A building envelope, in particular a wall, a floor, or a roof of a building with at least two shells spaced some distance apart from one another, which encloses an intermediate space, said space being essentially empty with the exception of weight-bearing and/or construction-engineering elements or being filled at least in sections with porous, open-celled material and sealed from the interior and exterior of the building, wherein controllable sealing means are provided for sealing the intermediate space from the interior and exterior and optionally separated building envelope sections from one other.

A building envelope, in particular a wall, a floor, or a roof of a building with at least two shells spaced some distance apart from one another, which encloses an intermediate space, said space being essentially empty with the exception of weight-bearing and/or construction-engineering elements or being filled at least in sections with porous, open-celled material and sealed from the interior and exterior of the building, wherein controllable sealing means are provided for sealing the intermediate space from the interior and exterior and optionally separated building envelope sections from one other.

A building envelope, in particular a wall, a floor, or a roof of a building with at least two shells spaced some distance apart from one another, which encloses an intermediate space, said space being essentially empty with the exception of weight-bearing and/or construction-engineering elements or being filled at least in sections with porous, open-celled material and sealed from the interior and exterior of the building, wherein controllable sealing means are provided for sealing the intermediate space from the interior and exterior and optionally separated building envelope sections from one other.

A building envelope, in particular a wall, a floor, or a roof of a building with at least two shells spaced some distance apart from one another, which encloses an intermediate space, said space being essentially empty with the exception of weight-bearing and/or construction-engineering elements or being filled at least in sections with porous, open-celled material and sealed from the interior and exterior of the building, wherein controllable sealing means are provided for sealing the intermediate space from the interior and exterior and optionally separated building envelope sections from one other.

Disclosed are methods and functional elements for enhanced thermal management of predominantly enclosed spaces. In particular, the invention enables the construction of buildings with reduced power requirements for heating and/or air-conditioning systems since under certain conditions less energy for heating or cooling is required to maintain, within certain boundaries, desirable temperatures inside such buildings, habitats, or other enclosed spaces.

In some instances the invention is in part based on dynamically changing functional elements with variable properties, or effective properties, in terms of their electromagnetic radiative behavior and/or their thermal energy storage properties, or the spatial distribution of the stored thermal energy, which permits the application of methods and algorithms to control the overall thermal behavior of the entire structure in such a way that desired levels of inside temperature can be reached with reduced consumption of external energy (typically electricity, gas, oil, or coal).

In some instances no conventional heating of cooling is required at all, whereas in other instances the expenditure of external energy for conventional heating or cooling is reduced. In some instances the invention enables the reduction of the time to reach desired temperatures inside such buildings, habitats, or other predominantly enclosed spaces.

A pumpless solar energy-based air heater includes a body housing a chamber surrounded by a heat conducting medium; an intake pipe to draw cool air into the chamber; and one or more exit pipes to push warm air out from the chamber, the one or more exit pipes having one or more structures within the interior of the one or more exit pipes to create a low friction factor for the air flowing upwards in the exit pipe while creating a high friction factor for the air attempting to move downward, thereby ensuring air flow in an upward direction; a pressure difference is created between an entry point of the intake pipe and an end point of the one or more exit pipes, thereby eliminating the need for a pump or a fan.

A pumpless solar energy-based air heater includes a body housing a chamber surrounded by a heat conducting medium; an intake pipe to draw cool air into the chamber; and one or more exit pipes to push warm air out from the chamber, the one or more exit pipes having one or more structures within the interior of the one or more exit pipes to create a low friction factor for the air flowing upwards in the exit pipe while creating a high friction factor for the air attempting to move downward, thereby ensuring air flow in an upward direction; a pressure difference is created between an entry point of the intake pipe and an end point of the one or more exit pipes, thereby eliminating the need for a pump or a fan.

Disclosed is a building envelope for a building wall, floor, or roof of a building, the building envelope comprising at least two shells spaced apart from one another which enclose a single intermediate space sealed against the interior and the exterior of the building and being filled with structural weight-bearing and building-technology components, and at least in sections with a porous, open-celled 3D-pattern material. A plurality of heat pipes, formed by associated first and second pipes in the exterior and interior facing shell, respectively, are connected to a heat collector element on the exterior and interior facing shell, respectively protrude from the building envelope, and are configured to increase, hold or decrease heat transition through the building envelope or to affect heat transport into or out of the building envelope.

Disclosed is a building envelope for a building wall, floor, or roof of a building, the building envelope comprising at least two shells spaced apart from one another which enclose a single intermediate space sealed against the interior and the exterior of the building and being filled with structural weight-bearing and building-technology components, and at least in sections with a porous, open-celled 3D-pattern material. A plurality of heat pipes, formed by associated first and second pipes in the exterior and interior facing shell, respectively, are connected to a heat collector element on the exterior and interior facing shell, respectively protrude from the building envelope, and are configured to increase, hold or decrease heat transition through the building envelope or to affect heat transport into or out of the building envelope.

This invention relates to a solar shading module (1) for shading direct sunlight, wherein maximum shading is combined with a high unobstructed view factor by providing an array of mn shading panels (5) which are moved by a solar tracking system (7) in order to follow the sun. The invention further relates to a glazed structure and a building provided with one or more solar shading modules (1) according to the invention, for instance as part of a fagade or roof of the building. The invention also relates to a method for operating a solar shading module (1) according to the invention, comprising the step of controlling the position of the shading panels (5) such that the normal of the shading panels (5) points towards the sun.