Experimental and numerical investigation of paraffin wax as thermal insulator in a double glazed window

Abstract

In this paper, the performance of double glazed window filled with paraffin wax is analyzed numerically and experimentally to evaluate the improvement in the thermal performance and comfort of a room located in Baghdad, Iraq using paraffin wax. The proposed approach aims to reduce the required cooling load in the summer season and temperature fluctuations, and increase thermal resistance of the window. Finite volume method is employed to solve Navier Stokes equations inside the room, while finite difference combined with the enthalpy method is utilized to deal with the conduction, where the phase change problems in walls are taken into consideration. A room is made of a sandwich panel with window in the south wall is built. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed model, two different types of windows were used. The first one is a traditional single glass window (6 mm thickness), whereas the second is a double glazed window with 17 mm thickness which is filled with paraffin wax. Besides, three cases are taken into account according to the location of the room in the building and the location of the window, where the window is located in the ground floor, in the 1st floor, and in the ceiling). The obtained results reveal that the temperature of the double glazed window is reduced considerably compared to the single glass window for the ground floor, first floor, and ceiling by 8, 6, and 5 °C respectively.