Thermal building control using active ventilated block integrating phase change material

Abstract

In the context of improving energy efficiency and thermal comfort in the building, the use of phase change materials (PCMs) is one of the suggested solutions. The proposed integration solutions concern the building envelope as well as the applications related to its operation. The study of the incorporation of PCM in the walls of the building was the subject of numerous works. However, the antisymmetric character of storing/recovering energy management in the walls is less controlled and do not fit the optimal conditions. In this study, a solution based on the direct integration of a stabilized PCM (gel) in an envelope including ventilation channels, was proposed to overcome this problem of antisymmetry storing/recovering and fitting with different fixed ambient conditions. The final aim is to develop the optimization strategy of a wall combining the heavy inertia offered by the PCM, intra-ventilation control and the contribution to air renewal energy demand.In this context, an experimental study of a concrete block system is conducted to test the thermal response of this configuration by the application of cyclic solicitations. The comprehension of this integrated constructive solution essentially passes by the possession of validated numerical tools. For this, two models have been developed. The first model using the electrical–thermal analogy, based on an RC equivalence, is distinguished by its relative simplicity and weak time computing demand. Each of these two factors, R and C summarise the system properties and has a direct influence on the building transient simulations over a year. The second one is based on direct numerical simulation DNS of the energy and fluid flow equations using commercial code COMSOL Multiphysics. Such DNS is time consuming and could not be used to simulate over a year but aims only to validate the first RC circuit approach. A comparison of these two models with the idealised experimental data was carried out and allowed the validation of the thermal behaviour of the solution based on the integration of the PCM with core ventilation.