Abstract

An effective approach to ventilation of pitched roofs has been developed. It is aimed at mitigating summer overheating of inhabited rooms located immediately below the roof. The air flows in a ventilation layer made of parallel ducts and built between roof coverings and insulation, thus subtracting heat from the roof structure. It is then collected by a header and eventually discharged into the atmosphere by a extraction fan. The problem of obtaining a homogeneous flow distribution in the ventilation layer is solved by a very simple regulation mechanism, placed in the header and adjusted on site. The adjustment procedure is based on measurements of surface temperature distribution performed by an infrared camera.

Keywords: Forced ventilation; Infrared thermography; Solar gain; Thermal comfort; Ventilated roof