following dimensions and specifications are used in the mod- 5.1 Effective dimensions on the system performance
eling. The room has the size of 4.0  4.0  3.125 m without air There are many geometrical dimensions that affect the system
infiltration. The heating demand is varied within the range of performance. To find the effect of each parameter, its value
0.0–1000 W in the calculations. An SC with the length of 3.125 varied and the rest of parameters were kept constant.
m, width of 4.0 m and air gap depth of 0.2 m is considered. The The influence of the air gap depth on the ACH at various
thickness and thermal conductivity of the insulation located in solar radiation values is shown in Figure 5a. It shows that the
south wall of the room are 0.2 m and 0.046 W m21 K21, respect- ACH increases as the air gap size rises, and gradually the influ-
ively. The transmissivity of the glass wall is 0.84, and the absorber ence becomes less significant and the ACH remains almost con-
wall has an emissivity and absorptivity equal to 0.95. The outlets stant beyond 0.2 m. Likewise, the effect of air gap depth on the
size of the SC and the room (Figure 1) are 0.05  4.0 m and variation of room air temperature has been presented in
0.1  4.0 m, respectively. The heating pipe of EAHE is a PVC Figure 5b. It shows that as the air gap depth increases, the room
pipe with thermal conductivity of 0.23 W m21 K21, length of air temperature decreases. The reason is that the time for heat
25.0 m, thickness of 0.01 m and inside diameter of 0.5 m and is transfer between absorber walls and air is shortened with the in-
buried 3.0 m below the soil surface. At the beginning, the soil crease in ACH. A comparison between these figures shows that
temperature at this depth is approximated to be 198C for a dry the system performance changes as the chimney air gap size
shaded soil surface condition, and it is also considered as the tem- increases up to almost 0.2 m, and any further increase does not
perature of the lower boundary of the computational domain have a significant effect on the performance. Therefore, an air
(Tsu). It is assumed that this temperature does not change during gap of 0.2 m is considered as a maximum required value of the
the time in which system works. The system is set up in Tehran, air gap. Furthermore, it is clear from both figures that at high
having 35.448 N latitude position and the homogeneous soil solar intensities there is a remarkable increase in the ACH and

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Figure 6. (a) ACH variation with changes of outlet size of SC. (b) Room air temperature variation with changes of outlet size of SC. (c) ACH variation with
changes of outlet size of room. (d) Room air temperature variation with changes of outlet size of room.

the room air temperature. This means that around the noon, the diameter and length of the EAHE have been investigated. The
system reaches to its highest effectiveness. effect of the pipe diameter on the system performance is sum-
Other important dimensions that affect the system perform- marized in Table 3. The results indicate that smaller diameters
ance are the inlet and outlet size of room. are preferred from a thermal point of view, but they also corres-
The ACH variation due to change of the inlet size of the pond to higher friction loss and lead to lower ACH. A compara-
room is shown in Figure 6a. This figure shows that there is an tive survey shows that as the diameter of EAHE increases up to
optimum inlet (z1) size beyond which the ACH would begin to almost 0.5 m, any further increase does not have a significant
decrease. By increasing z1 (Figure 1), the pressure loss decreases effect on the ACH and the room air temperature. Therefore, this
and it causes an increase in the ACH. However, increasing the value is adopted as the default value of diameter in the present
room inlet size corresponds to the decrease in the absorber area, study. Table 4 shows the effect of length of EAHE on the system
and consequently, the amount of heat transfer is reduced. performance. When the pipe length increases, the lateral surface
Accordingly, the Draftsc (given by equation 19) and ACH tend to area of the buried pipe and consequently the amount of heat
decrease. This optimum value is 0.2 m. The effect of room transfer will be increased. This leads to lower ACH, and the time
inlet size on the room air temperature is shown in Figure 6b. As for heat transfer along the SC and EAHE is increased. The find-
shown in Figure 6b, increasing the z1 would finally lead to de- ings show that under this condition, an increase in air tempera-
crease in the room air temperature. It is due to the decrease in tures through the SC compensates the reduction in mass flow rate;
the energy gained by the absorber wall. therefore, the room air temperature will increase. It is also found
The outlet size of the room (z2) can also change the system that the use of long EAHE for low insulated spaces may not be
performance. Figure 6c and d shows the effect of this parameter useful and the chimney effect can hardly compensate the total
on the ACH and room air temperature, respectively. They indi- pressure losses and the system performance will be reduced signifi-
cate that the variation of outlet size of the room has less effect cantly. Thus, for the pipe longer than 35 m, the comfort tempera-
on the ACH and room air temperature. However, a design of ture may not be provided, and shorter EAHE should be employed.
room with variable inlet and outlet may assist the inhabitants to
keep the room air temperature in the range of thermal comfort
even at low solar intensity. The recommended size is 0.20 m for 5.2 Effects of environmental conditions
the SC outlet and 0.05 for the room outlet. on the system performance
The thermal performance of the EAHE – SC system is also Thermal behavior of the system is influenced by environmental
affected by the pipe configuration. In this study, the effects of conditions. The environmental conditions are comprised of

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 Design guideline for application of EAHE

Table 3. Effects of diameter of EAHE on the system performance.

Heating demand (W) Solar radiation Diameter ACH EAHE outlet air temperature Room air
(W m22) of EAHE (m) (8C) temperature (8C)

0.0 300 0.1 Thermal comfort cannot be provided

0.3 3.82 15.10 27.20
0.5 6.85 13.70 21.90
0.7 7.72 13.20 20.70
0.9 7.98 12.90 20.90
0.0 500 0.1 Thermal comfort cannot be provided
0.3 5.25 14.60 33.30
0.5 9.03 13.40 25.70
0.7 10.02 13.00 24.30
0.9 10.28 12.70 23.80
500 300 0.1 Thermal comfort cannot be provided
0.3 Thermal comfort cannot be provided
0.5 5.04 14.00 20.00
0.7 5.74 13.50 18.50
0.9 6.20 13.10 18.10
500 500 0.1 Thermal comfort cannot be provided
0.3 4.78 14.80 30.70
0.5 7.88 13.60 23.30
0.7 8.83 13.10 22.20
0.9 9.10 12.80 21.70

Note: ambient air temperature ¼ 108C, required number of SC and EAHE ¼ 1.

Table 4. Effects of length of EAHE on the system performance.

Heating Solar radiation Length of ACH EAHE outlet air Room air
demand (W) (W m22) EAHE (m) temperature (8C) temperature (8C)

0.0 300 15.0 7.47 12.40 20.30

25.0 6.85 13.70 21.90
35.0 6.35 14.90 23.20
45.0 5.89 15.80 24.40
0.0 500 15.0 9.56 12.10 24.10
25.0 9.03 13.40 25.70
35.0 8.59 14.40 27.10
45.0 8.15 15.30 28.30
500 300 15.0 6.24 12.60 18.70
25.0 5.04 14.00 20.00
35.0 4.73 15.20 21.30
45.0 Thermal comfort cannot be provided
500 500 15.0 8.55 12.30 21.80
25.0 7.88 13.60 23.30
35.0 4.12 16.00 25.10
45.0 Thermal comfort cannot be provided

Note: ambient air temperature ¼ 108C, required number of SC and EAHE ¼ 1.

heating demand of inhabitant, outdoor ambient temperature, longer EAHE may not be efficient. Table 5 shows the summary
solar radiation and soil temperature. Table 4 shows the effects of of results of the calculations for different environmental condi-
heating demand on the system performance. It shows that when tions. According to the results, when the ambient air tempera-
the heating demand increases, the ACH decreases. This is ture increases, thermal comfort may be achieved at lower solar
because of the reduction in room average air temperature that radiation. It should be noted that, when the solar intensity
causes an increase in DraftRoom (last term of the equation 27) increases, the wall temperature of SC rises. This has two effects:
and finally leads to lower chimney effect. Although this effect higher ACH and air flow temperature, which enhance the
increases the performance of EAHE, the indoor air temperature heating gain. It is also found that when the heating demand is
decreases due to the increase in the room heat loss. The findings high, thermal comfort can be achieved only at higher solar radi-
also show that when the heating demand increases, the use of ation. However, with proper insulation and reduction of the

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 A. P. Haghighi and M. Maerefat

Table 5. System performance at different outdoor conditions.

Heating demand (W) Length of EAHE (m) Ambient Air temperature (8C) Solar radiation (W m22) ACH Room air temperature (8C)

0.0 15 0.0 440 8.59 15.90

5.0 250 6.28 15.90
10.0 170 5.21 17.50
0.0 25 0.0 250 5.11 15.90
5.0 185 3.45 15.90
10.0 120 2.69 17.50
500 15 0.0 560 8.73 15.90
5.0 390 6.79 15.90
10.0 315 5.65 17.50
500 25 0.0 550 8.47 15.90
5.0 320 5.67 15.90
10.0 280 4.63 17.50
1000 15 0.0 Thermal comfort cannot be provided
5.0 500 6.26 15.90
10.0 380 5.77 17.50
1000 25 Thermal comfort cannot be provided

Note: outlet height of SC is 0.10 m, number of SC and EAHE ¼ 1.0.

Table 6. System performance at different burial soil temperature.

Heating demand (W) Soil temperature (8C) Ambient air temperature (8C) Solar radiation (W m22) ACH Room air temperature (8C)

0.0 16 0.0 340 6.57 15.90

5.0 200 4.79 15.90
10.0 165 4.91 17.50
0.0 13 0.0 410 7.82 15.90
5.0 270 6.56 15.90
10.0 220 6.40 17.50
500 16 0.0 470 6.80 15.90
5.0 350 5.35 15.90
10.0 310 5.03 17.50
500 13 0.0 530 7.88 15.90
5.0 400 6.76 15.90
10.0 350 6.44 17.50
1000 16 Thermal comfort cannot be provided
1000 13 Thermal comfort cannot be provided

Note: LEAHE ¼ 25 m, outlet height of SC is 0.10 m, number of SC and EAHE ¼ 1.0.

heating demand, SC can provide good indoor condition in the remains nearly constant throughout the year. This temperature
poor solar intensity of 250 W and low ambient air temperature is equal to the mean annual ground surface temperature and
of 08C (see forth row of Table 5). The findings show that the depends on climatic conditions of each region. Table 6 shows the
system can provide the required indoor temperature and ACH system performance at different soil temperature. The findings
number even at harsh environmental condition of low tempera- show that when the soil temperature increases, thermal comfort
ture of 08C and high heating demand of 1000 W. As shown in may be achieved at lower solar radiation. This result is caused by
Table 5, for poor insulated room with high heating demand, the the increase in the heat transfer from the earth, which leads to
use of EAHE with small length may be useful. Under this condi- higher room air temperature. It is found that if the room is
tion, when the buried pipe is longer than 15 m, the SC will not properly insulated, the EAHE – SC system will provide the
be able to provide the necessary stack effect and the use of a thermal comfort condition even at the low soil temperature of
small fan can help the air to flow from EAHE into the room to 138C. It is also concluded that this technique is suitable to
realize thermal comfort condition. supply the heating demand of building especially in the moder-
Another parameter, which affects the system performance, is ate climates where the mean annual air temperature is usually
the soil temperature. Due to the fact that the ground exhibits high.
high thermal inertia, the EAHE is usually placed below the Table 7 shows the summary of results of the calculations for
ground surface at a certain depth where the soil temperature different room sizes and environmental conditions. The results

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 Design guideline for application of EAHE

Table 7. System performance at different indoor and outdoor conditions.

Room volume (m3) Ambient air Solar radiation Heating ACH Room air Number of Number of
temperature (8C) (W m22) demand (W) temperature (8C) SC EAHE

0.0 470 1000 8.29 15.90 2 3

560 1500 9.34 15.90 2 3
650 2000 10.43 15.90 2 3
2  50 5.0 350 1000 6.46 15.90 2 3
425 1500 7.80 15.90 2 3
500 2000 8.93 15.90 2 3
10.0 300 1000 6.77 17.50 2 3
380 1500 8.21 17.50 2 3
460 2000 9.32 17.50 2 3
0.0 480 2000 6.12 15.90 3 6
500 2500 8.86 15.90 3 6
570 3000 9.32 15.90 3 6
3  50 5.0 350 2000 4.95 15.90 3 6
410 2500 7.80 15.90 3 6
470 3000 7.70 15.90 3 6
10.0 340 2000 7.15 17.50 3 6
400 2500 8.47 17.50 3 6
450 3000 9.24 17.50 3 6
0.0 460 3000 5.18 15.90 4 9
490 3500 6.04 15.90 4 9
540 4000 6.68 15.90 4 9
4  50 5.0 380 3000 5.12 15.90 4 9
420 3500 6.11 15.90 4 9
460 4000 7.05 15.90 4 9
10.0 310 3000 6.47 17.50 4 8
350 3500 7.51 17.50 4 8
380 4000 8.01 17.50 4 8
0.0 470 4000 5.73 15.90 5 11
500 4500 6.44 15.90 5 11
550 5000 7.45 15.90 5 11
5  50 5.0 400 4000 6.20 15.90 5 11
430 4500 6.93 15.90 5 11
460 5000 7.54 15.90 5 11
10.0 380 4000 8.18 17.50 5 11
410 4500 8.76 17.50 5 11
440 5000 9.28 17.50 5 11
0.0 470 5000 5.33 15.90 6 14
500 5500 6.04 15.90 6 14
530 6000 6.66 15.90 6 14
6  50 5.0 410 5000 6.21 15.90 6 14
430 5500 6.64 15.90 6 14
460 6000 7.28 15.90 6 14
10.0 390 5000 8.61 17.50 6 13
420 5500 9.15 17.50 6 13
450 6000 9.67 17.50 6 13

Note: LEAHE ¼ 25 m, outlet height of SC is 0.10 m, Tsoil ¼ 198C.

show that the required number of EAHEs and SCs should be 6. CONCLUSIONS
increased to retain the thermal comfort condition when the room
size and heating demand are increased simultaneously. It is found Natural ventilation and heating a room using a passive system
that one 4.0  3.125 m SC is required for each 50 m3. Accordingly, comprising of SCs and EAHEs was proposed and studied in this
the required number of SC is calculated by (room volume/50. It is paper. This study shows that the system performance depends
also found that the required number of EAHEs is 2  number on solar radiation, outdoor air temperature, heating demand of
of SCs þ 1. The findings show that when the heating demand room, the soil temperature, as well as the configuration of both
increases, thermal comfort is only realized at higher solar inten- the SC and the EAHE. It is found that there is an optimum size
sities. Moreover, with proper insulation, thermal comfort condi- for air gap size of SC (0.2 m) and diameter of heating pipe (0.5 m).
tion is provided during most times of a day, and the required In addition, the indoor air temperature always decreases as the
number of EAHEs and SCs will be reduced. outlet sizes of SC increases. However, the effect of outlet sizes of

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 A. P. Haghighi and M. Maerefat

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