Parametric analysis of thermal behavior of the building with phase change materials for passive cooling

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper assesses the parametric analysis of thermal behavior of the building walls incorporated with phase change material (PCM). Two identical cubicles-one with PCM and another one without PCM are constructed and the thermal response of all the walls and roof of both the cubicles are studied for the climatic conditions of Chennai, India. The results indicated that the maximum temperature of all the walls and roof of the experimental cubicle with PCM is reduced to around 3°C to 4°C vis-à-vis the reference cubicle without PCM. Experimental results from the cubicle with PCM confirmed a significant reduction in an overall heat flux about 28.8%, a decrease in thermal amplitude around 46.05% to 65.63% including a drop in maximum temperature by 9.01% to 11.3% at different sides of the walls. Therefore, the transmission of heat energy from the outside ambient to the room interior in hot climatic conditions can be greatly reduced due to the great impact by incorporating the PCM. The dynamic thermal characteristics of the cubicles are evaluated by means of the parameters, namely, temperature time lag and decrement factor. The experimental cubicle showed 60 to 120 minutes of time delay in reaching the peak temperature and decrement factor of about 0.4. These results confirm the decrease in the cooling load and hence the reduction in energy consumption for achieving thermal comfort inside the building.