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Trombe Walls in Low-Energy
Buildings: Practical
Experiences
Preprint
July 2004 • NREL/CP-550-36277
P. Torcellini and S. Pless
To be presented at the World Renewable Energy
Congress VIII and Expo
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A
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1
Trombe Walls in Low-energy Buildings: Practical Experiences
Paul Torcellini and Shanti Pless
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Introduction
Since ancient times, people have used thick walls of adobe or stone to trap the sun's heat
during the day and release it slowly and evenly at night to heat their buildings. Today's
low-energy buildings often improve on this ancient technique by incorporating a thermal
storage and delivery system called a Trombe wall. Named after French inventor Felix
Trombe in the late 1950s, the Trombe wall continues to serve as an effective feature of
passive solar design.
Trombe walls have been integrated into the envelope of a recently completed Visitor
Center at Zion National Park and a site entrance building (SEB) at the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL’s) National Wind Technology Center. The High
Performance Building Initiative (HPBi) at NREL helped to design these commercial
buildings to minimize energy consumption, using Trombe walls as an integral part of
their design.
Trombe Wall Design and Construction
A typical unvented Trombe wall consists of a 4- to 16-in (10- to 41-cm)-thick, south-
facing masonry wall with a dark, heat-absorbing material on the exterior surface and
faced with a single or double layer of glass. The glass is placed from ¾ to 2 in. (2 to 5
cm) from the masonry wall to create a small airspace. Heat from sunlight passing
through the glass is absorbed by the dark surface, stored in the wall, and conducted
slowly inward through the masonry. High transmission glass maximizes solar gains to
the masonry wall. As an architectural detail, patterned glass can limit the exterior
visibility of the dark concrete wall without sacrificing transmissivity.
Applying a selective surface to a Trombe wall improves its performance by reducing the
amount of infrared energy radiated back through the glass. The selective surface consists
of a sheet of metal foil glued to the outside surface of the wall. It absorbs almost all the
radiation in the visible portion of the solar spectrum and emits very little in the infrared
range. High absorbency turns the light into heat at the wall's surface, and low emittance
prevents the heat from radiating back towards the glass.
For an 8-in-thick (20-cm) Trombe wall, heat will take about 8 to 10 hours to reach the
interior of the building. This means that rooms receive slow, even heating for many
hours after the sun sets, greatly reducing the need for conventional heating. Rooms
heated by a Trombe wall often feel more comfortable than those heated by forced air
because of the large warm surface providing radiant comfort.
Architects can use Trombe walls in conjunction with windows, eaves, and other building
design elements to balance solar heat delivery. Strategically placed windows allow the
sun's heat and light to enter a building during the day to help heat the building with direct
solar gains. At the same time, the Trombe wall absorbs and stores heat for evening use.
Properly sized roof overhangs shade the Trombe wall during the summer when the sun is
2
high in the sky. Shading the Trombe wall can prevent the wall from getting hot during
the time of the year when the heat is not needed.
These Trombe wall design concepts were applied to the low-energy design of the Visitor
Center at Zion National Park in Utah and to NREL’s Wind Site SEB in Colorado.
Figure 1 shows the Trombe wall locations in the NREL SEB (a), and the Zion Visitor
Center (b).
Figure 1. a) NREL SEB, b) Zion Visitor Center
The National Park Service applied a whole-building design process to create a Visitor
Center at Zion National Park that performs more than 70% better than a comparable
code-compliant building at no additional construction cost (Torcellini 2004). Trombe
walls were one of the many strategies included in that process and design.
The Visitor Center Trombe wall design details are shown in the cross section in Figure 2.
The 6-ft-high (1.8-m) Trombe wall (740-ft
2
total area (68.7-m
2
) is located on the entire
length of south-facing walls of the Visitor Center. The wall is 44% of the total south
facing wall area. The Trombe wall is 8-in (20-cm) grout-filled concrete masonry units
(CMU) with an R-value of 2.5 hr·ft
2
·°F/Btu (0.4 K·m
2
/W). The other walls are 6-in
(15-cm) framed walls with an R-value of R-16 hr·ft
2
·°F/Btu (2.8 K·m
2
/W). The Trombe
wall has a single piece of high transmittance patterned glass installed on a thermally
broken storefront system.
The performance of Trombe walls is diminished if the wall interior is not open to the
interior zones. Based on previous experiences with Trombe walls (Balcomb 1998), the
heat delivered by a Trombe wall in a residence was reduced by over 40% because kitchen
cabinets were placed on the interior of the wall. The wall design at Zion includes cast-in-
place concrete projections attached to the interior of the wall. These projections were
included to ensure bookshelves were not placed against the Trombe wall.
The interior surface of the Zion Trombe wall was selected to maximize the heat transfer
to the space. Some interior surfacing materials, such as drywall, can reduce the heat
delivered by Trombe walls due to nonconductive air gaps in between the concrete wall
and the interior surface (Balcomb 1998). A shotcrete wall finish was specified to provide
a more continuous conductivity throughout the wall.
During the construction process, the filling of the CMU wall was monitored to ensure the
concrete block cores were completely filled, which provides a consistent conductivity
through the wall. The placement of the footing insulation was also verified during the
construction process to ensure proper installation. The location of this insulation is
critical, as Trombe wall performance can be diminished due to three-dimensional heat
Trombe walls
3
transfer to the ground. By thermally decoupling the footings from the ground with
insulation, unnecessary heat loss is avoided and more heat from the Trombe wall is
supplied to the building.
Figure 2. Cross-section details of Zion Trombe wall
NREL’s Wind Site, located approximately twelve miles north of Golden, Colorado,
constructed a small building at the site entrance. NREL staff designed an energy-
efficient SEB that would eventually be powered completely by its onboard photovoltaic
(PV) array and two wind turbines. Although small, the building is representative of many
guard facilities, remote restrooms, and outposts.
A Trombe wall was an integral part of the heating system. This Trombe wall has a single
piece of high transmittance patterned glass installed on a thermally broken storefront
system in front of a 4-in-thick (10-cm) concrete wall with a selective surface. The other
walls are 4-in-solid (10-cm) tilt-up concrete walls with an EIFS (exterior insulating
finishing system). The 5-in (13-cm) exterior foam has an R-value of 25 hr·ft
2
·°F/Btu
(4.4 K·m
2
/W). The total area of the Trombe wall is 44 ft
2
(4.1 m
2
), or about 34% of the
total south-facing wall. The roof overhang shades the Trombe wall for most of the
summer. The interior surface is painted concrete.
Trombe Wall Energy Performance
The energy performance of the Zion Visitor Center was monitored and analyzed over a
two-year period. The analysis consisted of measured electrical end uses, Trombe wall
temperature profiles, and thermographic pictures to determine the performance of this
Trombe wall (Torcellini, 2004). Similar measurements were taken at the SEB over a
one-year period.
Figure 3 shows the thermal distribution of the Zion Trombe wall at 8:30 p.m. on
December 16, 2000. The interior surface temperature is generally homogeneous, ranging
from 90-96ºF (32-36ºC). The wall temperature typically peaks between 8-9 p.m. The
reduced wall temperature at the far right section of Trombe wall is due to shading. The
8” Grout Filled
CMU Wall
Selective
Surface
2” Air
Gap
5/32”
Glazing
Shotcrete
Wall Finish
(Inside)
Cast-in-Place
Concrete Wall
Projections
Daylighting and View
Windows
1-1/2” Rigid Footing
Insulation
Overhang Engineered for
Summer Shading
4
building shades a portion of the Trombe wall in the afternoon, resulting in reduced
interior temperatures.
a)
58.0°F
96.0°F
60
70
80
90
b)
Figure 3. Infrared pictures of a) Zion Trombe wall December 16, 8:30 p.m. and b)
NREL SEB Trombe Wall January 21, 8:00 p.m.
The temperature gradient in the wall was measured during the 2001-2002 heating season.
With internal temperature measurements, the Trombe wall energy supplied to the
building was calculated based on published heat flux calculation methods (Balcomb
1980). The Visitor Center Trombe wall daily performance during the 2001-2002 heating
season is shown in Figure 4. The electric radiant heating system used 22,680 kWh
(81.6 GJ) over the year, with the Trombe wall contributing 20% of the total heating to the
building. The Trombe wall imposed a heating load on the building for only two of the
151 days of the 2001-2002 heating season. For the other 149 heating days, the wall was a
net positive. The peak heat flux through the wall was 11.2 W/ft
2
(89 W/m
2
), or 8.3 kW
over the entire Trombe wall area. The average efficiency of the wall (defined as the heat
delivered to the building divided by the total solar radiation incident on the exterior of the
wall) was 13%.
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
11/01/2001
11/08/2001
11/15/2001
11/22/2001
11/29/2001
12/06/2001
12/13/2001
12/20/2001
12/27/2001
01/03/2002
01/10/2002
01/17/2002
01/24/2002
01/31/2002
02/07/2002
02/14/2002
02/21/2002
02/28/2002
03/07/2002
03/14/2002
03/21/2002
03/28/2002
Daily Heating Energy Supplied to Visitor Center (kWh/day)
Heat Added by the Trombe Wall
Heating System Use
2001-2002 Heating Season:
-5,470 kWh added by Trombe Wall
-22,680 kWh added by Heating System
-20% of heating from Trombe Wall
-8.3 kW Peak hea ting from Trombe
Wall
-17.2 kW Peak heating from Heating
System
Figure 4. Zion Visitor Center Trombe wall and heating system performance, 2001-
2002 heating season
Trombe Wall
Window
Shading
Affects
86.0ºF 30.0ºC
25.0ºC
20.0ºC
15.0ºC
>33.2º
<14.3ºC
77.0ºF
68.0ºF
59.0ºF
<57.7ºF
>91.8ºF
Trombe Wall
Window
5
The interior surface temperature of the SEB Trombe wall typically peaks at 120-130ºF
(49-54ºC) at 3:30-4:00 p.m. during the heating season. The interior temperatures of the
SEB wall are generally higher, but earlier in the day than the Zion wall. This difference
is due to the 4-in (10-cm) SEB wall that releases the heat quicker than the 8-in (20-cm)
Zion wall. During good solar days in the heating season, the Trombe wall typically
provides all of the necessary heating throughout the afternoon and evening.
A potential design issue to consider in any passive solar building is overheating in the
summer and swing seasons. The overhangs in both the Zion and NREL SEB were
designed to shade the Trombe walls during the cooling season. Even with the Trombe
walls shaded during the summer, the walls impose an additional cooling load on the
buildings. This is because early morning and late afternoon radiation is not shaded, and
diffuse and reflected radiation is not negligible. Additionally, the insulation values of
these walls are low. At Zion, any additional cooling loads are not a significant issue, as
the passive direct evaporative cooling system provides an abundance of cheap cooling.
The additional cooling loads at the SEB are an issue, as a heat pump has to provide extra
cooling to account for the hot Trombe wall. On average in July, the SEB Trombe wall
reaches 100ºF (38ºC) in the afternoon. When the Trombe wall was completely covered
for four days in August 2003, the interior surface temperature was never above 87ºF
(31ºC). A summer shading blind has been recommended for the SEB Trombe wall to
reduce the cooling impact of this wall.
Conclusions
Trombe walls have been integrated into the envelope of a recently completed Visitor
Center at Zion National Park and a SEB at NREL’s Wind site. A Trombe wall can
enable a building envelope to go from a net-loss feature to a net-gain feature. The
Trombe wall provides passive solar heating without introducing light and glare into
theses commercial spaces. Overhangs are necessary to minimize the summer gains;
however, additional means would be helpful to minimize summer cooling impacts. In
both walls, edge effects were minimized with appropriate ground insulation.
The Trombe walls in both the Visitor Center and the SEB provide significant heating to
the buildings. In the Visitor Center, 20% of the annual heating was supplied by the
Trombe wall, and the SEB afternoon and evening heating loads are typically met by the
Trombe wall. The annual net effect of the wall has to be considered when designing a
Trombe wall, as the additional cooling loads can affect the cooling system performance.
References
Balcomb, J.D., Barker, G., Hancock, C.E. (Nov. 98). “An Exemplary Building Case
Study of the Grand Canyon South Rim Residence.” NREL/TP-550-24767, Golden, CO:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Torcellini, P.; Long, N.; Pless, S.; Judkoff, R. (2004). “Evaluation of the Low-Energy
Design and Energy Performance of the Zion National Park Visitor Center.” NREL Report
No. TP-550-34607. Golden, CO: National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Balcomb, D.; Hedstrom, J.C. (1980). “Determining Heat Fluxes from Temperature
Measurements in Massive Walls.” The 5
th
National Passive Solar Conference. Amherst,
MA, October 19-26, 1980.
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Trombe Walls in Low-Energy Buildings: Practical Experiences;
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14. ABSTRACT (Maximum 200 Words)
Low-energy buildings today improve on passive solar design by incorporating a thermal storage and delivery system
called a Trombe wall. Trombe walls were integrated into the envelope of a recently completed Visitor Center at Zion
National Park and a site entrance building at the National Wind Technology Center located at the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory. NREL helped to design these commercial buildings to minimize energy consumption,
using Trombe walls as an integral part of their design.
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Trombe wall; High-Performance Buildings; World Renewable Energy Congress; commercial buildings; high-
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