Analysis of Mud Houses for Winter Season
R. K. Pal
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Panjab
University SSG Regional Centre, Hoshiarpur (Pb.)
*Corresponding Author Email: ravinder_75@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT:
The indoor air temperature becomes very high in
summers and very low in winters in concrete houses making these uncomfortable
to live in. So energy expenditure can be very high to make these houses
comfortable to live in. The present work
is an analysis of performance of mud houses in winters. Indoor air temperature
was higher in case of the mud house than that in the concrete house for the
months December to February. The maximum
difference in indoor air temperature for a mud house is 1.79°C, 2.69 °C
and 2.68°C in comparison to the concrete house for the month of December to
February respectively. Savings in
energy of the order of 175, 355 and 348 units of electric energy are obtainable
for the month of December to February respectively. Savings in terms of money
have a value of Rs. 875, 1775 and 1740 in December to February respectively.
Total savings obtainable in terms of energy have a value of 878 units of
electric energy and total savings in terms of money are of the order of Rs.
4390 for winter season from December to February for the mud houses. So the mud houses are to some extent more
comfortable for living than the concrete houses in winters and there are also
savings in the form of energy and money.
KEYWORDS: Mud
house, solar irradiation, energy savings, indoor air temperature.
INTRODUCTION:
The temperature
in summers is very high in northern parts of India and very low in
winters. Therefore summers and winters
are very uncomfortable in this region. Further the thermal performance of the
houses made from concrete is not very good in extreme hot and cold weather
conditions. The indoor air temperature
becomes very high in summers and very low in winters in these houses. So these types of houses are very
uncomfortable to live in summers and winters.
In order to make living in these houses comfortable the space needs to
be heated or cooled. So a large quantity of energy is required for heating or
cooling of space [1].
Therefore building energy
efficient buildings is of prime importance in this region. These energy
efficient buildings can reduce the utilization of energy. These types of houses are also environment
friendly and can be utilized to reduce pollution. The cooling or heating load can be reduced by using thermal insulating
materials for construction of the houses [2, 3]. Mud is one such material which
has insulating properties and can be used for building houses. Mud is a good construction material for
building houses [4]. The houses built from mud have potential for energy
savings [5]. These houses are relatively warmer in winter season due to
insulating properties of the mud due to which lesser amount of heat is lost to
the atmosphere from the buildings. So, these houses are more comfortable to
live in as compared to concrete houses in winter season. The relative humidity of inside air in house
is also controlled by rammed soil [2, 6].
The performance of mud houses is required to be evaluated for creating
comfort conditions and energy and money savings in winter season.
This paper is an
attempt to evaluate the performance of a mud house in winter season. Parameters like solar irradiation and thermal
conductivity of building materials available in literature were taken for the
study. The parameters like outdoor air temperature, outdoor relative humidity
and indoor air temperature were either noted down or computed.
MATERIALS AND
METHODS:
Two types of
houses were considered for the present study.
They are a concrete house (Fig.1) and a mud house (Fig. 2). The dimensions for both the houses were taken
as same. The formulae used for the study are as follows: -
Ts =
Sol-air temperature (°C).
Tsr, Tsw, Tswi=
Sol-air temperature for roof, wall and window respectively (°C).
Td =
Current outside dry bulb temperature (°C).
Tra = Current room air temperature (°C).
Tm, Tc = Current room air
temperature for mud and concrete house respectively (°C).
α =
Surface absorptance for solar radiation.
It = Total incident solar load (W/m2).
δR = Difference
of longwave radiation
incident on the
surface from the sky and
surroundings and the radiation emitted by a black body at outdoor air temperature (W/m2).
ho, hi = Film co-efficient over
the building and for indoor air respectively (W/m2-K).
εδR/ho = Longwave radiation
factor.
Ur,Uw,
Uwi= Overall heat transfer coefficient for roof, walls and window
respectively (W/m2-K).
Ar, Aw,Awi=
Area of the roof, walls and window respectively (m2).
Qr,Qw,Qwi=
Heat gain through roof, walls and windows respectively (kJ/s).
Qve=
Heat loss due to ventilation (kJ/s).
Qg, Ql = Total heat gain and heat loss
(kJ/s).
ρa,
Vra, Cra, Mra = Density (kg/m3),
Volume (m3) and Specific heat (kJ/kg-K) and Mass (kg) of room
air respectively.
Ts = Td + α It/ho –
εδR/ho [7, 2]
Qg =
Qr + Qw + Qwi
Ql =
Qve
Qr =
Ur * Ar (Tsr - Tra)
Qw = Uw * Aw
(Tsw - Tra)
Qwi = Awi*τ*It+
Uwi* Awi (Tswi - Tra) [7, 2]
Qve = ρaVracraN(Tra
– Ta)/3600 [7, 2]
Making heat
balance for house
MraCra(dTra/dt)
= Ur*Ar (Tsr - Tra) + Uw*Aw
(Tsw -Tra) + Awi*τ*It +
Uwi*Awi(Tswi-Tra) - ρaVracraN*(Tra
–Ta) /3600 [7, 2]
Potential of energy saving for the mud house
= MraCra(Tm – Tc)/3600 [2]
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:
Comparison of the indoor air temperature for the
months of December to February for concrete house and mud house is given in
Fig. 3 to Fig. 6 respectively. The
indoor air temperature was higher throughout the day and night in case of mud
house than that in concrete house for the month of December to February. The higher value of indoor air temperature in
the mud house is because the mud has more heat storage capacity and lower
thermal conductivity than the concrete.
The maximum difference in indoor air temperature (Fig. 3 to Fig.5) for a
mud house is 1.79°C, 2.69 °C and 2.68°C in comparison to the concrete
house for the month of December to
February respectively. Both energy and
money savings can be achieved by means of mud houses. Electric energy savings
of about 175, 355 and 348 units (Fig. 6) can be obtained in the month of
December to February respectively. On
the whole 878 units of electric energy savings can be obtained for the winter
season for a single house. In terms of money savings of an amount of Rs. 875,
1775 and 1740 (Fig. 6) are obtainable for December to February respectively for
a mud house in comparison to a concrete house.
On the whole savings of Rs. 4390 are obtainable for the whole winter season
for the mud house.
CONCLUSIONS:
Indoor air temperature was higher in case of the mud
house than that in the concrete house for the months December to February. The maximum difference in indoor air
temperature for a mud house is 1.79°C, 2.69 °C and 2.68°C in
comparison to the concrete house for the month of December to February
respectively. Savings in energy of the
order of 175, 355 and 348 units of electric energy are obtainable for the month
of December to February respectively. Savings in terms of money have a value of
Rs. 875, 1775 and 1740 in December to February respectively. Total savings
obtainable in terms of energy have a value of 878 units of electric energy and
total savings in terms of money are of the order of Rs. 4390 for winter season
from December to February for the mud houses in comparison to the concrete
houses. So the mud houses are to some
extent more comfortable for living than the concrete houses in winters and
there are also savings in the form of energy and money.
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Received on 28.01.2016 Accepted on 25.03.2016
©A&V Publications all right reserved
Research
J. Engineering and Tech. 7(1): Jan. -Mar., 2016 page 35-39
DOI: 10.5958/2321-581X.2016.00008.8