Prototype of Passive Solar House with Variable Parameters.

A prototype of 380 m**3 of passive solar house has been realized in Salisano (Rieti, Italy). It is a natural convection system (solar chimney) following the heat and mass transfer scheme: Sun yields Small thermal capacity absorber yields Storage yields Air. The solar ″chimney″ and the thermal storage, realized at the inside of the structure, have been designed with particular attention paid to fluid dynamics and heat transfer questions. For this reason the prototype has been carried out with almost all the parameters, which determine the system performance, free to be varied experimentally within the range of interest. The objective is the acquisition within of a large number of experimental data to permit an evaluation of a coherent mathematical model of the system. In the present paper, having a descriptive character, the system chosen is analyzed, the prototype is shown, and the range of change for the parameters is indicated.