Phase Change Material Integration in Building Envelopes in Different Building Types and Climates: Modeling the Benefits of Active and Passive Strategies

Francesco Carlucci,Amalia Squicciarini,Alessandro Cannavale,Francesco Fiorito,Angela Alessia Triggiano

doi:10.3390/app11104680

Abstract

Among the adaptive solutions, phase change material (PCM) technology is one of the most developed, thanks to its capability to mitigate the effects of air temperature fluctuations using thermal energy storage (TES). PCMs belong to the category of passive systems that operate on heat modulation, thanks to latent heat storage (LHS) that can lead to a reduction of heating ventilation air conditioning (HVAC) consumption in traditional buildings and to an improvement of indoor thermal comfort in buildings devoid of HVAC systems. The aim of this work is to numerically analyze and compare the benefits of the implementation of PCMs on the building envelope in both active and passive strategies. To generalize the results, two different EnergyPlus calibrated reference models—the small office and the midrise apartment—were considered, and 25 different European cities in different climatic zones were selected. For these analyses, a PCM plasterboard with a 23 °C melting point was considered in four different thicknesses—12.5, 25, 37.5, and 50 mm. The results obtained highlighted a strong logarithmic correlation between PCM thickness and energy reduction in all the climatic zones, with higher benefits in office buildings and in warmer climates for both strategies.

Highlights

Thermal comfort and reduction of energy consumption are consolidated topics in scientific literature
The spread of phase change material (PCM) in all these fields is related to the advantages of latent heat storage (LHS), which allows the storage and release of naturally available heat in low-volume elements, increasing, the energy storage density of the material [23]
Many studies have highlighted that PCMs can reduce the energy demand of heating ventilation air conditioning (HVAC) systems by up to 30% if applied as a retrofit solution in residential buildings located in cold climates [24]

Summary

Introduction

Thermal comfort and reduction of energy consumption are consolidated topics in scientific literature. The most promising results of adaptive envelopes [3] are related to wall-integrated PCMs [4,5], switchable glazing [6,7,8,9], adaptive solar shadings [10,11,12], dynamic insulation [13,14], and multifunctional facades [15,16] Among this wide range of technologies, PCMs have constantly grown their importance in recent years, thanks to broad experimentation and diffusion in different scientific fields [17,18]. The spread of PCMs in all these fields is related to the advantages of latent heat storage (LHS), which allows the storage and release of naturally available heat in low-volume elements, increasing, the energy storage density of the material [23]

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Methods

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Discussion

Conclusion