Judicious method of integrating phase change materials into a building envelope under Saharan climate

Abstract

Phase change materials (PCMs) have been extensively used for thermal storage systems in buildings. To enhance the building's thermal and energy performance, PCMs can be embedded into envelope systems to reduce the cooling and heating demand. A PCM's melting temperature close to the thermal comfort range (20°C-26°C) can potentially be an attractive solution. In this work, the thermal and energy performance of a building in Saharan climate, specifically Ghardaïa in Algeria, was modeled using the TRNSYS-18 simulation package. A newly developed module (Type-285) was compiled for this version to evaluate different PCMs integration approaches in building envelope. Integration techniques have been evaluated based on three performance indicators, namely, monthly and annual energy savings, mean air temperature, and the daily average temperature fluctuation. When considering the conventional PCMs integration within the building envelope, a reduction of 36.4% in annual energy consumption was achieved. The study indicated that when PCMs are carefully integrated based on orientations and seasons, a reduction of 50.71% in annual energy consumption is possible, an additional 14.34% to the conventional PCMs integration. In addition, PCMs provided an enhanced thermal performance and a significant reduction in indoor temperatures that ranged between 2.36°C to 4°C. The study proposes an improved PCMs integration approach which can be possibly implemented if movable PCMs panels are used instead of the conventional static PCMs panels.