Performance analysis of PCM curtain for thermal comfort

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to analyse the variations of thermal comfort inside a building space by using different curtains. Design/methodology/approach Phase change materials (PCMs) such as wax, sand and mixture of sand and wax were used with cotton curtain to compare the results of PCM curtains with the performance of normal cotton curtain against constant heat exposure. Heat exposure was provided with halogen to simulate the solar radiation. Further simulation was performed on ANSYS and experimental results were compared with the simulation results. In addition to this, the results were analysed for optimized performance by calculation root mean square error. Findings It was found that PCM used curtains that have better performance than normal curtain. Furthermore, sand curtain was proved as the best curtain and mixture of sand and wax curtain could replace the sand curtain where there is limitation of weight; also, there was less error between experimental and simulation was reported for sand curtain as compare to other curtains. Research limitations/implications Layers of different PCMs were used before cotton curtain and in modelling assumptions such as one-dimensional heat transfer, uniform thermal conductivity. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is no such study that was performed earlier.