Summary
Phase change materials (PCMs) have great potentials to be used in modern building materials to stabilize indoor temperature fluctuations for improving thermal comfort. This paper presents a comprehensive review on the use of PCMs in buildings to improve thermal comfort without increasing energy consumption. Concise discussions of the experimental and computational works reported in literature are presented. A special focus of this review is devoted to discussing different analysis methods and models used to test, characterize, and measure the performance of PCMs in modern building applications under different conditions. This detailed review also highlights the special attention given to organic PCMs, such as paraffin, due to their favorable properties, such as low price, chemical stability, non‐corrosiveness, and high latent heat of fusion. The review shows the scarcity of literature reporting the use of eutectic PCMs in building applications, despite their high volumetric storage density.
Solar energy utilization for covering the heating loads of buildings is an innovative and clean way to reduce electricity consumption. A Trombe wall is a classical passive solar heating system used in buildings. Increasing the weights and volumes of Trombe walls can increase their heat storage capacities. However, this process increases a building's dead load, which is considered a problem by structural engineers. Among the alternatives for solving this problem is to use phase change materials (PCMs) for higher heat storage. This work presents a comprehensive review on the different advantages of integrating PCMs with Trombe walls. The article shows that the satisfactory heat storage capacity of PCMs can improve indoor air thermal circulation and decrease indoor air temperature fluctuations. In addition, the effectiveness of PCMs in providing protection from overheating, and improving the efficiency of the energy management process and energy saving of Trombe walls is demonstrated.
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