PCM-Enhanced Building Components: An Application of Phase Change Materials in Building Envelopes and Internal Structures

281 Pages·2015·8.136 MB·English

by  Jan Kośny (auth.)

Engineering Materials and Processes
Jan Kośny
PCM-Enhanced
Building
Components
by Finite Element and
An Application of Phase Change
Soft Computing Methods
Materials in Building Envelopes and
Internal Structures
Engineering Materials and Processes
Series editor
Brian Derby, Manchester, UK
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/4604
ś
Jan Ko ny
PCM-Enhanced Building
Components
An Application of Phase Change
Materials in Building Envelopes
and Internal Structures
123
Jan Kośny
Fraunhofer Center forSustainable Energy
SystemsCSE
Boston,MA
USA
ISSN 1619-0181
Engineering Materials andProcesses
ISBN 978-3-319-14285-2 ISBN 978-3-319-14286-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-14286-9
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2015934911
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Preface
Thermal mass plays an important role in building energy conservation and in
controlofinternal thermalcomfort. It has beenobservedthat it canbe also greatly
assisted by the incorporation of building components with latent heat storage
capabilities. Phase change materials (PCMs) are one of the thermal control means
usedtodayinbuildingenvelopesandininternalconstructioncomponents.PCMsin
buildings can be utilized for many different purposes including reduction of space
conditioning energy consumption, thermal peak load shaving and shifting, local
temperature control in building envelope components, or improvement of overall
system durability. The scope of this book is to summarize and explain the most
important basics of PCM applications in building structures. Despite wide interest
in PCM-enhanced building technologies by researchers from industry and acade-
mia, engineers, architects, building developers, energy policy makers, code offi-
cials, and home owners, there is still a shortage of publications supporting design
andanalysisinthisfield.Inaddition,theindustrylackssufficienttechnicaldataand
performance information for performance comparisons and development of new
technologies. At the same time, industry and government code bodies call for
adequate performance testing and rating standards.
Notethattherearealargenumberofengineeringandresearchpublicationsfocus
on PCMs as a major topic. However, even though PCM-enhanced building mate-
rialsrepresenttodaythemajormarketshareforthePCMindustry,thereisstillvery
little engineering literature dedicated to this subject. Most recent publications treat
PCM-enhancedbuildingcomponentsmorefromthematerialperspective(i.e.,PCM
types, PCM packaging and encapsulation, PCM manufacturing processes, and
experimental analysis of PCMs from the chemical and thermal engineering points
ofview),ratherthanfocusingonthebuildingcomponentscale.Asaresult,analysis
of the PCM-enhanced building components is most often based on the very basic
materialscale(onlythePCM’sperformanceisexamined),orarelativelyinaccurate
whole building scale analysis is performed without taking into consideration that
PCM-enhanced envelopes are distinct building systems with their own properties
and performance characteristics.
v
vi Preface
This work is almost exclusively focused on PCM applications as parts of
building envelopes and internal building fabric components. A variety of PCM
building products and applications are presented here, followed by subsequent
thermalandenergyperformancedata.Thispublicationalsopresentsstate-of-the-art
testing methods to enable thermal performance analysis of building envelope sys-
tems containing PCMs. In addition, numerical methods for dynamic thermal
analysis of PCM-enhanced building envelopes and whole buildings containing
PCM building envelope components are presented here.
This work was motivated by my desire to further the evolution and widespread
application of PCM-based building technologies. Since my goal was to reach a
wide audience, I organized this book so that it could be easily understood by
advanced undergraduate mechanical engineering students and first-year graduate
studentsofarchitectureanddifferentengineeringdisciplineswithsufficientthermal/
energy analysis and material engineering backgrounds. However, this publication
alsooffersaninclusivecollectionofreferencesleadingtomoredetailedtechnology
descriptions, performance data, and advanced analytical methods, which may be
helpful in research work. In my opinion, this publication is mainly intended for:
(cid:129) Architects, building designers, home owners, and architectural students, who
Itrust,willbenefitfromlearningaboutthehistoryofPCMapplicationsinbuilding
envelopes and will be able to study most common material configurations, and
PCM locations within a building.
(cid:129) Buildingmaterialsandsystemsdevelopers,engineers,andresearcherswillfindin
this book an overview of different types of PCMs, their physical characteristics,
commonlyusedPCMcarriers,andaselectionofcommerciallyavailablebuilding
productscontainingPCMs.Thisgroupofpotentialreadersmayalsobenefitfrom
the patent list associated with PCM-enhanced building products.
(cid:129) Researchers, engineers, and code officials will learn from information presented
here about performance characteristics of the PCM-based building technologies
and descriptions of experimental methods used worldwide for testing of PCMs
and PCM-enhanced building products.
(cid:129) Students, engineers, researchers, product developers, designers, home owners,
andfinally,energypolicygovernmentofficialsshouldfindthefieldperformance
data generated during various whole-system and whole-building field experi-
ments worldwide very helpful.
(cid:129) Lastly, students, engineers, researchers, and energy modelers should find useful
the chapter dedicated to numerical performance analysis of the PCM-enhanced
building envelopes and whole buildings utilizing these technologies.
Please bear in mind that publications of this type inevitably reflect the opinions
and prejudices of their authors. Hence, some readers may inevitably disagree
with my opinions, book structure, and of course the choice of presented material.
Preface vii
In my opinion, such disagreements usually represent healthy reflections coming
fromthediversityoftechnologyunderdiscussionandareessentialforitsevolution.
Nevertheless, I hope that all future readers will find something of interest here.
Boston Jan Kośny
Contents
1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2 Short History of PCM Applications in Building Envelopes . . . . . . 21
2.1 PCM for Building Applications—Background . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.2 First PCM Application for Passive Solar Heating . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.3 PCM Solar Thermal Storage Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.4 Impregnated Concrete Blocks and Ceramic Masonry. . . . . . . . 26
2.5 PCM-Enhanced Gypsum Board and Interior
Plaster Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.6 Use of PCM-Enhanced Wall Cavity Insulation. . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.7 PCM-Enhanced Floors and Ceiling Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.8 PCM Used in Roofs and Attics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
2.9 PCM-Enhanced Windows and Window
Attachment Products. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3 Overview of Basic Solid–Liquid PCMs Used in Building
Envelopes—Packaging Methods, Encapsulation,
and Thermal Enhancement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.2 PCM Classification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.2.1 Introduction—Phase-Change Processes . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.2.2 Organic PCMs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
3.2.3 Inorganic PCMs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3.2.4 Eutectics and PCM Mixtures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
3.3 Long-Term Durability of PCMs in Building Envelopes . . . . . . 84
3.4 PCM Packaging and Encapsulation Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
3.5 Enhancement Methods for Improved Thermal
Conductivity of PCMs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
ix
x Contents
4 Laboratory Thermal Testing of PCM-Enhanced Building
Products and Envelope Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
4.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
4.2 Scale of Thermal Performance Analysis
and Testing Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
4.3 Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA)
(Material-Scale Testing). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
4.4 Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC)
Material-Scale Testing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
4.4.1 Power Compensation DSC (PC-DSC) . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
4.4.2 Heat-Flux DSC (HF-DSC). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
4.4.3 Different Modes of DSC Operation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
4.4.4 DSC Accuracy Studies for Dynamic PCM Testing . . . 122
4.5 T-history Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
4.6 Dynamic Heat Flow Meter Apparatus (DHFMA)
Testing Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
4.7 Dynamic Hot-Box Testing Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
4.8 A Need for Development of Testing Standards
for Dynamic Thermal Analysis of PCM-Enhanced
Building Materials and Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
5 Examples of Full-Scale Field Experiments—Test Huts
and Whole Buildings Containing PCM-Enhanced
Building Envelope Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
5.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
5.2 Test Hut Field Testing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
5.2.1 Test Huts Built by the Alberta Research
Council Inc., Canada. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
5.2.2 University of Kansas Test Huts, Lawrence,
KS, USA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
5.2.3 University of Auckland Test Huts—New Zealand. . . . 147
5.2.4 Tianjin University Test Huts—Tianjin, China. . . . . . . 148
5.2.5 University of Lleida Test Huts (Cubicles)—Lleida,
Spain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
5.2.6 Oak Ridge National Laboratory Roofing Testing
Facility—Oak Ridge, TN, USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
5.2.7 Arizona State University Test Huts—Tempe,
AZ, USA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
5.2.8 University of Twente Test Boxes—Enschede,
Overijssel, The Netherlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
5.2.9 PCM Roof Testing at Kuwait University—Safat,
Kuwait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152