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Building Cooling with a Cooling Tower SSStttooonnnyyy BBBrrrooooookkk UUUnnniiivvveeerrrsssiiitttyyy The official electronic file of this thesis or dissertation is maintained by the University Libraries on behalf of The Graduate School at Stony Brook University. ©©© AAAllllll RRRiiiggghhhtttsss RRReeessseeerrrvvveeeddd bbbyyy AAAuuuttthhhooorrr... Thermal Homeostasis in Buildings (THiB): Radiant conditioning of hydronically activated buildings with large fenestration and adequate thermal mass using natural energy for thermal comfort A Dissertation Presented by Peizheng Ma to The Graduate School in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering (Thermal Sciences and Fluid Mechanics) Stony Brook University May 2013 Copyright by Peizheng Ma 2013 Stony Brook University The Graduate School Peizheng Ma We, the dissertation committee for the above candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy degree, hereby recommend acceptance of this dissertation. Lin-Shu Wang – Dissertation Advisor Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering John M. Kincaid – Chairperson of Defense Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering Jon P. Longtin Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering David J. Hwang Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering Thomas A. Butcher – Outside Member Professor, Brookhaven National Laboratory This dissertation is accepted by the Graduate School Charles Taber Interim Dean of the Graduate School ii Abstract of the Dissertation Thermal Homeostasis in Buildings (THiB): Radiant conditioning of hydronically activated buildings with large fenestration and adequate thermal mass using natural energy for thermal comfort by Peizheng Ma Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering (Thermal Sciences and Fluid Mechanics) Stony Brook University 2013 “Living” buildings, like living bodies, seek to maintain stable internal environments while the external surroundings keep on changing. In biology, the “stable internal environment” is called homeostasis. This dissertation focuses on thermal homeostasis in buildings. In a homeostatic building, adequate thermal mass is applied to keep indoor temperature varying within a small range; natural energy is harnessed to maintain indoor temperature at a comfortable level using lower-power equipment (lowPE); hydronic radiant conditioning system is employed to distribute heat or coolness effectively to avoid iii over-heating or over-cooling; and large fenestration is designed for aesthetics, natural lighting and solar gain. The design of homeostatic buildings is approached in interdependent but distinguishable two steps: archi.engineering building’s indoor air-mass partially homeostatic to be within an acceptable temperature range without equipment, and maintaining the building fully homeostatic to be at a comfortable temperature level with lowPE or off-peak mechanical equipment. This new process design philosophy replaces the conventional heat balance design philosophy of engineering building’s indoor air to be at a fixed temperature. The new design philosophy is applied to a TABS (thermally activated building systems)-equipped office building-room using an RC (resistor-capacitor) model built in Matlab/Simulink. Everyone intuitively knows that a building’s thermal resistance and its mass are the most important passive elements of its thermal-control system. However, common building codes make no provision for its mass. This inconsistency results from the static heat balance design philosophy. In the dynamic RC model, indoor temperatures are allowed to float within a range. Systematic study of building’s structural thermal mass requirement leads to a new dynamic definition of the thermal envelope, which sets limit in minimum thermal mass and maximum WWR (window-to-wall ratio) for partially homeostatic buildings. The use of TABS and thermal mass makes a partially homeostatic building possible to harness natural energy with lowPE, such as cooling tower. The favorable climatic conditions of using cooling tower are investigated to achieve full homeostasis in buildings. It shows that in seven selected cities the most favorable location is Sacramento, which has a largest diurnal temperature variation derived from the strong micro-climatic process of sea breeze. This finding argues that the changing “external environment” is not only a challenge but also an opportunity—the opportunity in how a partially homeostatic building can harness natural energy with lowPE to achieve full homeostasis. iv Better than Sacramento, Paso Robles has a larger diurnal temperature swing in summers, which makes it one of the most favorite locations for homeostatic buildings. A stand-alone one-story south-facing small commercial building in Paso Robles is designed. Simulation confirms that the building is a good partially homeostatic building even with a very high WWR. Thermal homeostasis in buildings is an example of sustainable technologies. The homeostatic conception makes a building into a harnessing system for a new kind of renewable “energy.” Homeostasis in buildings and how it is engineered offer an opportunity of creating a new kind of man-made systems with ecological sustainability — a perfect revolutionary form and content for getting the green architecture movement lifting off. Keywords: Thermal Homeostasis; Homeostatic Building; Building Hydronic Radiant Cooling; Building Energy Modeling; Resistor-Capacitor Model; Thermal Comfort; TABS; Thermally Activated Building Systems; Thermal Mass; Low-power Equipment; Natural Energy; Cooling Tower; Building Design; Heat Transfer; Heat Storage v T o My Mother, M y F a t h e r , My Wife and My Son vi Table of Contents List of Figures ................................................................................... xii List of Tables ................................................................................... xvii Acknowledgements ........................................................................... xx Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................... 1 1.1 Concept of building thermal homeostasis ......................................... 1 1.1.1 Machine vs. organism ................................................................................1 1.1.2 Non-equilibrium thermodynamic (NET) existence in an ecosystem ...........3 1.1.3 The challenge and opportunity of weather and climate ...............................4 1.2 Steps of achieving thermal homeostasis in buildings ........................ 5 1.2.1 Thermally activated building systems: from air conditioning to radiant conditioning .......................................................................................................5 1.2.2 Partial homeostasis: synergy of thermal mass and high-performance envelope .............................................................................................................8 1.2.3 Homeostasis: the opportunity of harnessing diurnal temperature variation irreversibility......................................................................................................9 1.2.4 Mesoscale climatic process as a new kind of renewable energy ............... 11 1.3 Main benefits of thermally homeostatic buildings ...........................12 1.3.1 Energy efficiency of building conditioning .............................................. 12 1.3.2 Tunneling the cost barrier ........................................................................ 14 1.3.3 Thermal comfort ...................................................................................... 16 vii 1.3.4 Unity of architecture and engineering towards simplicity ......................... 20 1.4 Goal, tasks and method ...................................................................22 1.4.1 Goal ........................................................................................................ 22 1.4.2 Tasks ....................................................................................................... 23 1.4.3 Method .................................................................................................... 23 1.5 Dissertation structure ......................................................................27 Reference ..............................................................................................28 Chapter 2: Literature Review .......................................................... 32 2.1 Hydronic radiant conditioning .........................................................32 2.2 Thermally activated building systems .............................................35 2.3 Thermal mass ..................................................................................44 2.4 Cooling tower application in buildings ............................................48 2.5 Chapter summary ............................................................................54 Reference ..............................................................................................55 Chapter 3: Modeling of TABS-Equipped Building in Simulink .... 61 3.1 The TABS-equipped building and its modeling ...............................61 3.2 Building envelope and its thermal resistance ...................................66 3.3 Ventilation and infiltration/exfiltration ............................................72 3.4 Solar radiation .................................................................................74 3.4.1 Solar geometry .......................................................................................
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