Abstract
In recent years, the systematic application of phase change materials (PCM) is continuously developing. In this paper, an innovative PCM ceiling coupled with earth-air heat exchanger (EAHE) cooling system was proposed for building cooling. The system aimed to combine the cooling capacity of soil and the energy storage capacity of PCM, thus improving the indoor thermal environment. Performance of the system was tested by experimental method while data analysis focused on the indoor side. To research the effect of cold storage time on the performance of the system, two different operation strategies were adopted for comparison: 8-h cold storage strategy and 12-h cold storage strategy. Moreover, a control group was set up to observe the performance of the system on indoor temperature under the same weather conditions. The result showed that the experimental room in which we installed this system could reduce peak temperature by 2.1 °C under 8-h timed cold storage strategy and 2.7 °C under 12-h timed cold storage strategy. What is more, under the two operation strategies, temperature and heat flux of the PCM ceiling had similar distribution characteristics. Different strategies mainly affected the sustainability of the system and phase transition efficiency of the PCM ceiling.
Highlights
Building energy consumption has increased rapidly in the last decade
Tianjin is located on the east coast of the Eurasian
No matter which strategy was applied, the soil could absorb the heat of outdoor air effectively
Summary
Building energy consumption has increased rapidly in the last decade. Building energy consumption accounts for 40% of global energy consumption [1]. In China, a large amount of coal combustion has caused severe damage to the atmospheric environment. Under such a circumstance, clean energy and energy storage technology have broad application requirements. The usage of PCM to store energy in the form of latent heat is increasing. They make the volume storage capacity of the thermal energy storage (TES) system significantly larger than that of the sensible heat storage system [3]. The usage of PCM in buildings could efficiently overcome overheating on hot days, decrease the indoor air temperature [12], and solve the mismatch between users’ load demand and the energy supply [13,14]
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