Numerical study on the thermal performance of a ventilated facade with PCM
Issue date
2013Suggested citation
Gracia Cuesta, Alvaro de;
Navarro Farré, Lidia;
Castell, Albert;
Cabeza, Luisa F.;
.
(2013)
.
Numerical study on the thermal performance of a ventilated facade with PCM.
Applied Thermal Engineering, 2013, vol. 61, p. 372-380.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2013.07.035.
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A new type of ventilated facade (VF) with macro-encapsulated phase change material (PCM) in its air
cavity is presented in this paper. Two identical house-like cubicles located in Puigverd de Lleida (Spain)
were monitored during 2012, and in one of them, the VF with PCM was implemented in the south wall.
The versatility of the facade allows the system to reduce both heating and cooling loads. During winter,
the PCM increases the heat storage capacity of the system exposed to solar radiation and during summer
the system can be used as a cold storage unit or as a night free cooling device. From the experimental
winter campaign, important net electrical energy savings were registered due to the use of the VF. On the
other hand, no net energy savings were achieved during summer due to excessive use of mechanical
ventilation. In this paper, an own developed numerical model, based on finite control volume approach,
was validated against experimental data and it is used to select the operational schedule of both solidification
and melting processes in order to achieve net electrical energy savings. During the mild
summer period the system presents a net energy supply of 2.49 MJ/day. This value would be increased by
61.6% if a wooden structure would have been used instead of the current metallic structure. Moreover,
the high hysteresis of the PCM limits strongly the potential of the system in supplying cooling during the
severe summer period.