Energy performance of buildings with composite phase-change material wallboards in different climatic zones of China

Abstract

The incorporation of phase-change material (PCM) into construction materials has been proposed to indirectly accomplish indoor thermal comfort and energy saving. To adapt to seasonal changes (e.g., hot summer and cold winter), a novel type of hybrid PCM-containing wallboard (including three different PCMs) was proposed with a wide phase-change temperature range and that can work in various climates. In this study, a small building equipped with a hybrid PCM wallboard was established to evaluate energy-saving performance using EnergyPlus. To compare different hybrid PCM wallboards, four building models were considered, including Mode 1, Mode 2, Mode 3, and gypsum wallboard (BASE). The building performance in terms of heating and cooling energy consumption over one year was investigated at seven locations in China to represent different climate zones. The results show that less heating and cooling energy was required for Mode 2 than for the other models. Further investigation of the Mode 2 PCM wallboard revealed that the location of the PCM layer also influenced the energy savings. The total energy requirements for Mode 2 were lower than those for BASE by 2.15%, 4.33 %, 1.77 %, 5.56 %, 7.65 %, 5.84 %, and 0.2% for Shanghai, Beijing, Kunming, Lanzhou, Xining, Harbin, and Hong Kong, respectively. We conclude that the hybrid PCM wallboard can effectively reduce the heat gain through the building envelope throughout the year, presenting a considerable advantage of using it in buildings located in Shanghai, which experiences a hot summer and cold winter.