Experimental Thermal Assessment of a Trombe Wall Under a Semi-Arid Mediterranean Climate of Mexico

Iván Hernández-Pérez, Álan Rodriguez-Ake, Daniel Sauceda-Carvajal, Irving Hernández-López, Balaji Kumar and Ivett Zavala-Guillén ()
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Iván Hernández-Pérez: División Académica de Ingeniería y Arquitectura, Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco (DAIA-UJAT), Carretera Cunduacán-Jalpa de Méndez Km. 1, Cunduacán CP 86690, Tabasco, Mexico
Álan Rodriguez-Ake: Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada CICESE, Carretera Ensenada-Tijuana No. 3918, Zona Playitas, Ensenada CP 22860, Baja California, Mexico
Daniel Sauceda-Carvajal: Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada CICESE, Carretera Ensenada-Tijuana No. 3918, Zona Playitas, Ensenada CP 22860, Baja California, Mexico
Irving Hernández-López: Departamento de Ingeniería Química y Metalurgia, Universidad de Sonora (UNISON), Blvd. Luis Encinas y Rosales S/N, Col. Centro, Hermosillo CP 83000, Sonora, Mexico
Balaji Kumar: School of Mechanical Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore 632014, Tamil Nadu, India
Ivett Zavala-Guillén: Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada CICESE, Carretera Ensenada-Tijuana No. 3918, Zona Playitas, Ensenada CP 22860, Baja California, Mexico

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 1, 1-17

Abstract: The conventional Trombe wall (TW) with concrete construction has been shown to enhance the indoor environment of buildings in cold and Mediterranean climates. Thus, a TW is an option for reducing energy consumption related to thermal comfort for buildings in the northwestern region of Mexico, characterized by arid and semi-arid conditions with low winter temperatures. The thermal behavior of the TW and a conventional facade (CF) of concrete were compared when installed in the southern wall of reduced-scale test boxes in Ensenada, B.C. Unlike other research works available in the literature, which typically monitored a data point measure of the wall and room temperatures, the present study measured the temperature of key components: the absorber wall, the air at the bottom and top vents, the glass cover, and the air at the cross-section plane of the TW test box. The results showed that the TW increases the air temperature through its channel up to 14 ∘ C and yields a maximum thermal efficiency of 84% during a sunny winter week. Further, the indoor air temperature at the midpoint of the TW test module is up to 6 ∘ C greater than the obtained on the CF-test module; therefore, the TW improved the thermal comfort conditions during winter.

Keywords: passive heating; heat storage; thermal comfort (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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