Experimental Evaluation of Phase Change Material Blister Panels for Building Application

Mariana Velasco-Carrasco,Ziwei Chen,Jorge Luis Aguilar-Santana,Saffa Riffat

doi:10.5334/fce.84

Abstract

Phase Change Materials (PCMs) are characterised by their capacity to absorb available thermal energy, store it, and passively release it by utilizing latent heat during phase change, thus reducing temperature peaks and improving thermal comfort. This paper experimentally investigates the feasibility of a novel blister PCM panel for ceiling tile applications. Experimental panels enhance the thermal conductivity of the PCM with the addition of steel and aluminium wool particles at 3.77 wt.% and 23 wt.%, respectively. During the experimental procedure, the blister panels where able to absorb the heat coming from the environmental chamber, proving that the encapsulation material was able to promote the heat exchange. Furthermore, the PCM enhancement indicates that both the aluminium and steel wool particles improved the blister panel thermal performance. These results were confirmed by thermal conductive, calculated at 0.733 W/(m K) for the base panel, 0.739 W/(m K) for the aluminium wool, and 0.784 W/W/(m K) for the steel wool. The experiment suggest that the application of PCM blister ceiling tiles can be considered as an innovative method for thermal performance control and energy saving.

Highlights

Phase change materials (PCMs) absorb, store, and passively release available thermal energy via latent heat transfer during phase change, thereby reducing peak demand and improving thermal comfort (Salunkhe and Shembekar, 2012; Kalnæs and Jelle, 2015; Wang et al, 2020)
The thermal performance of three different PCM blister panels was evaluated in terms of the heat absorption capacity and thermal conductivity
INERTEK 23 was selected as the base PCM, having a phase transition range compatible with the human thermal comfort temperatures

Summary

Introduction

Phase change materials (PCMs) absorb, store, and passively release available thermal energy via latent heat transfer during phase change, thereby reducing peak demand and improving thermal comfort (Salunkhe and Shembekar, 2012; Kalnæs and Jelle, 2015; Wang et al, 2020). Salt hydrates, and fatty acids are the most commonly used PCMs, having a melting temperature within human thermal comfort, making them suitable for building applications. Such materials have major drawbacks, including low thermal conductivity, especially for organic PCMs. As a result, performance enhancements of PCMs are eagerly researched, to develop improved techniques (Fan and Khodadadi, 2011). Performance enhancements of PCMs are eagerly researched, to develop improved techniques (Fan and Khodadadi, 2011) Such methods require the addition of highly conductive materials, which can be done by modification of the encapsulation material, the shape of the container, using heat pipes, heat exchangers, micro- and macro-encapsulation, or the addition of highly conductive nanoparticles in the base fluid, creating nano-enhanced PCM (Babaei, Keblinski and Khodadadi, 2013; Ma, Lin and Sohel, 2016). The literature views of PCM enhancement materials have identified graphite, aluminium, and carbon as the most frequently applied materials for organic PCM enhancement

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