Thermal performance of two enclosed rooms with different phase change materials under different weather conditions

Abstract

In most of either space heating or space cooling applications, heat absorbed by the enclosing walls plays an important role. Phase change materials (PCMs) can either absorb or give out the absorbed latent heat energy. Latent heat absorption depends on the operating temperature and pressure conditions. In the present study, feasibility of different PCMs as building facades or walls for a single room in different climatic regions is investigated; two different room dimensions were chosen – shallow and tall. Heat transfer inside the buildings significantly depends on the shape / size of the walls. The modeling and simulations have been carried out using the Energyplus tool. Various built-in algorithms were used to solve for transient latent heat storage in PCM, conduction, convection, and radiation heat fluxes. PCMs were found to perform better lowering the room temperature in hot-arid and warm tropic regions. On the other hand, in extreme cold weather conditions, the considered PCMs were found to maintain relatively higher room temperatures and was chiefly due to thermal inertia of PCM in solid phase. The room air temperature attainment with and without various PCMs as building façade material or walls have been discussed and compared for shallow and tall room dimensions under different weather conditions.