Engineering System II

Assignment : Solar Architecture

Submitted by Arsalan Khan
Submitted to Azmat Ali Khan
Solar architecture:
Solar architecture is an architectural approach that takes in account
the Sun to harness clean and renewable solar power. It is related to the
fields of optics, thermics, electronics and materials science. Both active
and passive solar housing skills are involved in solar architecture.
The use of flexible thin-film photovoltaic modules provides fluid
integration with steel roofing profiles, enhancing the building's design.
Orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with favorable thermal
mass or light dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally
circulate air also constitute solar architecture.
Initial development of solar architecture has been limited by the rigidity
and weight of standard solar power panels. The continued development of
photovoltaic (PV) thin film solar has provided a lightweight yet robust
vehicle to harness solar energy to reduce a building's impact on the environment.

History:
The idea of passive solar building design first appeared in Greece around the
fifth century BC. Up until that time, the Greeks' main source of fuel had been
charcoal, but due to a major shortage of wood to burn they were forced to find a new
way of heating their dwellings. With necessity as their motivation, the Greeks
revolutionized the design of their cities. They began using building materials that
absorbed solar energy, mostly stone, and started orienting the buildings so that they
faced south. These revolutions, coupled with overhangs that kept out the hot summer
sun, created structures which required very little heating and cooling. Socrates wrote,
"In houses that look toward the south, the sun penetrates the portico in winter, while in
summer the path of the sun is right over our heads and above the roof so that there is
shade."

Elements
Greenhouse:
A greenhouse keeps heat from the Sun. In a
double glazed greenhouse, three effects occur: no
convection (air blocking), ray keeping (the ground
absorbs a photon, emits it with lower infrared
energy, and the glass reflects this infrared to the
ground), and little conduction (double glazing). It
seems that the convection effect is the most
important, as greenhouses in poor countries are made of plastic.

Photothermic module
 Photothermic modules convert solar light into heat. They easily heat domestic
water to 80 °C (353 K). They are put facing the sunny cardinal point, rather pointing
towards the horizon to avoid overheating in summer, and take more calories in the
winter. In a 45° North place, the module should face the south and the angle to the
horizontal should be about 70°.

Photovoltaic module:
Photovoltaic modules convert solar light into electricity. Classical silicon solar
modules have up to 25% efficiency but they are rigid and cannot easily be placed on
curves. Thin film solar modules are flexible, but they have lower efficiency and
lifetime.
Photovoltaic tiles combine the useful to the pleasant by providing tile-like
photovoltaic surfaces.

Thermal storage:
The simplest solar heat water system is to place a hot water storage tank
towards the Sun and paint it black.
A thick ground of rock in a greenhouse will keep some heat through the night. The
rock will absorb heat in the day and emit it in the night. Water has the best thermal
capacity for a common material and remains a sure value.

Electrical storage
In autonomous (off-grid) photovoltaic systems, batteries are used to store the
excess of electricity, and deliver it when needed in the night.
Grid-connected systems can use interseasonal storage thanks to pumped-storage
hydroelectricity. An innovative storage method, compressed air energy storage, is also
being studied, and may be applied at the scale of a region or a home, whether a cave
or a tank is used to store the compressed air.

White wall:
In the Greek islands, the houses are painted in
white to keep from absorbing heat. The white walls
covered with lime and the blue roofs make the Greek
islands' traditional style appreciated by tourists for its
colors, and by the inhabitants for the cooler interior air.

Black wall:
In Nordic countries, this is the opposite: the houses
are painted in black to better absorb the irradiation heat.
Basalt is an interesting material as it is naturally black and exhibits high thermal
storage capacity.

Solar tracker:
Part or all of the house can track the Sun's race in the sky to catch its light. The
Heliotrope, the first positive energy house in the world, rotates to catch the sunlight,
converted into electricity by photovoltaic modules, heating the house through the
translucent glass.
Tracking requires electronics and automatics. There are two ways
to let the system know where the Sun is: instrumental and
theoretical. The instrumental method uses captors of light to
detect the Sun's position. The theoretical method uses
astronomical formulas to know the Sun's place. One or two axis
motors will make the solar system rotate to face the Sun and
catch more of its Sunlight.

Solar mask:
Sometimes the heat becomes too high, so a shadow may be desired. The
Heliodome has been built in such a way that the roof hides the Sun in the summer to
avoid overheating, and lets the sunlight pass in the winter.

Solar chimney:
A solar chimney is a chimney of outside black color. They were used in Roman
antiquity as a ventilation system. The black surface makes the chimney heat with
sunlight. The air inside gets warmer and moves up, pumping the air from the
underground, that is at 15 °C (288 K) all the year. This traditional air-ground
exchanger was used to make the houses cool in the summer,
mild in the winter.

Solar parabola:
A solar parabola is a parabolic mirror that concentrates
the sunlight to reach high temperatures. In Auroville's collective
kitchen, a large solar parabola on the roof provides heat for
cooking.
The solar parabola can also be used for industrial building. The
Odeillo solar furnace, one of the largest solar parabola in the world, concentrates the
sunlight 10,000 times and reaches temperatures above 3,200 K. No material resists,
even diamond melts. It opens the vision of a futuristic metallurgy, using a clean and
renewable source of energy.

Environmental benefits:
Using solar power in architecture contributes to a world of clean and renewable
energy. This is an investment: the initial price is high, but afterwards, there is nearly
nothing to pay. On the contrary, fossil and fissile energies are cheap in the beginning,
but cost tremendous amounts to humans and nature. The Fukushima catastrophe is
evaluated to cost 210 billion dollars to Japan, Global warming has already been a
cause of species extinction.
Solar architecture is then anti-crisis. If all houses were to be rebuilt to meet solar
architecture standards, this would bring hope, jobs, money, and economical growth.

The orientation of Building:

The arrangement of different parts of a building in some specific direction is
called Orientation of a Building.
The orientation provides easiness to the
inhabitants.
After selection of the site of a building, the design
of its construction starts.
Building Orientation ts the first phase of the
design.

Objectives of Building Orientation:

The orientation of a building is done for the following purposes:
 To give the correct direction to the building according to the surroundings.
 To Provide natural light and air to the inhabitants
 To save the inhabitants from dust and smoke.
 To save the inhabitants from noise.
 To provide privacy to the inhabitants.
 To save the building from damages due to rain.
 To save the inhabitants from the bad effects of the worst weather.
 To add beauty to the building

Factors Affecting Orientation of Building:

Sun Path:
The orientation of building should be fixed in such a way that the sunlight should
enter all parts of the building through doors, windows, and ventilators.
Various germs take birth in those rooms where sunlight does not enter.
These germs become the cause of various diseases.
The direction of Road/Street:
Orientation is also much affected by the direction of the road or street.
If some plot is situated between two paths, then the front view of the building
should be to the side of the major path.

Surroundings:
Surroundings should also be considered in the orientation of building.
It also includes the method of their construction, ways of living of the neighbors.

Wind Direction:
The direction of wind blowing throughout the year should also be kept in mind.
Favorable and unfavorable winds should also be taken into account.

Nature of Rainfall:
Humidity affects a building very much. Therefore, the direction of rainfall should
be assessed.
So, in the building orientation, it should be kept in mind that the smaller part of the
building should be affected as far as possible.

Golden Ratio:
Closely related to the Fibonacci Sequence
(which you may remember from either your school
maths lessons or Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code),
the Golden Ratio describes the perfectly symmetrical
relationship between two proportions.
Approximately equal to a 1:1.61 ratio, the Golden
Ratio can be illustrated using a Golden Rectangle.
This is a rectangle where, if you cut off a square
(side length equal to the shortest side of the
rectangle), the rectangle that's left will have the same
proportions as the original rectangle.
So if you remove the left-hand square from the rectangle above, you'll be left with
another, smaller Golden Rectangle. This could continue infinitely. Similarly, adding a
square equal to the length of the longest side of the rectangle gets you increasingly
closer to a Golden Rectangle and the Golden Ratio.
This relates to the Fibonacci Sequence (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, ...) , in which each term
is the sum of the previous two.

The Golden Ratio in use

It's believed that the Golden Ratio has been in use for at least 4,000 years in human art
and design. However, it may be even longer than that – some people argue that the
Ancient Egyptians used the principle to build the pyramids.

World-famous buildings
Let's take a look at a couple of examples:

Ancient Greek architecture used the Golden Ratio to determine pleasing dimensional
relationships between the width of a building and its height, the size of the portico and
even the position of the columns supporting the structure.
The final result is a building that feels entirely in proportion. The neo-classical
architecture movement reused these principles too.

The Parthenon:
The ancient Greek Euclid ((365–300 BC) wrote of it in “Elements” as the
“dividing a line in the extreme and mean ratio.” The Parthenon, built in 447 to 438
BC, appears to use it in some aspects of its design to achieve beauty and balance its
design. The illustration below shows one of the ways
that the golden ratio is often reported to appear in its
design. This, however, is subject to some debate, as the
application of the golden ratio is often not accurately
described in many sources. Furthermore, using the
second step of the Parthenon seems somewhat arbitrary.
There are, however, other dimensions of the Parthenon
which appear to be golden ratios. This is discussed in
more detail at The Parthenon and the Golden Ratio.

GEOMETRY OF BUILDINGS:
Different geometric shapes have different capacity to receive solar
energy under the same conditions due to its geometric characteristics. For
basic geometric shape, circular shape with W/L ratio 1:1 received lowest
amount of solar insolation (9,296 mWh/year), followed by square shape
(SQ 1:1) which received 10,503 mWh/year throughout the year as shown
in Figure 3. Therefore, the circular shape is considered as the optimum
shape in minimizing the total solar insolation on high-rise buildings. In
order to compare the effectiveness among building shapes, the total solar
insolation received on circular shape is used as the base reference to other
generic forms tested. From all simulated building shapes, the rectangular
shape with W/L ratio 1:3 and east-west (E-W) elongated orientation
received the highest amount of solar insolation. It received 12,588
mWh/year which is 33% more than the optimum shape (circular shape CC
1:1). The results showed that circular shapes with W/L ratio 1:1.7 and 1:3
received 3–5 and 14–30% more total solar insolation respectively
compared to the base case (circular CC 1:1). Square shape with W/L ratio
1:1, 1:1.7 and 1:3 received 11–13, 12–17 and 23–33% more total
insolation respectively than the base case (Figure 3). Based on the shape,
W/L ratio 1:3 of both square and circular shapes received more than 20–
30% compared to optimum shape (CC 1:1). Slight increase (2–5%) of total
solar insolation for all generic forms with W/L ratio 1:1 and 1:1.7 is shown
compared to optimum shape. The result indicated that main factors that
determine the relationship between solar insolation level and building
shape are W/L ratio and building orientation. Geometric shape with W/L
ratio 1:1 contained the lowest value of S/V ratio; it received the lowest
annual total solar insolation. Building orientation contributes greater
impact to geometric shape with lower W/L ratio than higher W/L ratio,
especially for east-west (E-W) elongated building shape.

Solar Angles:
In the summer, the sun appears higher in the sky, which increases the
duration of sunlight seen in a day, and in the winter it appears lower,
which decreases the length of sunlight in a day. The sun is highest in the
sky on the summer solstice. To be more exact, it is 23.45º higher than on
the equinox, or at 40 - 23.45 = 16.55º to the south of vertical.
The winter solstice is the day when the sun appears lowest in the sky. On
this day, the sun is 23.45º lower than on the equinox, or at 40 + 23.45 =
63.45º to the south of vertical in Boulder. So, if you live in the northern
hemisphere at latitude higher than 23.45º, then the sun will never shine
from the north at solar noon. In general, people with homes located in the
northern hemisphere – especially those above latitudes of 23.45º – should
not place solar panels (or gardens) on the north sides of their homes.
Below is an overview of the angles
involved in calculating the amount of
solar radiation that a PV panel
receives at any given time (also see
Figure 3). The angle at which the sun
hits a PV panel is the basis for
understanding how to design the most
efficient PV array for a specific
location. This is one of the first topics
presented in solar engineering
textbooks.
Zenith Angle, Θz: This is the angle between the line that points to the sun
and the vertical — basically, this is just where the sun is in the sky. At
sunrise and sunset this angle is 90º.
Solar Altitude Angle, αs: This is the angle between the line that points to
the sun and the horizontal. It is the complement of the zenith angle. At
sunrise and sunset this angle is 0º.
Solar Azimuth Angle, γs: This is the angle between the line that points to
the sun and south. Angles to the east are negative. Angles to the west are
positive. This angle is 0º at solar noon. It is probably close to -90º at
sunrise and 90º at sunset, depending on the season. This angle is only
measured in the horizontal plane; in other words, it neglects the height of
the sun.
Angle of Incidence, θ: This is the angle between the line that points to the
sun and the angle that points straight out of a PV panel (this is also called
the line that is normal to the surface of the panel). This is the most
important angle. Solar panels are the most efficient when pointing at the
sun, so engineers want to minimize this angle at all times. To know this
angle, you must know all of the angles listed and described next.
Hour Angle, ω: This is based on the sun's angular displacement, east or
west, of the local meridian (the line the local time zone is based on). The
earth rotates 15º per hour so at 11am, the hour angle is -15º and at 1pm it
is 15º.
Surface Azimuth Angle, γ: This is the angle between the line that points
straight out of a PV panel and south. It is only measured in the horizontal
plane. Again, east is negative and west is positive. If a panel pointed
directly south, this angle would be 0º.
Collector Slope, β: This is the angle between the plane of the solar
collector and the horizontal. If a panel is lying flat, then it is 0º. As you tip
it up, this angle increases. It does not matter which direction the panel
faces.
Declination, δ: This is the angle between the line that points to the sun
from the equator and the line that points straight out from the equator (at
solar noon). North is positive and south is negative. This angle varies from
23.45 to -23.45 throughout the year, which is related to why we have
seasons.
Latitude, φ: This is the angle between a line that points from the center of
the Earth to a location on the Earth's surface and a line that points from the
center of the Earth to the equator. This can be easily found on a map.

THE
END