A novel passive method to regulate the performance of photocatalytic-Trombe wall by horizontal fins

Constrained by the inadequate percentage of ultraviolet in solar irradiation and the low transmittance of photocatalytic layer, the purification and thermal performance of photocatalytic-Trombe wall (PC-TW) need to be improved urgently. To address this, a novel passive method to regulate PC-TW performance using horizontal fins was proposed. Aiming at this innovation, by numerical method, a three dimensional model was constructed to investigate the impact of relative fins height h* and spacing s*, and the mechanism about how these parameters affect the performance was also discussed. The results indicate that: under natural ventilation strategy, compared with PC-TW without fins, the thermal efficiency eta(th), purification efficiency eta(HCHO) and total efficiency eta(total) are improved to some extent and there exist optimal fins parameters. However, horizontal fins will instead lower the efficiencies when h* exceeds 0.4. Under forced ventilation strategy, the increase in h* contributes to all efficiencies, making eta(HCHO) increasing monotonically, while eta(th) and eta(total) present a parabolic trend. In addition, the increase in s* lowers the improved efficiencies but can still keep them in a high range. For different ventilation strategies, considering the performance and manufacturing cost, the suggested h* and s* are 0.2 and 2.5. h* and s* respectively regulate the performance by affecting the size and amount of vortex between adjacent fins, and h* has a greater impact on the performance than s*. This study not only paves a new approach for performance regulation of PC-TW, but also provides theoretical basis for structural design and operation of PC-TW with fins.