A Comprehensive Study of Phase Change Materials (PCMs) for Building Walls Applications

Abstract

In this dissertation, the working environment of the PCMs, PCMs' thermal behavior, the effects of mixing PCMs with cellulose insulation, and the impact of exposition to ambient air were studied. The performance of PCM-enhanced walls was evaluated under full weather conditions and in a laboratory setting. The heat transfer process in PCM-enhanced walls was analyzed for different situations. How PCMs reduce the peak heat flux through PCM-enhanced wall is presented. A new method for integrating the PCM into building walls (layer method) was proposed to overcome the shortcomings of previous PCM integrating methods. A DSC test method, used to study the performance of partially-melted PCMs, are introduced. A modified phase change model, for a paraffin-based PCM, was developed. With the validated model, the performance of the PCM-enhanced wall in several U.S. climate zones was studied. The PCM-enhanced wall could lower the peak cooling load through the walls by about 50%.