news
Alternative energy: the Trombe wall traps the sun’s heat...
Jul 15, 2008

The Trombe wall, or Trombe-Michel wall, designed by engineer Félix Trombe and architect Jacques Michel, is a solar panel. Made of a high-inertia material such as concrete or stone, the wall is a thermal mass which stores the sun’s heat during the day and releases it inside the building during the night.

 

 An interesting source of energy
To increase the heat hitting a wall, insulating glazing can create a greenhouse effect by heating the air trapped between the two elements. The solar energy hitting the glazing warms the thermal mass of the wall and is released toward the inside of the building to heat the premises at night. This wall acts as a “solar panel”.

A well-known process whose time has come…

However, in summer, this additional heat is not wanted. To ensure comfortable temperatures in all seasons, top and bottom vents were added to create circulation of the air between the glazing and the thermal mass, based on the thermosiphon principle. The cooler air enters through the bottom vent, rises as it heats and either moves to the inside of the building in the winter, or is channelled to the outside to avoid overheating the premises in the summer.

With the objective of designing the least energy-consuming buildings possible, the Trombe wall, and other technical solutions implemented in the building, such as sunshades and double-flux energy recovery systems, reduces fossil fuel and electricity consumption. The Trombe wall, and other energy-conservation solutions, can also meet building owners’ requirements, in particular in view of High Environmental Quality certification.