Modeling and design of a solar house with focus on a ventilated concrete slab coupled with a building-integrated photovoltaic/thermal system

This thesis presents an interdisciplinary research of an integrated solar/structural system: an innovative ventilated concrete slab (VCS) thermally coupled with a building-integrated photovoltaic/thermal (BIPV/T) roof in a constructed energy- efficient solar house - EcoTerra. The house is one of twelve demonstration houses across Canada that were built within the "EQuilibrium Housing" initiative launched by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The BIPV/T system converts solar irradiance to electricity with the photovoltaic (PV) panels and, at the same time, collects thermal energy from the PV panels and cools them down. The VCS uses the structural mass for active thermal energy storage. In the heating season, it stores part of the collected thermal energy from the BIPV/T roof and releases it passively into the living space, thus lowering space heating energy consumption. EcoTerra adopts an integrated space and domestic hot water heating system, which combines the solar systems (VCS-BIPV/T and passive solar design) and a ground source heat pump. Shown by full-scale monitoring data, a large amount of thermal energy can be efficiently collected by the BIPV/T roof and stored in the VCS. The VCS-BIPV/T system significantly reduces the space heating energy consumption in EcoTerra. The main contributions of this research are designing an original type of VCS, assessing the thermal performance of the VCS-BIPV/T system, and developing numerical simulation models for the VCS and the BIPV/T roof. Numerical simulation models are verified with full-scale monitoring data. The design concepts and construction details of the VCS-BIPV/T system and the house are also presented.