Experimental investigation of clay brick with sensible, latent, and hybrid thermal energy storage in buildings

Abstract

Global warming has caused uneven extremities in the climate such as heat waves, floods, and extreme rise in temperatures. Consequently, there is increase in demand for energy for indoor space cooling in the buildings to create better indoor thermal comfort. Thermal energy storage (TES) using Phase Change Material (PCM) is an effective technology for improving the thermal performance of the building envelope. Energy efficient building envelope can reduce the external heat gain and maintains indoor thermal comfort level easily. In this study, the thermal performance of clay bricks integrated with sensible heat storage material, latent heat storage material, and hybrid (sensible + latent) was investigated. A comparative study of indoor thermal performance in terms of peak temperature, thermal amplitude, time lag, decrement factor of sensible heat storage brick, latent heat storage brick, and hybrid brick in comparison with conventional brick was prepared. Latent heat storage brick has shown the highest percentage average peak temperature reduction of 3.86 % in comparison to conventional brick. Maximum reduction of 13.74 % was shown by latent heat storage brick followed by hybrid heat storage brick and then by sensible heat storage brick. Time lag of 180 min is observed in brick embedded with latent heat storage capacity. Additionally, infrared thermal images suggest that the brick integrated with latent heat storage material shows better indoor thermal performance.