Volume 45: Energy Transitions toward Carbon Neutrality: Part VIII

Refining the Integration of Encapsulated Phase Change Materials in Building Envelopes Rima Aridi, Alissar Yehya

Abstract

The demand for cooling of buildings is continuously growing due to global warming contributing to more global CO2 emissions. Escalating resource costs and climate change risks intensify the need for efficient cooling solutions. Phase change materials have been used in building envelopes to reduce the energy consumption. However, these materials are often costly, which creates a barrier for their implementation. Reducing the PCM quantities without compromising their behavior provides a substantial reduction to their overall payback period and increases their feasibility. This study aims to optimize the incorporation of encapsulated PCM in building envelopes by studying the effect of their distribution pattern within the walls. The simulations are done using 2D finite element method. The results indicate that PCM distribution has an important effect on the efficiency of the design and an optimal distribution can allow the reduction of PCM quantities in a wall. In the studied case, the lowest cooling load was found at 14% volumetric percentage of PCM rather than 30% if optimal distribution is used. This consequently have important implications on the need for geometrical optimization when it comes to encapsulated PCM systems.

Keywords Phase change materials, optimization, spatial impact, cooling/heating, buildings