Housing design methodology for passive hygrothermal control and effect verification via field measurements

With the aim of designing a passive home that exhibits constant hygrothermal control performance using renewable energy, we develop a high-performance envelope system characterized by dehumidification/radiative cooling in hot and humid summers and humidity control/heating in cold and dry winters, which can be applied to homes (which are based on a dry construction method) using mainly industrial building materials. We have previously conducted laboratory experiments using a roof model and numerical simulations. Using these studies, we design and construct a full-scale home to verify the applicability and effectiveness of this system in actual homes. In this paper, we propose a housing design method that can control the temperature and humidity by introducing a system that uses renewable energy, as well as confirming the effects of passive dehumidification, radiative cooling, and solar heat collection via field measurements using demonstration homes. As an example of the experimental results, the relative and absolute humidity in the home with the proposed system were reduced by approximately 11% and 3.2 g/kg, respectively, in comparison with the home without the system during the humid summer season, thus clarifying the dehumidification effect of this system.