A new validated TRNSYS module for simulating latent heat storage walls

Abstract

Lightweight structures have suffered long from low thermal inertia making them more vulnerable to climatic conditions. The adoption of phase change material (PCM) can potentially reduce this climatic deficiency. In order to evaluate its thermal potential, computational modeling has shown to be promising design tools. In this paper, a new TRNSYS type is developed and validated for simulating PCM-enhanced walls. Using the validated module, it is found that the best PCM's configuration is when placed in direct contact with the indoor controlled environment. Additionally, a wide range of PCM's thermal properties were simulated under typical U.S. climates to evaluate the thermal performance and identify the optimal thermal properties. The results show that a maximum saving of 0.8-15.8% is achieved on annual cooling load depending on the climate. For heating dominated climates, the savings on annual heating load is insignificant being less than 4%. The saving in peak loads was found to show more potential than annual loads for some climates. The maximum savings in peak cooling load range from 6.8-13.3% while savings in peak heating load range from 7-10.5%. For maximum savings in zonal loads, the optimal thermal properties of PCM are found to hover around the operational thermostat setpoints.

Review on the Integration of Phase Change Materials in Building Envelopes for Passive Latent Heat Storage

“…The PCM layer is usually placed on the wall surface but can also be located inside the wall [42]. The use of PCMs in the Trombe wall reduces the annual energy consumption by 10-30%, depending on the climatic conditions [43,44]. This is because PCMs can increase the amount of stored thermal energy.…”

Reviewing Theoretical and Numerical Models for PCM-embedded Cementitious Composites

“…Moreover, building physics simulations using available commercial codes for PCMs in building applications are those related to the use of TRNSYS (Transient System Simulation Tool) [165][166][167], the International Building Physics Toolbox (libraries and models for Matlab/Simulink) [168][169][170][171], and other commercial programs, such as EnergyPlus, RadCool (a Web-enabled Simulation Tool for Radiative Cooling), CoDyBa, BSim, PCM Express and Wufi [172].…”

On the Evolution and Application of the Thermal Network Method for Energy Assessments in Buildings

“…New software with very detailed libraries could change the applicability of the thermal network method. These developed pieces of software and tools can provide accurate results by considering very detailed information about a building's geometry and geographical situation [100] in order to calculate and optimise consumed energy in buildings [101,102]. Indeed, some studies have been done to compare the accuracy of available software and tools with the thermal network method.…”

“…Due to the lack of experimental data for different problems, researchers use the outcomes of available software and tools for specific building simulations to train different thermal network structures [86,101,105]. The consequence of this collaboration is to investigate various thermal network models in accordance with different buildings, different properties, and different geographical situations, in order to achieve the best configuration for simplified models.…”