Design of a Direct Gain Passive Solar Heating System

The solar energy that falls naturally on a building can be used to heat the building without special devices to capture or collect sunlight in direct gain passive solar system. Passive solar heating makes use of large sun-facing windows (south-facing in the Northern Hemisphere) and building materials. A well-insulated building with such construction features can trap the sun’s energy and reduce heating bills as much as 50 percent. Passive solar designs also include natural ventilation for cooling. Shading and window overhangs also reduce summer heat while permitting winter sun. In this paper, the heat energy obtained from solar energy is stored by thermal mass floor which is used to maintain comfortable higher temperature inside the room in day time as well as in the night. The thermal mass floor was made of stone chips. The overhang was also designed in simple, new, and effective way to reduce over heating during summer. The low cost materials used for the study in order to focus on low cost construction with comfortable result.