A state-of-the-art review of solar-induced ventilation technology for built environment regulation: Classification, modeling, evaluation, potential and challenges

Abstract

In the face of escalating environmental challenges and dwindling fossil fuel reserves, the transition to renewable and sustainable energy sources has become a paramount global objective, which has led to a surge in research and application of renewable energy sources. Among them, solar energy utilization has been placed at the forefront of energy conservation revolution owing to its significant advantages in terms of sustainability and environmentally-friendliness. Solar-induced ventilation technology (SVT) is a typical way to integrate clean energy with buildings, considerably enhancing solar energy utilization efficiency while achieving building energy conservation and indoor thermal environment regulation. However, summaries as comprehensive as possible for SVT's application in envelopes are ambiguous in the current academia. Different analytical models, parameters and evaluation indicators need to be reviewed to describe the energy flow transfer and the impact on indoor thermal environment, which makes it indispensable to carry out an comprehensive overview for the latest investigation progress. This article endeavors to carry out an elaborate review of the theoretical analysis and constructive application of SVT from an energy utilization and building thermal environment perspective. Firstly, various types of SVT envelopes are classified simultaneously according to development and innovation in solar energy utilization. Furthermore, four different analytical models, namely, heat transfer model, thermal resistance network model, pressure balance model as well as computational fluid dynamics model, have been summarized, which would be helpful to analyze the thermal performance. Through literature review, this article discusses the impact of numerous parameters on system performance, especially the ventilation effect and thermal environment in buildings, from aspects of geometry, material properties and environmental conditions. In addition, a comprehensive collection of the important evaluation indicators based on the energy, thermal comfort and economic evaluations has been introduced to evaluate the thermal performance and indoor environment regulation capability of SVT envelopes, which provided a clear reference on developing and application SVT for high energy efficiency design towards carbon-neutral building envelopes. Finally, the challenges and potential are pointed out in terms of performance enhancement and the expansion of application scenarios. The results of the survey indicated that due to the development of novel technologies and materials, SVT holds great advantages in mitigating building energy consumption and regulating thermal environment, which shows a diversified development trend and promotes the process of global sustainable development. The review of the current SVT building envelope not only clarified the high feasibility of SVT in promoting passive building ventilation, energy saving and enhancing the level of indoor thermal environments, but also provided guidance and identifies the direction of optimization for cutting-edge research.