EXPERIMENTS IN SOLAR SPACE HEATING AND COOLING FOR MODERATELY INSOLATED REGIONS

The moderate levels of insolation which characterize a great part of Europe require carefully optimized solar systems in order to attain acceptable levels of performance. The report describes activities of the European Commission Solar Energy Programme which are being carried out at the Joint Research Centre of Ispra, Italy. A Solar Laboratory has been built specifically for the intercomparisons between different solar heating and cooling systems. A description is given of the main features of the laboratory and of the solutions which are being investigated to increase performances. These solutions involve high efficiency collectors with selective surfaces, honey comb structures and Vee-corrugations, together with low operating temperatures, seasonal storage or combined heating and cooling systems in order to insure a year round utilization of the solar system. A description is presented of a solar heating system which operates at 28°C with some results concerning performances. In order to extrapolate results to other climatic conditions or to perform parametric optimizations a mathematical model with monthly basis is used. Some elements of the model are presented.