A novel passive method to regulate the performance of photocatalytic-Trombe wall by horizontal fins

Constrained by the inadequate percentage of ultraviolet in solar irradiation and the low transmittance of photocatalytic layer, the purification and thermal performance of photocatalytic-Trombe wall (PC-TW) need to be improved urgently. To address this, a novel passive method to regulate PC-TW performance using horizontal fins was proposed. Aiming at this innovation, by numerical method, a three dimensional model was constructed to investigate the impact of relative fins height h* and spacing s*, and the mechanism about how these parameters affect the performance was also discussed. The results indicate that: under natural ventilation strategy, compared with PC-TW without fins, the thermal efficiency η_th, purification efficiency η_HCHO and total efficiency η_total are improved to some extent and there exist optimal fins parameters. However, horizontal fins will instead lower the efficiencies when h* exceeds 0.4. Under forced ventilation strategy, the increase in h* contributes to all efficiencies, making η_HCHO increasing monotonically, while η_th and η_total present a parabolic trend. In addition, the increase in s* lowers the improved efficiencies but can still keep them in a high range. For different ventilation strategies, considering the performance and manufacturing cost, the suggested h* and s* are 0.2 and 2.5. h* and s* respectively regulate the performance by affecting the size and amount of vortex between adjacent fins, and h* has a greater impact on the performance than s*. This study not only paves a new approach for performance regulation of PC-TW, but also provides theoretical basis for structural design and operation of PC-TW with fins.