Simulation of phase change drywalls in a passive solar building

Integration of phase change materials (PCMs) into building fabrics is considered to be one of the potential and effective ways of minimizing energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the building sector. In order to assess the thermal effectiveness of this concept, composite PCM drywall samples (i.e. randomly-mixed and laminated PCM drywalls) have been evaluated in a model passive solar building. For a broader assessment, effects of three phase change zones (narrow, intermediate and wide) of the PCM sample were considered. The results showed that the laminated PCM sample with a narrow phase change zone was capable of increasing the minimum room temperature by about 17% more than the randomly-mixed type. Even though there was some display of non-isothermal phase change process, the laminated system proved to be thermally more effective in terms of evolution and utilization of latent heat. Further heat transfer enhancement process is however required towards the development of the laminated system. 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.