Evaluating Building Performance with OM Solar's Computer Simulation Program

The heat-balancing performance of a building is determined on the basis of three factors — heat collection, heat storage, and insulation/airtightness. Integration of the OM Solar system within building design involves taking into account critical related criteria such as:

1. Appropriate design allowing optimal solar heat collection.
2. Appropriate provisions for optimal heat storage.
3. Appropriate provisions for doors and windows for insulation/airtightness.

A building — any building — is essentially a box that shelters its occupants from external weather conditions. Ideally, however, this box should not simply shut out the weather but rather work with it to provide natural (as opposed to artificial) comfort to its occupants.

Computer simulation is an extremely useful tool in estimating a building's thermal response, which in turn helps determine the microclimate inside it. To promote optimal OM Solar system performance, an OM Solar computer simulation program — the result of nearly twenty years of research and development — is used to calculate thermal response on the basis of wide-ranging data relevant to OM Solar system application (including local climatic data, thermal properties of all the building materials used, and data on thermal boundaries and heat bridges) and then to analyze and assess the results.

To use the sailboat analogy once again, constructing a solar home or installing any kind of heating system based on solar-heated hot air without analyzing the structure's thermal response is akin to sailing without a compass. In the case of OM Solar system installation, the OM Solar computer simulation program is the compass.

For the simulation result, click here.

The OM Solar Computer Simulation Program: An Operational Overview

The program processes meteorological and building data including, for example, total floor area, window opening dimensions and exposure orientations, and all relevant materials data.

Input screen for material specifications for the heat-collecting glass panels

Input screen for details concerning home occupants' daily routines

Based on all the input data, simulation analysis determines OM Solar system performance in terms of indoor temperatures, heat balance, and calorific values.

Output screen for estimated amounts of heat loss throughout the home

Output screen for indoor, 24-hour temperature indications

OM Solar system installation specifications are continuously adjusted on the basis of simulation results until the desired performance level is attained.

• Heat collection/heat storage
  Temperature ranges for the heat collected under the roof; calorific values for the stored heat; hot water supply temperatures (estimated).
• Insulation/airtightness
  To help determine the warmth/ coolness of interior spaces in winter/summer.
• Interior temperatures
  Room temperature variations, floor and concrete surface temperature variations.
• Ventilation
  The degree to which incoming air will ventilate interior spaces, based on (outdoor) wind velocity, degree of airtightness, and contrast between external and indoor temperatures.
• Auxiliary heating
  To help determine the extent to which this will be needed.

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