Performance of Air Based BIPV/T Heat Management Strategies in a Canadian Home

Abstract

Using TRNSYS, the performance of three heat management strategies of an air-based Building Integrated Photovoltaic/Thermal (BIPV/T)system in an energy efficient home are assessed. The first scenario makes direct use of the heated air as fresh air supplied to aheat recovery ventilator. The second scenario uses the heated air from the BIPV/T collector as a source for the outdoor unit of an air source heat pump. The third strategy involves storing the energy from the BIPV/T collector heated air in an ice-slurry latent storage tank that is coupled with a water source heat pump. These strategies are evaluated in reference to a base case scenario with a simple air–based ducted system without a BIPV/T collector. Results show that using a latent storage medium such as ice can potentially bridge the time gaps between available solar radiation and domestic space heating loads.