Poro-therm clay wall panel system for indoor cooling

摘要

The most critical yet a common issue in terms of thermal comfort in hot or warm climates is found to be overheating of the indoors. Most popularly, active thermal modification systems are adopted to overcome this issue, even though they are less environmentally friendly. In order to find solutions, this research investigates the possibilities of integrating the principles of thermal mass effect, structural cooling plus nocturnal cooling effect, and stack effect, to develop a sustainable cooling technique for warm climates, using clay. The emphasis is to develop a dynamic clay secondary wall panel system that sucks indoor hot air and removes it to the outdoors whilst enhancing the cooling of the indoors at the same time, and which also complies with aesthetic or architectural purposes. The methodology of the research involves identifying the material's best mix proportion for the finest inner porosity and air permeability, identifying the simplest practical casting method of the panel, optimum configurations of the perforations (pore distribution, pore size, the buoyancy of the pores), the best suitable firing temperature and the firing time, and the applicability of the panel for indoor air temperature reduction. The results show compliance with known principles and reveal the possibility of amalgamating them for better indoor heat reduction. It is suggested that the invention is applicable from low cost to high-end construction projects, as well as new and retrofitting.