Holistic survey of reflective insulation systems (RISs) in vertical applications in building envelopes under various climatic conditions

Arash Pourghorban, Behrouz Mohammad Kari and Hedyeh Asoodeh

Energy, 2022, vol. 242, issue C

Abstract: Building envelope plays an important role in improving energy efficiency, maintaining thermal comfort, and providing the potential for better adaptation of buildings to different climates. Taking into consideration the high dependency of the performance of reflective insulation systems (RISs) on environmental conditions, in this study, various configurations and main environmental parameters such as climatic context and orientation are investigated comprehensively. Innovative validated calculation models and analysis methods are introduced and used to investigate the internal heating/cooling demands, and energy consumption values in this study. Internal Degree Day (IDD) method was defined, firstly introduced and utilized to identify the thermal requirements, and then the heating, cooling, and total demands are carefully assessed and compared. Subsequently, the corresponding energy consumption values to the thermal demands are investigated. Thus, 22120 numerical models were developed, and wall configurations of RISs are studied in four different climates (hot arid, hot-humid, temperate-humid, and cold). Investigations are conducted in annual periods, and the specimens are vastly studied in entire range of orientations. The performances of RISs are also extensively compared with non-reflective corresponding base line (BL) models. Findings of this study prove the dynamic performance of RISs and show the high potential of these systems in reduction of cooling consumptions (up to 12.48 MJ/m2). Orientation can lead to 11.40% variation in relative difference of consumption among the climates. Moreover, RISs have higher average efficiency in reduction of the consumption values (42.34%) than improvement of thermal comfort conditions (28.21%).

Keywords: Reflective insulation system; Reflective air space; Building envelope; Facade; EnergyPlus simulation; Energy consumption; Parametric design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:242:y:2022:i:c:s0360544221032084

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2021.122959

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