Abstract
To analyze the effect of summer ventilation on the thermal performance and energy efficiency of buildings utilizing phase change materials (PCMs), this paper simulated the indoor temperature variation and energy saving performance of buildings constructed with PCM under different ventilation conditions from June to September. With EnergyPlus and degree-day method, 48 ventilation schemes, including eight ventilation periods (3 h per period) and six ventilation quantities (0.5 ac/h to 3 ac/h), were modeled and simulated in five cities located in different climate regions in China. According to the results, it is believed that the simultaneous use of PCM and ventilation can significantly improve the indoor thermal comfort and offer a good energy saving performance in summer. Considering the economic benefits, different optimal ventilation schemes (including ventilation periods and ventilation quantities) were suggested for different climate regions.
Highlights
Due to the dual actions of outdoor air temperature wave and intense solar radiation on building envelopes, the indoor thermal load increases greatly in summer, which affects indoor thermal comfort considerably [1,2,3]
Based on the authors’ research experiences on practical room model tests [25,26], this paper aims aims to analyze the indoor thermal performance and energy saving performance to analyze the indoor thermal performance and energy saving performance
It can be clearly seen that the indoor temperature could be reduced effectively with the use of ventilation, and a more significant reduction was observed for the building models containing phase change materials (PCMs)
Summary
Due to the dual actions of outdoor air temperature wave and intense solar radiation on building envelopes, the indoor thermal load increases greatly in summer, which affects indoor thermal comfort considerably [1,2,3]. Statistics show that in developed countries the most energy used in a typical home is for heating and cooling, which is 38%. Of the total energy use [4,5,6] and the energy demand for heating and cooling will continue to increase due to population growth, extreme weather conditions and thermal comfort levels [4]. The energy efficiency of buildings has become a prime objective for energy policy at regional, national and international levels [6]
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