ENERGY EVALUATION OF A PHASE CHANGE MATERIAL WALL COVERED WITH NOVEL TRIPLE GLASS

A research study was conducted to investigate the thermal performance of phase change material (PCM) walls. The south-facing external wall of a test room was constructed using PCM walls composed of brick walls, plasterboards containing PCMs, and novel triple glass. The thermal performance of the PCM walls was experimentally determined on a monthly basis. However, because of the unstable characteristic of the meteorological data, evaluation of any solar application is usually made using the mean values from long-term meteorological data. In addition to the experimental analysis, a theoretical performance analysis based on 10-year mean meteorological data was carried out to provide a more general conclusion about the performance of the PCM walls. The results from the theoretical analysis show that the ratio of the solar energy gain provided by the GR35 PCM wall to the heat load of the test room on a monthly basis varies from 7 to 57% during the heating period from October to May; the ratio is 16% on an annual basis.