Abstract
Recently, improving heat transfer performance and latent heat utilization ratio of phase change materials (PCMs) and products is a key focus for energy saving in building. In present study, a PCM panel was optimized at the micro-level (mixing carbon nanotubes) and macro-level (integrating metal fins) simultaneously. Firstly, thermo-physical properties of the composite PCM with different proportions of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were compared (based on 256 cooling/heating cycles). The optimal proportion was obtained toward improving thermal conductivity, which was used as the input of following numerical simulation. Then, geometric parameters of the fin in the PCM panel were optimized with numerical simulation, by comparing complete melting time of the PCM and temperature difference in the PCM panel’s heating surface. Finally, thermal performance of the composite walls with non-optimized and optimized PCM panels were compared based on the interior surface temperature and heat flux. The results show that the wall with optimized PCM panel had the optimal performance for heat storage and release. The proposed two-level optimization method has been successfully applied for thermal performance improvement of building envelope in Shenzhen (China), which could also provide references for other regions.
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