Abstract
This article deals with the possibility of using PCMs in cooling ceiling systems to reduce significantly air temperature fluctuations and energy demands for cooling. The PCM-based cooling ceiling’s technical design was performed, and a prototype was realized in this research. The experimental verification of the proposed system was performed to determine the actual parameters in different operational modes and their comparison with the same cooling ceiling system without PCM. The transient simulations in the TRNSYS simulation software were also carried out and validated with experiments. Based on the findings, the complex simulations were performed for application under the specific climatic conditions of Czechia. This work contains a comprehensive approach from the prototype design, through the experiments and partial simulations, to complex simulations based on the specific parameters and an economic evaluation. The results of this work show the ability of the proposed cooling ceiling solution to reduce temperature peaks by up to 3.2 °C, while energy savings can be up to 27%, depending on the air change rate. These results can also help significantly determine the economic feasibility of a PCM-based solution for ceiling cooling systems.
Highlights
The building and construction sector is one of the most crucial sec tors concerning energy consumption in the world
The results show that the radiant system is able to provide adequate indoor thermal comfort conditions and yield energy savings of around 48% compared to the allair system in very hot and humid climate conditions
The presented article was focused on phase change materials (PCM) and showed a possible application of the PCM-based cooling ceiling system
Summary
The building and construction sector is one of the most crucial sec tors concerning energy consumption in the world. The emphasis is on increasing the energy efficiency of technological systems, reducing CO2 emissions, and increasing the share of alternative (renewable) energy sources. Over the last two decades, great emphasis has been placed on improving the thermal insulation of the building envelope. Practice shows that these ways of reducing the energy performance of buildings are currently close to their limits, and additional energy savings are achieved only by a disproportionate increase of investments. Other parts of buildings that contribute to the overall energy consumption and still show some reserves are building automation and the technology systems themselves. The intentions above call for studies dealing with the issues of individual parts of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and modern materials
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