The thermal performances of a PCM copolymer composite wallboard has been experimentally investigated in a full scale test room. The test cell is totally controlled so that a typical day can be repeated (temperature and solar radiative flux). Effects of the PCM are investigated comparing the results obtained with and without composite wallboards for three cases: a summer day, a winter day and a mid-season day. The results show that: (1) for all the cases tested, the decrement factor varies between 0.73 and 0.78 which is quite interesting for use in buildings and particularly for renovation; (2) the air temperature in the room with PCM lowers up to 4.2 • C, the comfort enhancement is more important if the surface temperatures are also considered; (3) the PCM wallboards enhance the natural convection in the room and then there is no thermal stratification contrary to the room without composite; (4) the numerical experiments are fully described and can then be used to evaluate PCM numerical modeling.

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In construction, the use of Phase Change Materials (PCM) allows the storage/release of energy from the solar radiation and/or internal loads. The application of such materials for lightweight construction (e.g. a wood house) makes it possible to improve thermal comfort in summer and reduce heating energy consumption in winter. The choice of a PCM depends deeply on the building structure, on the weather and on building use: numerical modeling is indispensable. In this paper, an experimental comparative study is described, using cubical test cells with and without PCM composite. A set of experimental data is detailed, concerning the air and wall temperatures. The results are compared with a numerical modeling and show that hysteresis must be taken into account to predict correctly the heat transfer.

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