Heat Transfer Performance of Building Envelopes Integrated with Close-contact Parallel Solar Vacuum Tubes

This paper analyzes the heat transfer performance of a new style of building envelopes integrated with close-contact parallel solar vacuum tubes (which is called integrated solar envelope later in this paper). The heat transfer performance of the integrated solar envelope was researched by numerical simulation and experimental testing. The heat losses were tested and simulated when the two sides of the integrated solar envelope were imposed different temperature at various conditions. The average heat transfer coefficient of the integrated solar envelope is 2.4 W/(m(2).K) with the insulation materials filled in the gaps behind. The simulation results agree with the experimental testing results well. The result shows the integrated solar envelope has good thermal insulation performance, it can be used to reduce building heat loss while it is used to collect solar energy. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.