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An investigation on wind-catcher technology and its applicability in passive cooling

Mehrnoosh Ahmadi

An investigation on wind-catcher technology and its applicability in passive cooling.

Rel. Mario Grosso. Politecnico di Torino, Corso di laurea magistrale in Architettura Costruzione Città, 2015

Abstract:

Today, depletion of natural resources, global warming and increase of fossil fuel price is a real concern of human beings. Moreover, the energy used in buildings for ventilation, heating and cooling purposes, accounts for more than 40% of total buildings energy consumption. However, the increasing level of damage to the environment has led researchers, environmentalists and architects to use passive cooling techniques to satisfy cooling needs. As a natural ventilation device, wind-catchercan be utilized as a sustainable attempt for cooling and ventilation purposes.

The objective of this thesis is to review and provide a comprehensive literature on wind-catcher systems and to investigate the effect of them in natural ventilation. For this purpose, SperaVent as a simulation software for evaluating summer energy performance of naturally ventilated buildings has been used to study various configurations of one-sided wind-catchers in Palermo city, the climatic characteristic of which is quite similar to Middle East area as the origin of this architectural phenomenon.

The effect of height, size and direction of inlet and outlet apertures and orientation of tower respect to building has been studied. The result of the experiment shows that with a proper positioning of the tower, approximately 60 percent of reduction in energy requirements can be achieved. It is also evident that increasing the height of tower and enlarging the building's aperture can increase wind-catcher's efficiency.

Finally, the amount of saved electricity is estimated assuming the installation of wind towers in future residential buildings in hot- dry and hot-moderate provinces of Iran.

Relatori: Mario Grosso
Tipo di pubblicazione: A stampa
Soggetti: T Tecnica e tecnologia delle costruzioni > TC Protezione degli edifici
Corso di laurea: Corso di laurea magistrale in Architettura Costruzione Città
Classe di laurea: NON SPECIFICATO
Aziende collaboratrici: NON SPECIFICATO
URI: http://webthesis.biblio.polito.it/id/eprint/3588
Capitoli:

TITLE PAGE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1-1 Passive Cooling

1-1-1 Heat Protection Techniques

1-1-2 Heat Modulation Techniques

1-1-3 Heat Dissipation Techniques

1-2 Controlled Natural Ventilation

1-2-1 Controlled Natural Ventilation Devices

1- 2-2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Natural Ventilation Systems

CHAPTER 2 HISTORY OF WIND-CATCHERS

2- 1 Wind-Catchers in Persian Literature

2-2 Wind-Catchers from Foreign Travelers’ Account

2-3 Wind-Catchers Reported in Iranian Architecture

2- 4 Wind-Catchers in Arabic Architecture

CHAPTER 3 ARCHITECTURE OF WIND-CATCHERS

3- 1 Climatic Architecture of Central Iran

3-2 Classification of Wind-Catchers

3-3 Construction of Wind-Catchers

3-3-1 Construction of One-Sided Wind-Catchers in Ardakan and Meybod

3-3-2 Construction of Four-Sided Wind-Catchers in Yazd

3-3-3 Details of Yazdi Wind-Catchers

3-4 Unique Wind-Catchers of Iran

3-5 Wind-Catchers in Other Countries

CHAPTER 4 PERFORMANCE OF WIND-CATCHERS

CHAPTER 5 USE OF WIND-CATCHERS IN MODERN ARCHTECTURE

5-1 Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre, India

5-2 Zion National Park Visitor Centre, United States of America

5-3 UCL School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies, UK

5-4 The Lanchester Library, UK

5-5 Bluewater Shopping Mall, UK

5- 6 Air Tree Structures, Spain

CHAPTER 6 SIMULATION OF A WIND-CATCHER IN PALERMO

6- 1 Climate of Palermo

6-2 SperaVent Simulation

6-2-1 Basic Model

6-2-2 Orientation

6-2-3 Height of Tower

6-2-4 Outlet Size and Position

6-2-5 Window Size and Position

CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF TABLES

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