Report Thesis Compile SEM2

STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF SOLAR REFLECTANCE ON ATTIC TEMPERATURE by CHER RUEY HUAT KEM090007 Session 2012/2013
Final year research project report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering University of Malaya In partial fulfillment of the requirement to the Bachelors degree of Engineering
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING ENGINEERING FACULTY UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA JUNE 2013
DECLARATION
I, Cher Ruey Huat, hereby declare that except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work presented in this thesis is my own, and has not been submitted previously in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award.
The content in this graduation exercise is the result of the work I have been carrying out since the official commencement date of the approved thesis project.
Date:
Signature: Full Name: Cher Ruey Huat NRIC No.: 900823-01-6593 Matric No.: KEM 090007
Date:
Supervisor: Signature:
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ABSTRACT
In a tropical country, citizens are blessed with strong sunlight but at the same time, excessive heat transferred through roofs also causes thermal discomfort by the total heat gain of a building. This condition is severe for the housing area covered by metal sheet roofing. Low thermal resistance of the metal roof result in high absorption of heat thus increases the amount of downward heat flow. Therefore, demand of the air-conditioning inside the building will rise and leads to the extra usage of energy during the warm humid climatic conditions. Several researches have shown that colour roof can play a significant role in helping to reduce the total heat gain in attic space. As such, this research is done by testing the effect of different roof colour by directly exposing them to the light source and comparing the results between different models. Experimental and numerical analyses have been conducted through set up of small model which imitate the real-world operation with small model as house and halogen light is analogized to the sun. The experiment is varied with different parameters such as colour of roof, height of the halogen light and angle of the inclination for roof. The result of every test is recorded and tabulated followed by the comparison of the result between different colour of roof. The results show that every colour of the roof has different solar absorptance, solar reflectance and solar emittance properties where the silver colour display the best result in terms of temperature reduction and as a consequence, the cooling load of the house can be lower and more electricity for the cooling attempt can be saved. Therefore, it is suggested to use light colour roof as it can achieve desirable thermal conditions as well as a relatively economical choice of roof.
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ABSTRACT TRANSLATION
Dalam negara tropika, kami selalunya diberkati dengan cahaya matahari yang kuat tetapi pada masa yang sama, haba yang melampau akan dipindahkan ke dalam bangunan melalui bumbung di atasnya. Situasi ini akan menyebabkan ketidakselesaan kepada para penghuni di dalam bangunan tersebut. Keadaan ini semakin serius terutamanya berlaku di kawasan perumahan yang dilindungi oleh bumbung kepingan logam. Rintangan haba yang rendah hasil dari penggunaan bumbung logam menyebabkan pemyerapan haba yang tinggi sekali gus meningkatkan jumlah pengaliran haba ke bawah. Justeru, permintaan penghawa dingin akan meningkat dan mendorong kepada pengunnaan elektrik yang lampau dalam musim panas tersebut. Beberapa kajian telah dijalankan dan dapat dibuktikan bahawa warna bumbung memainkan satu peranan yang penting dalam usaha mengurangkan penyerapan haba ke dalam ruang loteng. Oleh itu, tesis ini dilaksanakan dengan tujuan untuk mengaji kesan warna bumbung terhadap penyerapan haba dengan cara mendedahkan bumbung itu di bawah sumber cahaya dan membandingkan keputusan antara model yang berbeza. Analisis dijalankan dengan penubuhan sebuah model kecil yang seolah-olahnya mewakili operasi dunia sebenar dengan lampu halogen dibandingkan dengan cahaya matahari manakala model kecil disamakan seperti kawasan perumahan. Beberapa parameter telah diubahkan sepanjang eksperimen sedang dijalankan seperti warna bumbung, ketinggian lampu halogen dan sudut kecenderungan bumbung. Keputusan menunjukkan bahawa setiap warna bumbung mempunyai kuasa penyerapan haba, pantulan solar dan emittance solar yang berbeza dan di antaranya, warna perak telah menunjukkan keputusan yang paling memuaskan
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dari segi pengurangan penyerapan haba. Hakikatnya, bebanan penghawa dingin dapat diturunkan dan elektrik dapat dijimatkan. Akhir katanya, adalah dicadangkan untuk menggunakan bumbung yang mempunyai warna yang terang kerana ia dapat mengurangkan pembaziran elektrik dan merupakan pilihan yang ekonomi.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and foremost, I would like to express my highest gratitude towards my supervisor, Mr. Poh Sin Chew. He provided sufficient guidance, support and technical skills in this final year project and thus I am able to accomplish this project as scheduled.
Next, I would like to thank my team members, Loo Yi Tin and Goh Cheng Fang on sharing their ideas with me. Besides that, I would like to thank them for always giving their best and full commitment in accomplishing this project.
In addition to that, I would also like to express my greatest gratitude and appreciation to my family for their moral support in this thesis project. Finally, I would like to stress my appreciation to everyone that is involved directly or indirectly in this project. Without their encouragement and contribution, the project would not be a success.
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Table of Contents
DECLARATION .............................................................................................................. II ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... III ABSTRACT TRANSLATION ....................................................................................... IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .............................................................................................. VI Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... VII List of Figures ................................................................................................................. IX List of Tables................................................................................................................... XI List of Symbols and Abbreviations ................................................................................ XII Chapter1 Introduction and Objectives ............................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Objectives ................................................................................................................. 5 Chapter2 : Literature Study ................................................................................................ 6 2.1 Cool Roof system ..................................................................................................... 6 2.2 Solar Reflectance ...................................................................................................... 7 2.3 Thermal Emittance ................................................................................................... 9 2.4 Roof Coatings ......................................................................................................... 11 2.5 Ventilation .............................................................................................................. 13 2.5.1 Benefits of ventilation ...................................................................................... 13 2.5.2 Cavity Ventilation ............................................................................................ 14 2.5.3 Energy analysis of ventilated and non-ventilated roof .................................... 18 2.6 Advantages of cool roof system ............................................................................. 19 Chapter3 : Methodology and Materials............................................................................ 20 3.1 Planning Overview ................................................................................................. 20 3.2 Problem Faced ........................................................................................................ 23 3.3 Work Plan ............................................................................................................... 25 3.4 Material .................................................................................................................. 27
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3.5 Apparatus ................................................................................................................ 32 3.6 Experiment Set up .................................................................................................. 39 Chapter4 : Results and Discussion ................................................................................... 43 4.1 Design 1: Blue Metal Deck Roof with Moving Air Cavity+ Closed Attic Inlets .. 43 4.2 Design 2: Red Metal Deck Roof with Moving Air Cavity+ Closed Attic Inlets ... 49 4.3 Design 3: Silver Metal Deck Roof with Moving Air Cavity+ Closed Attic Inlets 55 4.4 Design 4: Orange colour paint coated Metal Deck Roof with Moving Air Cavity+ Closed Attic Inlets ........................................................................................................ 61 4.5 Comparison of attic temperature and upper surface temperature ........................... 64 Chapter5 Conclusion and Recommendations .................................................................. 75 5.1 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 75 5.2 Recommendation .................................................................................................... 77 References ........................................................................................................................ 78
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List of Figures
Figure 2.1: Heat Transfer through A roof (Pacific Gas and Electric Company, 2012) ..... 7 Figure 2.2 : The Solar energy spectrum (Kriner, 2012) ..................................................... 8 Figure 2.3: Heat transfer mechanism in a ventilated roof (Sunwoo, et al., 2008) ........... 14 Figure 2.4: Main elements of numerical model( (Biwole, et al., 2008) ........................... 15 Figure 3.1: Flow Chart ..................................................................................................... 22 Figure 3.2 :Roof model with dimensions ......................................................................... 27 Figure 3.3 : Different colours of roofs ............................................................................. 29 Figure 3.4 : Dimension of the roof ................................................................................... 29 Figure 3.5 :PVC pipe wrapped with aluminium foil ........................................................ 30 Figure 3.6: Silver wire net installed on Perspex box ....................................................... 30 Figure 3.7: Cloth tape is used to tape black wire net and gap .......................................... 31 Figure 3.8:Position of the thermocouple .......................................................................... 32 Figure 3.9: Center 308 type K thermometer .................................................................... 34 Figure 3.10: H240 Thermometer...................................................................................... 34 Figure 3.11: TP-K01 temperature probe .......................................................................... 36 Figure 3.12: Halogen light with the support from stand .................................................. 36 Figure 3.13: Example of insulation tape used in experiment ........................................... 37 Figure 3.14: How insulation tape functions during the experiment ................................. 38 Figure 3.15: Experiment set up ........................................................................................ 39 Figure 3.16: Four halogen lights which are rated at 1000W each ................................... 40 Figure 3.17: Height of the framework compared to the small model .............................. 41 Figure 3.18: Experiment set up for the modified design .................................................. 42 Figure 4.1: Graph Plotted from result of Design 1( Original Design) ............................. 44 Figure 4.2:Graph Plotted from result of Design 1( Modified Design) ............................. 45 Figure 4.3: Comparison of the Initial Temperature (Design 1) ....................................... 47 Figure 4.4: Comparison of Final Temperature ( Design 1) .............................................. 48 Figure 4.5:Graph plotted from result of Design 2(Original Design) ............................... 50 Figure 4.6: Graph plotted from result of Design 2(Modified Design) ............................. 51 Figure 4.7: Comparison of the initial temperature(Design 2) .......................................... 53 Figure 4.8: Comparison of Final Temperature(Design 3) ................................................ 54 Figure 4.9: Graph plotted from result of Design 3(Original Design) .............................. 56 Figure 4.10: Graph plotted from result of Design 3(Modified Design) ........................... 57 Figure 4.11: Comparison of the Initial Temperature(Design 3) ...................................... 59 Figure 4.12: Comparison of the Final Temperature (Design 3) ....................................... 60 Figure 4.13:Graph plotted from result of Design 4 .......................................................... 62
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Figure 4.14: Comparison of attic temperature between the original design and the modified design ................................................................................................................ 65 Figure 4.15: Comparison of maximum upper surface temperature between the original design and the modified design ........................................................................................ 65 Figure 4.16: Comparison of maximum bottom surface temperature between the original design and the modified design ........................................................................................ 66 Figure 4.17: Comparison of maximum duct bottom surface temperature between the original design and the modified design .......................................................................... 67
List of Tables
Table 2.1: Roofing Material Radiative Properties ........................................................... 10 Table 2.2: Effect of roof colour (Suehrcke, et al., 2008) ................................................. 10 Table 2.3: Properties of solar roof paint........................................................................... 11 Table 3.1: Work Plan for both semesters ......................................................................... 25 Table 3.2: Specifications of H240 Thermometer ............................................................. 35 Table 4.1: Results of Design 1(Original Design) ............................................................. 43 Table 4.2: Result of Design 1 (Modified Design) ............................................................ 44 Table 4.3: Results of Design 2(Original Design) ............................................................. 49 Table 4.4: Results of Design 2(Modified Design) ........................................................... 50 Table 4.5: Results of Design 3(Original Design) ............................................................. 55 Table 4.6: Results for Design 3(Modified Design) .......................................................... 56 Table 4.7: Results of Design 4 ......................................................................................... 61 Table 4.8: Comparison between the result from different designs before modification .. 64 Table 4.9: Comparison between the results for different designs after modification ...... 64
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List of Symbols and Abbreviations

W Qso Qout Qin Qv cp Tin Tout D/Dt Degree Celcius Watt Solar absoprtance Heat Absorbed from the solar radiation (W) Heat flow back to the outside (W) Heat flow into the interior (W) Exhausted heat (W) Specific of air at constant pressure (J/kgK) Internal temperature (K) Outside temperature (K) Lagrangian derivative Heat gain from viscous frictions Temperature of the screens external surface (K) Thermal Conductivity (W/m K) Temperature of the screens internal surface Temperature of the sheet metal cavity-side surface (K) U Air velocity field (m/s) Coefficient of thermal expansion (1/K) Surface Emissivity
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Chapter1 Introduction and Objectives

1.1 Introduction
Economic progression of a country relies on the supply of energy and it is one of the critical elements in the development of a nation. As such, energy consumption in developing countries is increasing by leaps and bounds particularly in the usage of fossil fuel. This is reflected in the rapid rise of the per capita consumption of fossil fuels in the developing countries (Jayasinghe, et al., March 2003). Development activities followed by rapid urbanization, in which if we do not take care of it properly, will lead to severe environmental issues such as heat island (Shashua-Bar & Hoffman, 2000) and climatic changes (Gan, 2000). Buildings are responsible for most of the electricity consumption in our nation and minimization of energy consumption in buildings is very important. Generally, heating and cooling costs are generally the major expenses associated with the operation of a building (Kriner, 2012). In a warm humid climate country, humans tend to use air-conditioning or fans to mitigate indoor thermal discomfort (Jayasinghe, et al., March 2003). Roof will normally be associated with the major heat gain due to its direct exposure under sunlight as compared to the vertical surfaces such as walls which are not directly placed under sunlight.
Basically, roofs can be categorized as cool roofs and warm roofs. In most cool roofs, there is a gap between the roof sheathing and the insulation. The gap acts as a
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ventilation channel or known as moving air cavity for the purpose of dissipating the heat. Warm roofs normally consist of an insulation layer under a roof cover which eliminates the need for ventilation and keep the roof warm. With that, cool roofing is a common issue due to its ability to reduce the cooling and heating energy usage. Besides that, cool roofing is also an environment friendly project where it can help to mitigate a phenomenon known as heat island effect.
As a tropical country, Malaysia is recorded to have ambient air temperature and relative humidity in the range of 26-40 and 60-90%, respectively in which such climate is considered as uncomfortable condition which lead to drop in productivity and comfort level of human being. Cool roofing is based on the premise of minimizing heat gain through the roof surface. Cool roof method is in fact an inexpensive method to help to reduce the energy usage and to improve the comfort level in buildings during the hot climates.
The concrete roof tiles are the most commonly used roofing finish in Malaysia as it represents 85% followed by clay tiles and metal deck with 10% and 5% respectively (JO, et al., 2012). In general, a common building is designed in such a way that roof tiles are at the uppermost part, followed by a gypsum board ceiling. Attic space is therefore located in between these two components. The roofs of dwellings experience intense sunlight as the path of the sun generally goes through high altitudes during the
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daytime. The roofs then contribute to building heat gain tremendously compared to the vertical surfaces such as wall, mainly because the roofs are exposed to the sun throughout the daytime (Jayasinghe, et al., 2003).
Roof is the platform where heat gain happen in most tropical countries especially for single story houses (Huann-Ming, et al., 2013). More than 1000 W/ of solar
radiation incident is normally shone on the roof and ranging from 20%- 90% of this radiation can be absorbed (Suehrcke, et al., 2008). Heat from solar radiation is absorbed by the roofs and is transmitted through and trapped in the attic, resulting in a hot ceiling. The hot ceiling then radiates heat to the occupants inside a building. This phenomenon is known as downward heat flow and may be caused by temperature difference between the outside and inside temperature as well as solar radiation that is being absorbed on the roof surface (Suehrcke, et al., 2008). Downward heat flow from the roof can be reduced by installing light colour roof, reflective coil as well as insulation coating. Several researches have been done to assess the effect of roof colour. For example, Griggs et al (E, et al., 1989) provide a comprehensive and very useful study on the effect of roof colour. Their study includes a work sheet to calculate the energy cost savings as a result of a roof reflectance change and its use is demonstrated with two examples. Nevertheless, numerous tests and assessment of the effect of roof colour( more precisely roof solar absorptance) is being carried out but it is complicated due to several reasons:
The solar reflectance of a roof will change with time due to dust and aging. There are uncertainties in determining the heat flows due to solar absorption and outside to inside air temperature difference as it changes from time to time and are influenced by the thermal mass of roof.
The heat flow due to solar absorption on the roof surface combines with that due to air temperature differences between the outside and inside. Both heat flows need to be evaluated in order to judge the relative effect of roof colour.
Light colour roof can reduce downward heat flow. For locations that require both heating and cooling the benefits from a light roof colour is not always positive and the downward and upward heat flow cases require separate treatment (Suehrcke, et al., 2008).
1.2 Objectives
The aims of this research project are to study the effect of roof colour on the attic temperature. The objectives of this research project are as follows: 1. To study and investigate the importance of cool roofing system. 2. To determine the effect of roof colour in solar reflectance in order to see the changes in attic temperature. 3. To model the small house with different roof colour. 4. To evaluate the performance of different roof colour on the reduction of attic temperature and to determine the best performing roof colour.
Chapter2 : Literature Study

Development of solar energy is favourable in Malaysia due to the tropical climatic condition with average daily solar radiation of (Tick et al 2010). With such a
rich natural resource, to conserve and make full use of it is our main concern. Proposed sustainable architecture is to overview the basic configuration and construction of the conventional roof tile (Chong, et al., 2011). Cool roof is the main focus of our study for this research.
2.1 Cool Roof system

Cool roofs are defined as roofs that consist of materials that very effectively reflect the solar energy from the roof surface. This is important to lessen the flow of heat from the roof into the space below, and can reduce the cooling load required. Cool materials for low slope roofs are generally bright white in colors. Cool roofs must also have high thermal emissivity which allows them to emit infrared energy.
The installation of cool roof can reduce the roof surface temperature up to about 100 F, thus may result in energy savings in terms of cooling load. The other benefits of cool roofs include savings in annual electricity bill, improve occupant comfort, reducing the heat island effect and pollution (Commission, 2006-2012).
2.2 Solar Reflectance

Thermal performance of a building from the effect of the roof solar reflectance is neglected most of the time. However, there is significant difference for the heat gain when compared between light colour and dark colour roof surfaces.
Figure 2.1: Heat Transfer through A roof (Pacific Gas and Electric Company, 2012)
Solar reflectance, also known as albedo, is the fraction of the incident solar energy that is reflected by the surface material and where the total solar reflectance stands for the percentage of all solar radiation that is immediately reflected from a surface.(Kriner, 2012). Solar reflectance can be influenced by the factors of surface direction, solar position and surrounding condition and varied through the spectral and angular distributions of incident sunlight. Besides that, fraction of incident sunlight that is reflected is easier to be measured than the fraction of incident sunlight that is absorbed (Levinson, et al., 2010).
Solar energy comes with different waveforms and different wavelengths and where it includes ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light and its distribution is also
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different from each another. Figure 2 shows the solar energy distribution as a function of wavelength.
Ultraviolet(UV) i) 3% of total energy ii) Responsible for sunburn Visible (VIS) i) 40% of total energy ii) Visible Light Infrared(IR) i) 57% of total energy ii) Felt as heat
Figure 2.2 : The Solar energy spectrum (Kriner, 2012)
Solar reflectance can vary depending on colour and therefore, colour can be a good indicator of solar reflectance only in the visible light range, with reflectance typically increasing from a dark-colored to a light-colored surface. For example, traditional darkcolored roofing materials have a solar reflectance of about 0.04 to 0.18, whereas lightcolored roof surfaces have a reflectivity of 0.70 or higher (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, n.d.).
2.3 Thermal Emittance

Solar energy which is not reflected from material surface will be absorbed by the material as no roof is a perfect reflector. Some of this is transferred to heat which can be removed by convective transfer through bulk fluid motion over the surface. Moreover, some of the heat can be removed by conduction at the surface. More importantly, a portion of the retained heat will be emitted back to the night sky in the form of infrared wavelength energy. This phenomenon is known as thermal emittance and it is a ratio between what a warm or hot surface emits and what a perfect blackbody emitter would emit at the same temperature. It has a value between 0 and 1, with high emittance roof becoming relatively cooler than a low emittance roof since it can easily get rid of the retained heat and vice versa. The thermal emittance of most common roofing materials is approximately 0.80. Metallic surfaces are the exception, since bare metals become extremely hot in the sun. For example, in one outdoor experiment, a bare clean sheet of galvanized steel with a solar reflectance of about 0.38 reached temperatures nearly as high as a reference black surface .Thermal emittances of metallic surfaces vary widely between 0.20 and 0.60, depending on surface conditions (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, n.d.). The table below shows the properties of some material and effect of the colours.
Table 2.1: Roofing Material Radiative Properties
Metal (unpainted) Metal (painted) Comp Asphalt Shingles Single Ply Membranes Built Up Roofing Modified Bitumen Concrete/Clay Tile
Solar Reflectance 0.60-0.80 0.10-0.75 * 0.05-0.25 0.70-0.80 0.05-0.80 0.05-0.25 0.20-0.70*
Thermal Emittance 0.04-0.10 0.80 + 0.90 0.85+ 0.90 0.90 0.90
Table 2.2: Effect of roof colour (Suehrcke, et al., 2008)
Cool roof can be achieved by determining and adjusting the solar reflectance and thermal emmitance. The reflectance and emittance of bare metals are very sensitive to the smoothness of the surface and the presence of surface oxides, oil, film, etc.
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2.4 Roof Coatings

Normally roof coatings are done by applying the solar roof paint to the roof. This paint is customized and specially designed in order to provide reflective and insulating properties on the roof. Thus, the properties enhance the process of heat conduction and radiation that happen on top of the roof and significantly help to reduce the downward heat flow to the building. Reduction of temperature inside the building can be achieved followed by the reduction of the cooling load of air conditioning. These coatings also have excellent exterior durability and is resistant to water and alkali. Some requirements for the coating to be effective are the substrate must be clean and compatible with the coating system. The high value in reflectance can only be achieved when sufficient pigment is applied and a smooth substrate is presented.
Some properties of the solar roof paint are as follows:

Table 2.3: Properties of solar roof paint
Colour Finishing Practical Coverage Area
White Coarse Aggregate low sheen finish Pro-pile, lambs wool or PVA roller: 6-8m2 / l (depending on surface porosity)
Polymer Type
Promodure Pure Acrylic latex (Nonchalking and alkali-resistant)
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Pigments Drying
Lightfast and alkali-resistant types only Surface or touch-dry:30 Minutes Recoating time : 2 hours minimum
Flash Point Packaging
Non-flammable (water based product) 5L, 20L
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2.5 Ventilation
2.5.1 Benefits of ventilation Indoor air quality, cooling, energy saving, comfort, and reduction of carbon footprint are all related to the air ventilation in a building. Indoor air quality (IAQ) is recognized as the content of interior air that may affect human health and comfort. It may be compromised by microbial contaminants, chemicals or allergens that cause health problems. Induce air ventilation may dilute, filtrate and remove the contaminants from the house to improve IAQ. With good IAQ, carbon footprint in the building will be minimized as well (Air Exchange, 2012).
Outside air can be drawn from outside and forcing the hot air from roof space can be done by the installation of ventilation system like fan and directly or indirectly cool down the house, reduce the air-conditioning demand for cooling and thus the energy consumption will be reduced. Roof vent, gable louvers, ridge vents etc. are some of the parts designed in buildings to induce natural ventilation. Natural ventilation may remove the attic stored heat so that it can minimize the built up of heat during nighttime. (Flynn, 2012).
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2.5.2 Cavity Ventilation In order to improve cooling performance of roof, the use of ventilated roof which has a ventilation layer, known as cavity below the roof cover panel has been considered. Buoyancy effect due to natural convection and wind pressure due to forced convection will influence the air flow in the cavity for normal residential building. The convection for a normal building is then categorized as mixed convection. For this phenomenon, the heat transfer coefficient can be affected by natural convection in the presence of weak forced convection (ASHRAE, 2001).The mechanism of heat transfer in a ventilated roof is shown in figure 2.3 below.
Figure 2.3: Heat transfer mechanism in a ventilated roof (Sunwoo, et al., 2008)
Thermal performance of the ventilated roof can be analyzed by predicting the amount of exhaust heat by the Equation (1): .. (1) Where Qso is the heat absorbed from the solar radiation (W), Qout is the heat flow back to the outside (W), and Qin is the heat flow into the interior (W).
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The exhausted heat Qv via the cavity is given by . (2) Where is the mass flow rate (kg/s), cp is the specific heat of air at constant pressure
(J/kgK), Tout is the outside temperature (K), and Tin is the internal temperature (K). Air flow was produced toward the outside of the cavity oulet once the cavity was opened to allow ventilation. Sunwoo Lee et al. concluded that the temperature difference between the ventilated cavity and non-ventilated cavity was 37.5 (Sunwoo, et al., 2008). So, this proved that ventilated roof with open cavity has better cooling performance with minimized heat accumulation.
Some governing equations for the heat transfer process are listed below:
Figure 2.4: Main elements of numerical model( (Biwole, et al., 2008) 15
1. Within solid parts In solid parts ( metal,insulation and plaster), conduction is main heat transfer process and the diffusion equation can be considered as:
.(1) where D/Dt: Lagrangian derivative Q : heat source term
: heat gain from viscous frictions Within solid, Q= =0 and the velocity induced in the Lagrangian derivative =0. Equation (1) gives: = T (2)
2. On the surfaces Solar radiation and convection process are both considered above the screen: where = ( ) + ( ) + E(t) ..(3)
: temperature of the screens external surface
Beneath the screen convection is taken into account with channels air and long wave radiation with sheet metal: where = + r( (4)
: temperature of the sheet metal cavity-side surface : temperature of the screens internal surface
Same equation is applied above the sheet metal. (Biwole, et al., 2008)
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3. In the channel Heat Equation (1) is coupled with Navier-Stokes equations for incompressible fluids. The velocity field in the Langrangian derivative is given by the continuity equation
and the momentum conservative equation. Density variations of the air in the channel are supposed negligible when compared to the variation of air velocity. Therefore, the continuity equation reads
..(5) When in stationary case: the momentum conservative equation reads:
..(6) Given the Boussinesq approximation = (1-(T- )) .(7)
The buoyancy force F reads
.(8)
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2.5.3 Energy analysis of ventilated and non-ventilated roof A buildings energy efficiency can be improved by adding a ventilated part on top of the flat roof for an existing building. Studies showed that an extended top of the roof is useful in catching the up flowing wind and thus increase the intake air mass rate through the air gap. The optimized length of the extended roof top analyzed was around 0.2m. Air velocity inside the air gap will increase as the thickness of air gap increased. The energy savings also increase with the thickness of the air gap. The relation of the length of extended top and the air gap thickness to the air mass flow rate and velocity were simulated by CFD. CFD simulation result indicated that the ventilated roof with extended top performs better and more energy saved compared to the ventilated roof without extended top (Ping, et al., 2007).
Besides, it is necessary to design carefully each detail in order to realize the lowenergy consumption building. Researchers have applied the passive cooling technique to design the structure which consists of two slabs delimiting the duct into which the air flow. And the air flow normally is due to the stack effect and natural ventilation. Thickness of the air duct will determine the type of air flow whether it is laminar or turbulent flow. Energy analysis has been carried out on both flows within the duct. It is found that energy saving increased as the thickness of duct increased. And the wider the roof area compared to the building envelope, the more energy can be saved using ventilated structure (Chiampi, et al., 2005).
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2.6 Advantages of cool roof system

There are several benefits and advantages that can be obtained from applying cool roof system. First of all, in terms of environmental aspect, cool roof can help to mitigate climate change. Cool roofs directly reduce green house gas emissions by conserving electricity for air conditioning therefore emitting less CO2 from power plants. Cool roofs also cool the world independently of avoided carbon emissions. Smog emission can be greatly reduced also. This is because cool roofs, through reduction of ambient air temperatures and smog, in turn improve air quality. Moreover, through reducing the emission of green house gas, public health level can be increased. Lower ambient air temperatures and the subsequent improved air quality also result in a reduction in heatrelated and smog-related health issues, including heat stroke and asthma. Utility companies are interested in cool roofing because it can help reduce peak demand in electricity and preventing power disruptions. This is known as peak energy savings and grid stability. Because cool roofs reduce air-conditioning use during the days hottest periods, the associated energy savings occur when the demand for electricity is at its peak. Therefore, use of cool roofs reduces the stress on the energy grid during hot summer months and helps avoid shortages that can cause blackouts or brownouts. In addition, for building owners that pay for their energy based on the time of use, they save energy when it is at its most expensive and hence, save more money!
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Chapter3 : Methodology and Materials

3.1 Planning Overview
The research project has been organized into three main tasks. Literature search about the cool roof system and the factors which might affect the attic temperature. To set up the small scale model in order to determine the result of attic temperature by altering the different factors. To create and simulate the house model.
This final year research project is designated to be completed within two semesters of academic session 2012/2013. Throughout the semester, information regarding the cool roof system is been searched through internet sources, journals, and the library. Factors which can affect the attic temperature are determined and manipulated throughout the whole experiments. At the end of session 2012/2013, a complete report which contains the literature reviews and results and discussions are required to be presented.
Basic understanding for the cool roof system such as thermal reflectance properties, cool roof properties and benefits, ventilation and others is obtained by reading various sources of information. In order to keep everything on track and ensure progress is not delayed, a good planning for the project is essential and needs to be followed precisely. In order to make sure the objective of the project is in line with the topic of research, literature review is done to further understand the concept of research.
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Literature review is focused on the cool roof properties and benefits, effect of the angle of the roof, cavity ventilation, and roof solar collector, thickness of the roof after applying the paint, thermal reflectance and emitance. After that, fabrication of the model is done by assembling several parts together such as Perspex box, Ventilation Duct and roof. Some experiments are then conducted in the small scale model in order to acquire results. The results are analyzed and comparison is done between all the designs during the 1st trial. Some difficulties were faced during the experiments which affected the accuracy of the result. Therefore, several modifications are done on the design and tests are carried out again. Data is recorded and tabulated followed by the proper presentation of the result. Below is the flow chart to summarize the process:
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Design of the roof model:

1. Roof colour selection 2. Angle selection
Pre-processing
Testing Phase: Fail / Error 1. Set up the model 2. Results
Analysis: Post-processing 1. Tabulation 2. Comparison 3. Temperature reduction
Figure 3.1: Flow Chart
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3.2 Problem Faced

During the progress of this research project, there are some problems encountered. Information gathering is not easy due to the lack of information about the research done on cool roof. Besides that, some problems happened during the experimental stage such as difficulty in achieving similar initial condition for temperature for every test and this might affect the result. Also, heat trapped inside the aluminium tube will affect the accuracy of the result as well. Since the height of the halogen light is fixed, the higher the angle of the roof will lead to the nearer the roof was exposed to the source of light. Surface temperature is higher if the roof is nearer to the source of light and this is not so similar if compared to the real housing area because source of light the sun is too far away from us. As such, after the first set of experiments, data analysis is carried out and comparison is done in order get the most suitable roof for housing area. Besides that, some modifications are also done on the design in order to get more accurate results. At the end of the experiments, comparison also is made between the modified designs as well as the design from the first set of experiments.
Some improvements or modification are listed below: 1. The height of the halogen light to the roof is adjusted to a certain height which can be assumed as an imitation of the operation of sunshine to the world over time. The height of the halogen light is set to be 192cm from the ground and the roof is situated 50cm from the ground. With the difference of 142cm, this is considered as a simulation of penetration of sunlight which originates
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indefinitely far from our mother earth. As such, the angle of the roof or the direction of the roof is not too emphasized or can be neglected as the light is shining on every corner of the roof. 2. Four halogen lights which are rated at 1000W each are used in the new design and fixed at a distance of 192cm from the ground. The original design is done with one halogen light which shines directly on top of the roof. 3. The position of the light source and the roof model is made sure to be the same for every experiment that needs to be carried out. 4. Similar initial temperature is used to start every experiment in the modified design. The temperature difference for initial reading is recorded with the tolerance of 0.3 only. 5. Insulation tape is applied to the thermocouple of the probe. This is to make sure that maximum temperature can be shown on the thermometer as insulation tape can help to prevent heat loss from taking place too quickly. 6. Four Channel Thermometer with Data logger is used on the modified design instead of two channel thermometers for the original design. As such, readings of temperature from the same sensitivity, same calibration of thermometer can be taken.
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3.3 Work Plan

The work plan for this research project has been scheduled in the Gantt Table. It monitors the projects progress and sets the period for every task so that the project can be completed on time.
Table 3.1: Work Plan for both semesters
FIRST SEMESTER(Week No.) TASK Topic Selection and Briefing by supervisor Literature Review Material Selection Fabrication of Model Testing and Experiment Data Analysis Interim Report Preparation Report review by Supervisor Interim Report Submission 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
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SECOND SEMESTER(Week No.) TASK Final Design Selection Fabrication of Model Testing and Experiment Modelling the house Data Analysis Final Report Writing Report review by Supervisor Report Submission 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
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3.4 Material
The roof model is a cubical box with monopitch roof. The roof is tilted at a certain angle which can provide the best ventilation purpose. Perspex with 3.00mm thickness is used to make the box with the dimensions of 350mm (length) x 350mm (width) x350mm (height). The model is designated to contain attic inlet which are provided with 2 hinged doors with dimensions of 100mm x 100mm on both sides of the Perspex box. Besides that, the angle of inclination of the roof is fixed at 30 from the horizontal with a perpendicular height of 202mm.
Figure 3.2 :Roof model with dimensions
Metal roofs with different colours are also used in this experiment but all metal roofs come with the same thickness of 0.5mm with the dimensions of 410mm x 504mm. The metal roofs used are common in the market nowadays. Three different colours such as red, blue and silver are used in this experiment during the 1st trial. After that, orange
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paint coated roof is also used in the modification designs. Below shows the sample of different roofs:
Silver colour roof
Red colour roof
Blue colour roof
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Orange paint coated roof
Figure 3.3 : Different colours of roofs
Figure 3.4 : Dimension of the roof
For ventilation cavity, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes wrapped with aluminium foil are used. 8 PVC pipes of outer diameter 50mm and length of 414mm are arranged closely throughout the 410 mm width of the metal roof, as shown in Figure 3.4. A silver wire net is also put on the Perspex cubic box to support the ventilation duct with the dimensions of 430mm in width and 484mm in length. Two black wire nets of 400mm
29
(length) x 50mm (width) are also used at the inlet and outlet of the PVC pipes and the gaps between metal roof or Perspex box and PVC pipes were sealed by using cloth tape as shown in Figure 3.5 and Figure 3.6 respectively.
Figure 3.5 :PVC pipe wrapped with aluminium foil
Figure 3.6: Silver wire net installed on Perspex box
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Figure 3.7: Cloth tape is used to tape black wire net and gap
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3.5 Apparatus
To measure the temperature of the attic space, ventilation cavity lower surface, roof lower surface and roof upper surface, thermocouple are mounted in position W, X, Y and Z respectively, as shown in Figure 3.7. To mount them on the roof surface and the surface of the ventilation cavity, aluminium tape is used.
Figure 3.8:Position of the thermocouple
W: Attic X: Ventilation cavity lower surface Y: Roof lower surface Z: Roof upper surface
During the testing for the original design, the thermocouple used is TP-K01 temperature probe as shown in Figure 3.11. The thermometer used is Center 308 type K, as shown in Figure 3.9 which is a compact size low cost unit with dual input and dual display of temperatures. So, two temperature probes can be connected to the dual input
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of the thermometer. Its measuring range is from -200 to 1370 which is still as wide as a sensor can provide with sufficient accuracy of 0.3%. It is connected to the
thermocouples to display the desired temperature. For the modified design, the thermometer used is H240 thermometer. This model H240 is an easy to use four channel thermometer with a built in data logger which can measure temperature up to 4 probes with resolution of 0.1 temperature sensor. It is able to give a faster response time and provides a higher level of accuracy for the data. The unit of measurement can be displayed in terms of degree Celcius, or degree Farenheit, F. The model of the thermometer used in this experiment is shown in Figure 3.10.
Some information regards the apparatus used are listed below: Center 308 type K thermometers are compact size, low cost and wide measuring range thermometers, as shown in Figure 2.5. It is 164x54x34 mm in size, with a weight of approximately 200g. To operate it, a 9V battery is needed. It has dual input and dual display. It has adjustable auto power off property as well.
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Figure 3.9: Center 308 type K thermometer
Center 308 type K thermometer measures temperature ranges from -200 C to 1370 C or from -328 F to 2498 F, with an accuracy of 0.3% +1 C or 0.3%+2 F and an resolution of 0.1 C or 0.1 F. Its operation temperature is between 0 C to 40 C for less than 80% relative humidity, while its storage temperature is between -10 C~60 C for less than 70% relative humidity.
Figure 3.10: H240 Thermometer 34
H240 thermometer is an easy to use four channel thermometer with a built in data logger which can measure temperature up to 4 probes with resolution of 0.1. It is able to give a faster response time and provides a higher level of accuracy for the data. The unit of measurement can be displayed in terms of degree Celcius, or degree Farenheit, F. Besides that, it has a large LCD display.
The specifications of the H240 thermometer are as follows:
Table 3.2: Specifications of H240 Thermometer
Model Temperature Display Probe type Temperature Range Input type
H240 Thermometer or F K -199 ~ 2498 F (-199 ~ 1370 C) Thermocouple
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TP-K01 temperature probe is a K-Type general purpose bead probe, as shown in Figure 2.6. It measures temperature ranges from -50 C to 200 C or -58 F to 392 F, with a tolerance of 2.2 C or 3.9 F.
Figure 3.11: TP-K01 temperature probe
Besides that, halogen light is used as the heat source with the support from a stand as shown in the Figure 3.12.
Figure 3.12: Halogen light with the support from stand 36
Besides that, insulation tape is also used to retain heat in the thermocouple in the modified design. Its purpose is to help to get the most accurate reading by making sure that the thermocouple is sensing the solar energy that is on top of the roof at every interval of time. Besides that, it is capable of withstanding extremely high temperatures, and is non-toxic, cuttable with scissors, and simple to work with. Figure 3.13 shows the sample of the insulation tape.
Figure 3.13: Example of insulation tape used in experiment
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Figure 3.14: How insulation tape functions during the experiment
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3.6 Experiment Set up

Original Design Metal roof, ventilation duct, silver wire net and Perspex box are arranged as in Figure 3.2 in constructing the model. The experiment is carried out under room condition with halogen light as the heat source, as shown in Figure 3.15. The temperatures of upper roof surface temperature will be proportional to the heat gain from the halogen light. The temperature readings are recorded at 2 minute intervals continuously until the readings are almost constant. This experiment is carried out for 3 different colours of roof which is red colour roof, blue colour roof and silver colour roof with all tests done with closed attic inlets.
Figure 3.15: Experiment set up
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Modified Design Some experimental errors were found during the original design. Therefore, some modifications or improvements were done in order to improve the accuracy of the result. New enhanced experiment set up is arranged with the features such as four halogen lights are used instead of 1 halogen light only (Figure 3.15), the height of the halogen light is also adjusted by screwing it to the top of the framework ( Figure3.16).
Figure 3.16: Four halogen lights which are rated at 1000W each
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Figure 3.17: Height of the framework compared to the small model
After the modification is done, metal roof, ventilation duct, silver wire net and Perspex box are arranged again as in Figure 3.2 in constructing the model. The experiment is carried out under room condition with halogen light as the heat source, as shown in Figure 3.10. The height from the roof to the light source is adjusted in the modified design as a simulation of real-life model. The temperature readings are also recorded at 2 minute intervals continuously until the readings are almost constant. This experiment is carried out for 4 different colours of roof which is red colour roof, blue colour roof, silver colour roof and orange paint coated roof with all tests done with
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closed attic inlets. Position of each design remains constant during the experiments so as to make sure every roof receive the same intensity of light and the result is therefore more reliable and convincing. The figure below shows the experiment set-up for the modified design.
Figure 3.18: Experiment set up for the modified design
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Chapter4 : Results and Discussion

4.1 Design 1: Blue Metal Deck Roof with Moving Air Cavity+ Closed Attic Inlets
Table 4.1: Results of Design 1(Original Design)
Time, t (min) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
Upper roof surface temperature,T1 () 25.4 57.8 67.4 70.2 70.3 72.1 72.8 73.3 72.5 74.0 73.4 73.8 73.8 74.1 74.0 73.6
Bottom roof surface temperature,T2 () 25.4 57.6 67.3 70.2 70.6 72.0 72.7 73.1 72.4 73.8 73.2 73.7 73.5 73.9 73.5 73.3
Attic temperature,T3 () 27.7 27.8 28 28.3 28.5 28.7 28.9 29.1 29.4 29.5 29.6 29.8 29.9 30.1 30.2 30.2
Bottom duct surface temperature,T4 () 27.7 28.0 29.3 31.1 32.7 34.1 35.2 36.0 36.7 37.1 37.7 37.9 38.3 38.4 38.6 38.8
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Graph of Temperature Versus Time (Design 1)

80 70 Temperature, T () 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 Time,t (min)
Upper surface roof temperature, T1 Bottom surface roof temperature, T2 Attic temperature, T3 Bottom surface duct temperature, T4
Figure 4.1: Graph Plotted from result of Design 1( Original Design)
Table 4.2: Result of Design 1 (Modified Design)
Time, t (min) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
Upper roof surface temperature,T1 () 27.9 38.7 44.3 45.6 46.8 47 47.2 47.7 47.8 47.9 48.1 48.4 48.4 48.5 48.4 48.6
Attic temperature,T3 () 27.6 28 28.9 29.7 30.6 31.2 32 32.6 33.1 33.4 33.8 34 34.3 34.5 34.8 34.8
Bottom duct surface temperature,T4 () 27.6 28.2 28.8 29.3 29.8 30.2 30.6 31 31.3 31.7 31.9 32 32.2 32.3 32.7 32.6
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Graph of Temperature versus Time (Design 1)

60
50
Temperature, T ()
Upper roof surface temperature, T1 Bottom roof surface temperature, T2 Bottom duct surface temperature, T4
40
30
20 Attic temperature, T3
10
0 0 10 20 30 40
Time, t(min)
Figure 4.2:Graph Plotted from result of Design 1( Modified Design)
Typical roof result for this roof design after the improvement and modification is shown in the Figure 4.2. The maximum temperature for the upper roof and lower roof surface is 48.6 and 47.6 respectively instead of 74.1 and 73.9 as shown in Table 1. .The model is set up similar to a real life situation in order to get a more accurate result by having the light source far away from the roof yet maintaining a sufficient heat transfer to the roof. Meanwhile the maximum temperature of the bottom duct surface is just 34.8. The big difference in the temperature between the roof and the duct is due to the
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installation of the moving air cavity where it helps to improve the efficiency in the heat transfer mechanism. The attic temperature of design 1 has reached the maximum at 32.7 after the modification of the model. The attic temperature of the design is 30.2 before any changes or improvements were done on the model. This shows the difference of 2.5 between these 2 designs by using the same colour roof. A more uniform heat transfer mechanism has taken place in the improved design as the intensity of the light is distributed equally on top of the roof and heat is transferred more steadily into the ventilation duct and the attic space. Compared to the previous design, the light source is placed directly on top of the center of the roof. This will lead to the unequal distribution of heat into the ceiling and will cause the attic temperature in the 1 st design to be higher. Moreover, blue colour is considered as a light colour where it can reflect solar energy easily where its solar absorptance is low (around 0.45-0.6). Metal deck roof is also a good material to emit heat as metal has the property of high emittance. The temperature of attic, upper and lower roof surface reached a constant after 26 minutes of testing.
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Comparison of the Initial Temperature ( Design 1)

28.5 28 27.5 Temperature() 27 26.5 26 25.5 25 24.5 24 Upper Roof Surface Temperature, T1 Bottom Roof Surface Temperature, T2 Attic Temperature,T3 Bottom Duct Surface Temperature, T4 25.4 25.4 Initial Temperature (Original Design) Initial Temperature (Modified Design) 27.9 27.9 27.7 27.6 27.7 27.6
Figure 4.3: Comparison of the Initial Temperature (Design 1)
Based on the Figure 4.3, the points where the readings of temperature are taken are located at upper surface of the roof, lower surface of the roof, bottom duct surface and attic space. Modified design has a more constant value of initial temperature across all the positions whereas the original design shows a fluctuation in terms of initial temperature for every different position. Consistency in the initial temperature promotes a more accurate result and enhances the heat transfer mechanism.
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Comparison of Final Temperature (Design 1)

80 70 60 Temperature() 50 40 30 20 10 0 Upper Roof Surface Temperature, T1 Bottom Roof Surface Temperature, T2 Attic Temperature,T3 Bottom Duct Surface Temperature, T4 Final Temperature (Original Design)
Final Temperature (Modified Design)
Figure 4.4: Comparison of Final Temperature ( Design 1)
The experiment is stopped at 30 minutes and the temperature differences between different positions are shown in Figure 4.4. The result shows that the temperature for original design at upper surface of roof and lower surface of roof is much higher than the temperature for the modified design. This is due to the distance of halogen light to the surface of the roof. The temperature difference of the attic space between the original design and modified design is about 4.6.
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4.2 Design 2: Red Metal Deck Roof with Moving Air Cavity+ Closed Attic Inlets
Time, t (min) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
Upper roof surface temperature,T1 () 24.0 63.8 70.2 72.6 73.4 74.6 74.8 75.8 75.7 76.0 74.9 76.1 75.9 75.8 75.2 75.8
Attic temperature,T3 () 26.5 26.7 26.9 27.1 27.3 27.6 27.8 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.5 28.6 28.7 28.8 28.9 29.0
Bottom duct surface temperature,T4 () 27.2 27.4 28.2 29.6 31.1 32.2 33.1 33.8 34.4 34.8 35.1 35.4 35.6 35.8 35.9 36.1
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Graph of Temperature versus Time ( Design 2)

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Upper roof surface temperature, T1 Bottom roof surface temperature, T2 Attic temperature, T3 Bottom duct surface temperature, T4
Temperature, T (
Time, t (min) Figure 4.5:Graph plotted from result of Design 2(Original Design) Table 4.4: Results of Design 2(Modified Design)
Time, t (min) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
Upper roof surface temperature,T1 () 27.9 40.5 44.4 46 46.7 47.4 47.8 47.9 48.3 48.3 48.4 48.5 48.6 48.6 48.4 48.7
Bottom roof surface temperature,T2 () 27.9 38.9 42.7 44.4 45 45.9 46.4 46.7 47.1 47.1 47.5 47.4 47.5 47.7 47.6 47.8
Attic temperature,T3 () 27.9 28.4 28.8 29.3 29.9 30.4 30.8 31.1 31.5 31.8 32 32.1 32.3 32.5 31.8 32.8
Bottom duct surface temperature,T4 () 27.9 29 29.6 30.4 31.1 31.8 32.5 32.9 33.4 33.9 34.1 34.4 34.6 34.9 35.2 35.1
50

60
50
Temperature, T()
40
Upper roof surface temperature, T1
30
Bottom roof surface temperature, T2
20
Bottom duct surface temperature, T4
10 Attic temperature, T3 0 0 10 20 30 40
Time, t(min)
Figure 4.6: Graph plotted from result of Design 2(Modified Design)
For this roof design, the maximum temperature of the upper roof and bottom roof is 48.7 and 47.8 respectively. Bottom duct surface temperature is about 35.1, as shown in Figure 4.2 and has a difference of 1 if compared with the previous design as shown in Table 4.3.The maximum temperature reached in the attic is about 32.8 for this integrated system with red colour roof installed. Red colour is considered a medium colour where its solar reflectance is just slightly better than dark colour such as black. This is proven from the surface temperature which increased dramatically at the beginning of the experiment where the temperature shot up from 27.9 to 40.5
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within the first two minutes for this experiment. Red metal roof has a lower reflectivity effect and larger thermal mass where the heat can be stored at the roof although the metal has a good emittance property. Therefore, the temperature of the bottom duct surface of the red roof is slightly higher than the bottom duct surface of the blue roof due to the heat trapped inside the air duct. More heat is stored at the roof and leads to the redundant heat which needs to be dissipated through the ventilation duct more frequently.
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29 28 27 Temperature() 26 25 24 24 23 22 Upper Roof Bottom Roof Surface Surface Temperature, T1 Temperature, T2 Attic Temperature,T3 Bottom Duct Surface Temperature, T4 24 Initial Temperature( Modified Design) 27.9 27.9 27.9 27.2 26.5 Initial Temperature(O riginal Design) 27.9
Figure 4.7: Comparison of the initial temperature(Design 2)
The experiment is started with the red colour roof. The original design of the model is tested with the initial temperature of 24 at the upper surface of roof and bottom surface of roof. On the other hand, attic space and bottom duct surface are recorded to have 26.5 and 27.2 respectively at the beginning of the experiment. Modified design of roof model is recorded to have a constant temperature among all locations which is 27.9.
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90 80 70 Temperature() 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Upper Roof Surface Temperature, T1 Bottom Roof Surface Temperature, T2 Attic Temperature,T3 Bottom Duct Surface Temperature, T4 29 48.7 47.8 32.8 36.1 35.1 75.8 79.2 Final Temperature (Original Design) Final Temperature (Modified Design)
Figure 4.8: Comparison of Final Temperature(Design 3)
At the end of the experiment after 30 minutes, the results are recorded to be 75.8, 79.2, 29 and 36.1 respectively for the upper roof surface, bottom roof surface, attic space and bottom duct surface. For the modified design, the upper roof surface temperature and bottom roof surface temperature are found to be much lower than the original design. This is due to the adjustment done on the halogen light and a more uniform flow of downward heat to the attic space.
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4.3 Design 3: Silver Metal Deck Roof with Moving Air Cavity+ Closed Attic Inlets
Time, t (min) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
Upper roof surface temperature,T1 () 23.8 52 60.3 62.2 63.3 63.9 64 64.5 63.9 63.5 63.8 64.4 64.5 64.2 64.6 65.8
Attic temperature,T3 () 26.8 26.9 27 27.2 27.4 27.5 27 27.7 28 28.1 28.2 28.3 28.4 28.5 28.6 28.7
Bottom duct surface temperature,T4 () 27.1 27.2 27.6 28.4 29.2 29.9 30.7 31.2 31.7 32.1 32.5 32.8 33 33.3 33.5 33.6
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Graph of Temperature Versus Time ( Design 3)

70
Temperature, T ()
60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Upper roof surface temperature, T1 Bottom roof surface temperature, T2 Attic Temperature, T3 Bottom duct surface temperaure, T4
Time, t(min)
Figure 4.9: Graph plotted from result of Design 3(Original Design)
Table 4.6: Results for Design 3(Modified Design)
Time, t (min) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
Upper roof surface temperature,T1 () 27.8 35.8 40 42 43 43.7 43.6 44.1 44.6 44.8 45 44.8 45.1 45.1 45 45
Bottom roof surface temperature,T2 () 27.8 35.4 39.2 41.4 42.6 42.8 43.1 43.5 43.6 43.7 44 43.9 44.1 44.1 44.1 44.1
Attic temperature,T3 () 27.7 28.3 28.5 28.8 29.2 29.6 30 30.5 30.7 30.9 31.1 31.3 31.7 31.8 31.9 32.1
Bottom duct surface temperature,T4 () 27.8 28.9 29.1 29.6 30 30.5 31.1 31.6 31.9 32.8 32.6 32.8 33.4 33.5 33.8 34.1
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50 45 40 Upper roof surface temperature, T1 Bottom roof surface temperature, T2 Bottom duct surface temperature, T4 Attic temperature, T3
Temperature, T()
35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 0 10 20 30 40
Time, t(min)
Figure 4.10: Graph plotted from result of Design 3(Modified Design)
Typical result in Figure 4.8 above shows that the maximum temperature for the upper and lower roof surface is about 45 and 44.1 respectively. The bottom duct surface temperature recorded a value of 34.1 after testing for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, the attic temperature is 32.1 at the end of the test. However, this result is slightly higher if compared with the result of the previous design as show in the Figure 4.7 with the difference of 3.4. With the more uniform distribution of solar energy from the roof top, the attic space is heated up more evenly and leads to a higher temperature that is recorded in the new design. Besides that, both designs made from the silver colour roof
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have shown that silver has a very good solar reflectance value where it can directly reflect most of the solar energy. The upper surface of the roof has a much lower temperature when compared to blue and red colour roofs because of the good reflection of silver colour and leads to heat being dissipated easily into the surroundings. Moreover, with a lower upper roof temperature, heat that enters the attic space is less and results in lower temperature in the attic. This implies that cooling load from the air conditioning system can be greatly reduced if the silver colour roof is used.
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29 28 27 Temperature() 26 25 24 23 22 21 Upper Roof Bottom Roof Attic Bottom Duct Surface Surface Temperature,T3 Surface Temperature, T1 Temperature, T2 Temperature, T4 23.8 23.7 Initial Temperature (Modified Design) 27.8 27.8 26.8 27.7 27.1 Initial Temperature( Original Design) 27.8
Figure 4.11: Comparison of the Initial Temperature(Design 3)
The upper roof surface for silver colour roof model is tested with a temperature of 23.8 at the beginning of the experiment. On the other hand, the modified design is tested at the 27.8. The initial temperature reading for bottom roof surface, attic space and bottom duct surface are all different among each other for the original design. Meanwhile, the reading for modified design is kept similar to each other with the range of 27.7. 27.8.
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70 60 Temperature() 50 40 30 20 10 0 Upper Roof Bottom Roof Attic Bottom Duct Surface Surface Temperature,T3 Surface Temperature, T1 Temperature, T2 Temperature, T4 28.7 45 44.1 32.1 33.6 34.1 Final temperatur e(Modifie d Design) 65.8 65.6 Final Temperatu re(Origina l Design)
Figure 4.12: Comparison of the Final Temperature (Design 3)
The silver colour has a very good reflectance property and hence the temperature reading on the upper surface of the roof and lower surface of the roof is particularly lower if compared with other colour roof model. For instance, the original design has temperature of 65.8 on top of the roof while modified design has a temperature of 45 only. The attic temperature attained at the end of the experiment is also the lowest among all the designs.
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4.4 Design 4: Orange colour paint coated Metal Deck Roof with Moving Air Cavity+ Closed Attic Inlets
Table 4.7: Results of Design 4
Time, t (min) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
Upper roof surface temperature,T1 () 28.8 45.6 52.9 55.7 57.3 58 58.1 58.5 58.6 58.7 58.8 59.1 59.3 59.3 59.1 59.5
Attic temperature,T3 () 28.6 29.4 30.3 31 31.7 32.3 32.7 33.1 33.5 33.9 33.9 34.2 34.4 34.5 34.6 34.7
Bottom duct surface temperature,T4 () 28.6 29.7 30.6 31.6 32.3 33.1 33.3 33.9 34.2 34.6 34.8 34.8 35 35 34.9 34.9
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Graph of Temperature versus Time(Design 4)

70 60
Temperature, T()
50 40 30 20 10 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Upper roof surface temperature, T1 Bottom roof surface temperature, T2 Bottom duct surface temperature, T4 Attic temperature, T3
Time, t(min)
Figure 4.13:Graph plotted from result of Design 4
Typical result for the roof design which is painted with orange colour roof paint is shown in the figure. The upper surface and bottom surface temperature of the roof is 59.5 and 59.9 respectively. Besides that, the bottom duct surface temperature is 34.9 while the attic temperature is recorded to be 34.7 . From the result, it can be concluded that additional coating to the roof does not improve the solar reflectance of the roof but it helps to retain heat in the roof. The roof paint makes the roof become dull instead of shiny and this is one of the reasons why the solar energy cannot be reflected effectively. Orange colour is also considered one of the dark colours as compared to blue
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or silver colour and therefore its solar reflectance property is not as good as them. Nevertheless, with the additional coating on the roof, the thickness of the roof will increase and more heat can be stored on top of the roof from time to time. By combining all the factors, we can see that the upper surface temperature of the roof is on average 10 higher when compared with all other designs of roof model. Meanwhile, the heat transfer mechanism of the system in this roof model design is seriously affected as heat is trapped on the bottom surface of the roof. This is proved as the bottom surface of the roof is 0.4 higher than the upper roof surface temperature. This phenomenon, too, results in the higher temperature in the attic space as heat is contained and cannot be dissipated out smoothly.
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4.5 Comparison of attic temperature and upper surface temperature
Table 4.8: Comparison between the result from different designs before modification Characteristics Maximum attic temperature () Maximum Upper surface roof temperature () Maximum Bottom surface roof temperature () Duct bottom surface maximum temperature ()
Roof model
Ventilation Colour duct Yes Yes Yes Blue Red Silver
Design 1 Design 2 Design 3
30.2 29.0 28.7
74.1 76.1 65.8
73.9 79.2 65.6
38.8 36.1 33.6
Table 4.9: Comparison between the results for different designs after modification Characteristics Maximum attic temperature () Maximum Upper surface roof temperature () Maximum Bottom surface roof temperature () Duct bottom surface maximum temperature ()
Roof model
Ventilation Colour duct Yes Yes Yes Blue Red Silver Coated with orange colour paint
Design 1 Design 2 Design 3 Design 4
32.7 32.8 32.1
48.6 48.7 45.1
47.7 47.8 44.1
34.8 35.2 34.1
Yes
34.7
59.5
59.9
35
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Comparison of attic temperature between the original design and the modified design
Maximum Attic Temperature( ) 35 34 33 32 31 30 29 29 28 Design 1 Design 2 Design 3 Design 4 28.7 30.2 Original Design Modified Design 32.7 32.8 32.1 34.7
Types of Design
Figure 4.14: Comparison of attic temperature between the original design and the modified design
Comparison of maximum upper surface temperature between the original design and the modified design
Maximum Upper Surface Temperature( ) 80 70 60 50 40 Original Design 30 20 10 0 Design 1 Design 2 Design 3 Design 4 Modified Design 48.6 48.7 45.1 74.1 76.1 65.8 59.5
Types of Design
Figure 4.15: Comparison of maximum upper surface temperature between the original design and the modified design 65
Comparison of maximum bottom surface temperature between the original design and the modified design
90 80 Maximum Bottom Surface Temperature( ) 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Design 1 Design 2 Design 3 Types of Design Design 4 47.7 47.8 44.1 Original Design Modified Design 79.2 73.9 65.6 59.9
Figure 4.16: Comparison of maximum bottom surface temperature between the original design and the modified design
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Comparison of maximum duct bottom surface temperature between the original design and the modified design
40
Maximum Duct Bottom Surface Temperature( )
39 38 37
38.8
36.1 36 35 34 33 32 31 Design 1 Design 2 Design 3 Types of Design Design 4 34.8 35.2 34.1 33.6 35 Original Design Modified Design
Figure 4.17: Comparison of maximum duct bottom surface temperature between the original design and the modified design
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Table 4.9 above shows the comparison between the attic temperature and upper surface temperature among different design colours of roof. The highest attic temperature is expected to be achieved by the red colour followed by the blue colour and silver colour. This is due to solar reflectance properties being different among different colours of roof. Before the modification is done on the different design, there is inconsistency in the experimental result and expectation result for the blue colour roof and red colour roof. One of the factors which contribute to this phenomenon is because of the different initial condition where the blue roof was tested initially with 27.7 but the red colour roof was initially found to be 26.5 only. There is a 1.2 difference in the initial conditions which can affect the accuracy of the result. But this problem is well addressed in the modified design and the results obtained go along with our assumption which is the red roof to be the highest in temperature(32.8) followed by blue roof (32.7) and silver roof ( 32.1). Roof with orange colour roof paint applied on it is found to be the worst among all designs as it is found to reach 34.7 at the end of the test. The orange coated roof is found to have the difference of 1.9, 2.0, and 2.6 with the red roof, blue roof, and silver roof respectively. The difference between orange roofs with others is considered significant and can increase the cooling load of air conditioning which needs to cool down the atmosphere of a building. Extra energy and electricity are needed to supply those additional cooling load when orange roof is used on top of the building and it will lead to a waste in the resources, energy and money. The reasons why the orange roof is not ideal to be used as the roof of a building is because it has poor solar reflectance as a dull surface is formed after the coating. This will store more heat on top
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of the roof and result in higher attic temperature. Moreover, the thickness of roof is increased with the orange roof paint coated on it and the heat needs to pass through more layers in order to reach the attic. This implies that more time for the heat to stay on the surface of the roof and this results in the heat trap phenomenon.
Silver colour can be considered the best solar reflectance colour where it is proved from the experiment. Before the modification, the upper roof surface temperature of silver colour roof is just 65.8, blue colour roof is found to be 74.1, and red colour roof is 76.1 where the silver colour roof can have a difference of 8.3 with the blue colour roof and 10.3 with the red colour roof as shown in the appendix. Although silver colour roof is proven to have the best solar reflectance, it is not commonly used in lower housing area due to its strong and powerful solar reflectance property. The solar radiation which is being reflected to the surroundings can cause eye irritation to the car driver and lead to unclear vision when driving on the road.
The attic temperature achieved by the three colour roofs is approximately the same where the reading is found to be 32.7 (blue), 32.8 (red) and 32.1 (silver). The moving air cavity feature helps to reduce heat gain by drawing out the hot air through natural ventilation. All types of roofs except orange coated roof used in this experiment are acceptable to be used as colour on the ceiling as they do not have a high solar absorptance.
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Some modifications that are made on the experiments are aimed to obtain more accurate results with the following reasons:
1. The height of the halogen lamp to the roof is adjusted to a certain height which can be assumed as an imitation of the operation of sunshine to the world over time. The height of the halogen light is set to be 192cm from the ground and the roof is situated 30cm from the ground. With the difference of 162cm, this is considered as a simulation of the penetration of sunlight which originates indefinitely far from our mother earth to the roof. As such, the angle of the roof or the direction of the roof is not too emphasized or can be neglected as the light can shine on every corner of the roof. Previously, the halogen light is placed directly on top of the roof and the solar energy generated from the halogen light is focused on the center of the roof. Uniform distribution of solar energy to the roof cannot be achieved with the initial design as the heat is too concentrated towards the center of the roof. This causes the temperature of the roof to rise up dramatically at the beginning of the experiment and the temperature of the roof is very high at the end of the experiment. With the modification, the light energy can be directed on the roof evenly and the heat transfer mechanism is more accurate compared to the test before. For example, the temperature of the upper surface of the red roof can reach a maximum of 74.1 but after the modification, the temperature is recorded to be 48.6 at the maximum level. This is more
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reasonable and more reliable as the ambient air temperature of Malaysia is only 26- 40.
2. Four halogen lights which are rated at 1000W each are used in the new design and fixed at a distance of 192cm from the ground. The original design is done with one halogen light which shines directly on top of the roof. With the increase of height of halogen light to the roof, the power of the halogen light is also added from 1000W to 4000W. The function of the halogen light is similar to the function of the sun in the experiment and therefore, the power of the halogen light must match with the power of the sun in scale so that the experiment is run in the correct order. The power emitted from the sun is about 4.0 x W and
transmits through a distance of 149,600,000 km to the earth. This experiment is scaled down to 4000W and with the distance of 142cm to reach the roof. Moreover, the four halogen lights are arranged properly so that the solar energy can be distributed equally on top of the roof and enhance the heat transfer mechanism.
3. The position of the light source and the roof model is made sure to be the same for every experiment that needs to be carried out. The position is marked so that every experiment can be done on the same spot with the same intensity of light and same heat transfer mechanism can take place in every experiment. Before the
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modification, the halogen light is placed and supported by a rod. The halogen light might swing from one place to another place from time to time. It is difficult to make sure that the light source is situated at a similar position at every test and this will affect the accuracy of the readings for every different experiment that has been done. With the modification, all the halogen lights are screwed at the top of the support stand and their position will not change for every different experiment that needs to be done. This has greatly improved the consistency of the result and experiment set up.
4. The original design of the roof model may be started with different initial temperature and leads to different result with the theoretical result. This is shown on the blue colour roof and red colour roof of the original design. The attic temperature of the red colour roof is expected to reach a higher temperature than the attic temperature of the blue colour roof for the original result. With the inconsistency of the initial temperature, the blue colour is found to be 30.2 and red colour roof is only 29 at the end of experiment. This is due to the initial temperature of both experiment which is recorded to be 27.7 and 26.5 respectively. In order to avoid any experimental error, the modified designs of roof model all start with a temperature of between 27.6- 27.9.
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5. Heat will be transmitted and dissipated to the surroundings through heat conduction, heat convection and radiation. Insulation tape is applied on the thermocouple in order to store the energy and prevent them from losing through conduction too quickly. By using insulation tape, the most accurate result can be recorded at each interval of time as the thermocouple can sense the maximum solar energy that is located on the top of the roof and to show the relevant temperature.
6. Four channel Thermometer with Data logger is used on the modified design instead of two channel thermometers for the original design. The reasons behind this move are to make sure that all readings which have been recorded are based on the instrument that has the same sensitivity and calibration. No argument could arise for the readings taken for the modified design as it is purely shown from the same thermometer and all four different temperatures for one experiment can be displayed at the same time. Previously, 2 separate thermometers of two channels are used to measure the temperature of the original design. When all the data is shown on the same device, the result is more convincing and reliable as all four probes are detecting the temperature based on the same sensitivity.
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Moreover, the moving air cavity is installed to enhance the heat transfer mechanism through the means of convective and radiant heat loss. Besides that, the moving air path in the air gap enabled the surrounding air to fill up the empty space along the duct. The movement of the surrounding air by natural ventilation which is due to the buoyancy effect into the air gap space will ensure that there is less accumulation of hot air in the duct and so decrease the heat gain from the roof. Lastly, the result from the modified design can be accepted as the temperature recorded for bottom duct surface temperature and attic temperature is similar to the original design.
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Chapter5 Conclusion and Recommendations

5.1 Conclusion
In the present work, the effect of solar reflectance on attic temperature is studied. Several parameters are varied throughout the experiments such as the colour of the roof, the height of the light source and the material used. The research is carried out on a small model of different roof design by putting under the halogen test which is considered as the simulation for the real-world situation.
The halogen light which irepresent the sunlight is placed on top of the roof and the model is built from the Perspex box that acts as the housing area. The experiment is tested continuously for 30 minutes with an interval of every 2 minutes each. The reason for why the test is carried out for 30 minutes is merely because the temperature starts to become stable after 26-28 minutes. Metal deck roof is chosen to be used in this experiment as it is the most commonly used type of roof in normal housing area and factory. Some modifications are done on the original design such as the height of the halogen light, the additional colour of the roof and the types of thermometer in order to get more accurate result.
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The research has shown that silver colour roof has the best performance as the attic temperature achieved by the three colour roofs after the modification is found to be 32.7 (blue), 32.8 (red) and 32.1 (silver) respectively. This indicates that solar reflectance of the silver colour is the highest as it can help to reflect the sunlight effectively and help to reduce the amount of solar energy that remains on the roof. Moreover, silver has also proven to have the highest solar reflective index as the maximum temperature on the upper roof surface achieved at the end of the experiment is 45.1 only, which have the difference of 2.6 and 2.5 lower if compared with the red and blue colour roof respectively. Moreover, the orange colour roof paint is studied to be an ineffective way to reduce the attic temperature as it makes the surface become dull hence decrease the ability of roof to reflect the sunlight. It also increases the thickness of the roof hence encourage the heat trap to happen on top of the roof. Although silver colour roof is proven to have the best solar reflectance. it is not commonly used in lower housing area due to its strong and powerful solar reflectance property. The solar radiation which is being reflected to the surroundings can cause eye irritation to the car driver and leads to unclear vision when driving on the road.
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5.2 Recommendation
The following are some suggestions for further work: Computer simulation on a model of a single-storey house can be done in order to get a comprehensive analysis of the results. Software suggested to be used is DEROB-LTH in order to establish the trends and comparison among alternative roof surface colour can be carried out. It is a versatile simulation tool that eases the modeling of actual buildings with a minimum of errors by handling energy transfer across the building precisely. This software takes into account the thermal properties of a building as well as infiltration and forced ventilation. Lastly, air conditioning loads and required plant capacities can be calculated through the result from the simulation. Phase change material (PCM) can be inserted between the layers of metal roof in order to obtain a cooler temperature in attic space. This is due to the ability of the system which can store coolness in phase change material in off-peak time and release the energy in peak time. Insulation material can be used to improve the reduction in temperature at attic space too. An aluminium foil with or without polystyrene over the ceiling is installed to prevent the downward heat flow to take place too quickly. Disadvantage of this application is tet high installation fee that might become a burden for certain families.
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References
A. E., 2012. Natural Air ventilation system. [Online] Available at: http://airexchange.com.au/contact [Accessed 8 December 2012]. Anon., n.d. CENTER TECHNOLOGY CORP.. [Online] Available at: http://www.centertek.com/products_con.aspx?cid=C_00000016&cpid=C_00000002&pi d=P_00000041&pn=%E2%80%A6 [Accessed 15 December 2012]. Anon., n.d. CENTER TECHNOLOGY CORP.. [Online] Available at: http://www.centertek.com/products_con.aspx?cid=C_00000021&cpid=C_00000005&pi d=P_00000068&pn=proA [Accessed 15 December 2012]. ASHRAE, 2001. Ventilation and Infiltration. In: ASHRAE Handbook Fundamental. s.l.:American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. Biwole, P., Woloszyn, M. & Pompeo, C., 2008. Heat transfers in a double-skin roof ventilated by natural convection in summer time. Energy and Buildings, Volume 40, pp. 1487-1497. Chiampi, M., Leccese, F. & Tuoni, G., 2005. Energy analysis of ventilated and nonventilated roofs. Solar Energy, Volume 79, pp. 183-192. Chong, W., Tiah, C., Poh, S. & Mahlia, T., 2011. DEVELOPMENT OF A MULTILAYER GREEN ROOF FOR INTEGRATION WITH AN EVACUATED GLASS SOLAR WATER HEATER. Commission, C. E., 2006-2012. Consumer Energy Center. [Online] Available at: http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/coolroof/ [Accessed 6 December 2012]. E, G., Sharp, T. & MacDonald, J., 1989. Guide for estimating differences in building heating and cooling energy due to changes in solar reflectance of a low sloped roof,
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Oak Ridge National Laboratory-Energy Division, Oak Ridge, USA,. [Online] Available at: http://eber.ed.ornl.gov/commercialproducts/Reflroof.htm Flynn, 2012. Flynn Heat Recovery System. [Online] Available at: http://www.flynnheatrecovery.com/benefits.html [Accessed 3 December 2012]. Gan, G., 2000. Effective depth of fresh air distribution in rooms with single-sided natural. Energy and Buildings, Volume 31, pp. 65-73. Huann-Ming, C., Chang-Ren, C. & Vu-Lan, N., 2013. A new design of metal-sheet cool roof using PCM. Energy and Buildings, Volume 57, pp. 42-50. Jayasinghe, M., Attalage, R. & Jayawardena, A., 2003. Roof orientation,roofing materis and roof surface color: their influence on indoor thermal comfort in warm humid climates.. Energy for Sustainable Development, Volume 7(1), pp. 16-27. Jayasinghe, M., Attalage, R. & Jayawardena, A., March 2003. Energy for Sustainable Development. Roof orientation, roofing materials and roof surface colour: their influence on indoor thermal comfort, in warm humid climates, VII(No. 1). JO, J., Carlson, J., Golden, J. & Bryan, H., 2012. An integrated empirical and modelling methodology for analyzing solar reflective roof technologies on commercial buildings. Building and Environment, Volume 45, pp. 453-460. Kriner, S., 2012. Cool Metal Roofing-An Emerging Hot Topic. Tye Metal Initiative. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, n.d. Heat Island Projects(Cool Roofing Materials Database). [Online] Available at: http://eetd.lbl.gov/CoolRoofs/ [Accessed December 2012]. Levinson, R., Hashem, A. & Paul, B., 2010. defining a metric that accurately predicts solar heat gain. Measuring solar reflectance. Pacific Gas and Electric Company, 2012. Cool Roof Design Brief. [Online] Available at: www.energydesignresources.com [Accessed December 2012]. Ping, W., Guoqiang, Z., Quan, Z. & Mingjing, X., 2007. Energy Analysis of ventilated roof with extended top in hot region. Hunan,China, s.n.
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Shashua-Bar, L. & Hoffman, M., 2000. Vegetation as a climatic component in the design of an urban street: an empirical model for predicting the cooling effect of urban green areas with trees. Energy and Buildings, Volume 31, pp. 221-235. Suehrcke, h., Eric, L. & Neville, S., 2008. Effect of roof solar reflectance on the building heat gain in a hot climate. Energy and Buidlings, pp. 2224-2235. Sunwoo, L., S.H, P., M.S, Y. & K.W, K., 2008. An experimental study on airflow in the cavity of a ventilated roof. Building and Environment, Volume 44, pp. 1431-1439.
Internet Reference : A. E., 2012. Natural Air ventilation system. [Online] Available at: http://airexchange.com.au/contact [Accessed 8 December 2012]. Anon., n.d. CENTER TECHNOLOGY CORP.. [Online] Available at: http://www.centertek.com/products_con.aspx?cid=C_00000016&cpid=C_00000002&pi d=P_00000041&pn=%E2%80%A6 [Accessed 15 December 2012]. Anon., n.d. CENTER TECHNOLOGY CORP.. [Online] Available at: http://www.centertek.com/products_con.aspx?cid=C_00000021&cpid=C_00000005&pi d=P_00000068&pn=proA [Accessed 15 December 2012]. Commission, C. E., 2006-2012. Consumer Energy Center. [Online] Available at: http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/coolroof/ [Accessed 6 December 2012]. Oak Ridge National Laboratory-Energy Division, Oak Ridge, USA,. [Online] Available at: http://eber.ed.ornl.gov/commercialproducts/Reflroof.htm Flynn, 2012. Flynn Heat Recovery System. [Online] Available at: http://www.flynnheatrecovery.com/benefits.html [Accessed 3 December 2012].
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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, n.d. Heat Island Projects(Cool Roofing Materials Database). [Online] Available at: http://eetd.lbl.gov/CoolRoofs/ [Accessed December 2012].
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, 2012. Cool Roof Design Brief. [Online] Available at: www.energydesignresources.com [Accessed December 2012].
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STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF SOLAR REFLECTANCE ON ATTIC TEMPERATURE by CHER RUEY HUAT KEM090007 Session 2012/2013

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING ENGINEERING FACULTY UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA JUNE 2013

List of Symbols and Abbreviations

Chapter1 Introduction and Objectives

Chapter2 : Literature Study

2.1 Cool Roof system

2.2 Solar Reflectance

Figure 2.2 : The Solar energy spectrum (Kriner, 2012)

2.3 Thermal Emittance

Table 2.1: Roofing Material Radiative Properties

Solar Reflectance 0.60-0.80 0.10-0.75 * 0.05-0.25 0.70-0.80 0.05-0.80 0.05-0.25 0.20-0.70*

Thermal Emittance 0.04-0.10 0.80 + 0.90 0.85+ 0.90 0.90 0.90

Table 2.2: Effect of roof colour (Suehrcke, et al., 2008)

2.4 Roof Coatings

Some properties of the solar roof paint are as follows:

Colour Finishing Practical Coverage Area

Promodure Pure Acrylic latex (Nonchalking and alkali-resistant)

Flash Point Packaging

Non-flammable (water based product) 5L, 20L

Figure 2.4: Main elements of numerical model( (Biwole, et al., 2008) 15

.(1) where D/Dt: Lagrangian derivative Q : heat source term

: temperature of the screens external surface

..(5) When in stationary case: the momentum conservative equation reads:

..(6) Given the Boussinesq approximation = (1-(T- )) .(7)

The buoyancy force F reads

2.6 Advantages of cool roof system

Chapter3 : Methodology and Materials

Design of the roof model:

Testing Phase: Fail / Error 1. Set up the model 2. Results

Analysis: Post-processing 1. Tabulation 2. Comparison 3. Temperature reduction

Figure 3.1: Flow Chart

3.2 Problem Faced

3.3 Work Plan

Table 3.1: Work Plan for both semesters

Figure 3.2 :Roof model with dimensions

Silver colour roof

Red colour roof

Blue colour roof

Orange paint coated roof

Figure 3.3 : Different colours of roofs

Figure 3.4 : Dimension of the roof

Figure 3.5 :PVC pipe wrapped with aluminium foil

Figure 3.6: Silver wire net installed on Perspex box

Figure 3.8:Position of the thermocouple

Figure 3.9: Center 308 type K thermometer

Figure 3.10: H240 Thermometer 34

The specifications of the H240 thermometer are as follows:

Table 3.2: Specifications of H240 Thermometer

Model Temperature Display Probe type Temperature Range Input type

H240 Thermometer or F K -199 ~ 2498 F (-199 ~ 1370 C) Thermocouple

Figure 3.11: TP-K01 temperature probe

Figure 3.12: Halogen light with the support from stand 36

Figure 3.13: Example of insulation tape used in experiment

Figure 3.14: How insulation tape functions during the experiment

3.6 Experiment Set up

Figure 3.15: Experiment set up

Figure 3.17: Height of the framework compared to the small model

Figure 3.18: Experiment set up for the modified design

Chapter4 : Results and Discussion

Table 4.1: Results of Design 1(Original Design)

Graph of Temperature Versus Time (Design 1)

Figure 4.1: Graph Plotted from result of Design 1( Original Design)

Table 4.2: Result of Design 1 (Modified Design)

Graph of Temperature versus Time (Design 1)