The year-round thermal performance of a new ventilated Trombe wall integrated with phase change materials in the hot summer and cold winter region of China

Abstract

A new ventilated Trombe wall (VTW) constituted with double Phase Change Material (PCM) wallboards (PCMs-VTW) has been developed. The year-round thermal performance of the system was evaluated via an experimentally validated model. The impact of the transition temperature of PCMs and air change rate on cooling and heating load were determined. Also, the total energy and the electric energy consumption of the fan were evaluated. The new PCMs-VTW can contribute to a reduction in the cooling load (14.8%) and heating load (12.7%) when fusion temperatures of PCMs in exterior and interior PCM wallboards were 26°C and 22°C, respectively. As a result, the total energy consumption was reduced, relative to the use of a shading device, by 5.83 kWh in summer and 23.54 kWh in winter. The proposed system is beneficial to indoor thermal comfort during summer and winter. The test room fitted with the PCMs-VTW has an average predicted mean vote (PMV) of 0.97 and a predicted percentage dissatisfied (PPD) of 12.5% in summer; and a PMV of –0.32 and 9.6% PPD in winter. By contrast, the test room fitted with a split-type air conditioner has a PMV of 2.71 and a PPD of 23.9% in summer and a PMV of –1.71 and 29.8% PPD in winter.