Sustainable Cities and Society 41 (2018) 286–295

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Sustainable Cities and Society

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Integration of passive PCM technologies for net-zero energy buildings T

a b a,⁎ c d d
U. Stritih , V.V. Tyagi , R. Stropnik , H. Paksoy , F. Haghighat , M. Mastani Joybari
a
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Aškerčeva 6, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
b
Department of Energy Management, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra 182320, Jammu & Kashmir, India
c
Cukurova University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Chemistry Department, 01330 Adana, Turkey
d
Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec H3G 1M8, Canada

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Due to the increasing energy demand for space heating and cooling, renewable energy power generation and
Passive cooling integration of energy storage systems received attention around the world. A method to reduce energy demand
Phase change material (PCM) of buildings is the application of thermal energy storage (TES) systems. This is due to the possibility of storing
Net zero energy building (NZEB) heat/cold energy to release it when required, which can tackle the temporal gap between energy demand and
TRNSYS
supply. In this work, phase change materials (PCMs) have been considered as a useful passive method. In the
summer, PCMs can absorb the excessive heat during day time and release the stored heat during night time. A
composite wall filled with different PCMs was developed and analysed using TRNSYS software with the purpose
of integration into passive near zero building applications. The results show that the PCMs in walls can reduce
building energy use on daily basis and help achieving the goals of a net zero energy building (NZEB) in future.

1. Introduction
Reduction of energy consumption by buildings and at the same time
achieving comfortable thermal environment for human beings in the
summer and winter is currently the focus of many research studies. Due
to the increasing energy demand for space heating and cooling, re-
newable energy power generation received attention in many countries.
According to statistical data, building sector consumes almost 41% of
the world’s energy consumption, and constitutes about 30% of the
annual greenhouse gas emissions (United Nations Environment
Programme, 2009). The energy demand in the building sector is also
expected to raise by about 50% in 2050, and the space cooling demand
to triple between 2020 and 2050 (Souayfane, Fardoun, & Biwole,
2016). The EU introduced a policy known as the 20-20-20 by 2020,
which requires 20% reduction in CO2 emissions, 20% increase in energy
efficiency and 20% increase in renewable energy share by 2020. To
achieve these objectives, it is required to increase renovations of ex-
isting old buildings, and constructing new buildings with almost zero
energy consumption.
1.1. Net zero energy buildings – NZEB
The 2010 Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) recast
directive (European Commission, 2010) introduced the term “almost
zero-energy buildings”, defined as buildings which require so little
power for their operation (i.e. heating, cooling, hot water, air con-
ditioning and lighting, especially in non-residential buildings). There-
fore, their energy requirements can largely be covered by renewable
energy sources, including the renewable energy generated on the
building itself or just next to it. The Directive mandates the incentives
to increase the number of buildings which not only meet national
minimum requirements for new buildings, but also are more energy
efficient and thus have lower energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
For this purpose, the member states are obliged to prepare national
plans to construct more nearly zero-energy houses. The dynamics of
achieving targets vary a lot, which presumably means that public
buildings will play a leading role not only in new buildings but also in
refurbishments following almost zero energy standards.
However, the final target for all new public buildings and units is:
• By 2018, all new public building (owned or rented) are almost zero
energy,
• By 2020, all new buildings are nearly zero energy.
Currently, the criterion of energy efficiency for buildings represents
only the total energy use at the level of primary energy and related CO2
emissions. The total energy use for buildings refers not only for heating
but also for cooling, air-conditioning and domestic hot water (mounted
lighting should be observed mainly in non-residential buildings)
(Fig. 1).

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: rok.stropnik@fs.uni-lj.si (R. Stropnik).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2018.04.036
Received 11 August 2017; Accepted 29 April 2018
Available online 19 May 2018
2210-6707/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
U. Stritih et al.
Nomenclature
c Specific heat (J/kg K)
H Melting enthalpy (J/kg)
m Mass (kg)
T Temperature (K)
U Thermal transmittance (W/m2 K)
λ Thermal conductivity (W/m K)
Fig. 1. Energy boundary of net delivered energy (Kurnitski et al., 2012).
The Directive requires setting minimum requirements for new
buildings and recommended measures for the renovation of older
buildings. These measures should be cost-effectiveness of in the whole
life cycle (Life Cycle Costing – LCC) and to seek long-term optimal le-
vels of minimum requirements for building. In doing so, the financial
and economic aspects should be considered, which represent the end
user and external costs (cost of CO2 emissions), respectively. Net zero
energy building definition requires an exact performance level of
0 kWh/(m2a) of non-renewable primary energy. The performance level
of “nearly” zero energy buildings is a subject of national decision
considering:
• technically and reasonably achievable level of primary energy use;
• renewable energy penetration and the percentage of the primary
Fig. 2. Nearly zero residential unit in Slovenia (Stritih et al., 2013).
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Sustainable Cities and Society 41 (2018) 286–295
ρ Density (kg/m3)
Subscripts
MELT Melting
CRIST Crystallization
EFF Effective
energy that it covers;
• available financial incentives for renewable energy or energy effi-
ciency measures;
• cost implications and ambition level of the definition.
The following definitions were prepared for uniformed EPBD recast
implementation, (Kurnitski, 2013):
• Net zero energy building (NZEB): non-renewable primary energy
consumption of 0 kWh/(m a).2
• Nearly zero energy building (nZEB): technically and reasonably
achievable national energy use of > 0 kWh/(m2 a) but no more than
a national limit value of non-renewable primary energy, achieved
with a combination of best practice energy efficiency measures and
renewable energy technologies, which may or may not be cost op-
timal.
In the frame of IDES-EDU project, a nearly zero residential unit has
been built, which is shown in Fig. 2 (Stritih, Osterman, Evliya, Butala, &
Paksoy, 2013). The basic heating system of the unit is a solar hot water
system with flat solar collectors (1), which are a source for heat for floor
and wall heating units and radiator heating of the sanitary unit. The
housing unit is reheated with a hot air heater (2), which is part of the
ventilation system of this unit. The housing unit is heated also with a
‘solar radiator’ (3), a mobile thermal storage unit in which heat is stored
in a PCM. The sanitary unit heats up also with hot air vacuum solar
collectors (4).
Nowadays, several innovative technologies can be implemented in
buildings in order to achieve the requirements of a NZEB. In the con-
tinuation of this introduction, passive technologies with the use of
phase change materials were reviewed for increasing building thermal
accumulation and therefore reduction of building energy use.
U. Stritih et al. Sustainable Cities and Society 41 (2018) 286–295

1.2. Passive PCM technologies for NZEB technologies used in solar applications was discussed. Besides, energy
savings and CO2 emission reduction potential were also provided
Presently, solar thermal energy systems are gaining more interest through TES for various solar applications in buildings. Parametric
for clean energy supply and thermal energy storage (TES) systems in analysis for performance enhancement by PCMs in naturally ventilated
building are gaining popularity to achieve NZEB in coming future. One buildings was conducted by Ramakrishnan, Wang, Alam, Sanjayan, and
of the interesting methods to reduce the energy demand of building Wilson (2016). The design optimization related to the application of
sector is the application of TES systems. TES materials can store heat/ PCMs within buildings was performed to maximize the utilization of
cold and release it when required, which can tackle the temporal gap latent heat capacity and improve indoor thermal comfort during the
between energy demand and supply. TES is also used in a wide variety summer. The results showed that the performance indicators were ef-
of industrial, commercial and residential applications where a mis- fective in the selection of the optimum PCM configurations. An en-
match between energy supply and demand exists. TES systems with capsulated PCM based thermal management system was experimentally
phase change materials (PCMs) received considerable attention for investigated by (Tyagi, Pandey, Buddhi, and Kothari (2016). The ob-
energy management in commercial and residential buildings. jective of the study was to reduce and shift the peak energy demand in
Generally, energy can be stored by TES materials in three ways, namely buildings to off peak period. The PCM was selected based on the
sensible heat, latent heat or chemical reactions. PCM latent heat storage availability in the desired temperature range and long-term thermal
system is very attractive; due to its high energy storage capacity and behaviour. The design system was tested with an air conditioning
isothermal behaviour during the phase change process (Nchelatebe & system for cold energy storage and discharged with three heating loads
Haghighat, 2013). for real-life applications.
Different application of PCMs in buildings (e.g. PCM wallboards/ In this paper, the characteristics and use of composite walls with
wall, ceiling and floor boards) are well known and received the interest PCM for net zero energy buildings (NZEB) are presented. Further, mi-
of scientists in the past years (Bastani & Haghighat, 2015; Shilei, Neng, croencapsulated PCM wall was investigated to decrease energy use in
& Guohui, 2006; Tyagi & Buddhi, 2007). Many studies have in- buildings with variations of room temperature for different percentage
vestigated the application of PCMs in buildings and showed that PCMs of microencapsulated PCM in walls. This analysis was also simulated in
can remarkably improve the building energy performance (Bastani, TRNSYS software.
Haghighat, & Kozinski, 2014). Auzeby et al. (2017) described the
overheating issue in residential buildings during summer, where no air-
2. Composite wall with PCM
conditioning has been installed. PCMs were considered as a useful
passive method, which absorbed the excessive heat when a room was
A composite wall with PCM was developed with the purpose of
hot and released the stored heat when the room was cold. According to
integration into passive near zero building applications. The develop-
the results, PCMs have the potential to reduce the overheating problem
ment was carried out in three steps:
in residential buildings. Application of PCMs in gypsum boards to meet
the building energy conservation goals was studied by Sharifi, Shaikh,
1. Microencapsulated PCM (mPCM)
and Sakulich (2017). The efficiency of PCM-impregnated gypsum
2. Concrete mix with mPCM
boards was evaluated to improve the thermal performance of buildings
3. Composite wall
in order to achieve energy reduction. Computational simulation for the
performance of a PCM-incorporated wall for different cities was carried
out. The results showed that using a PCM with a melting point close to 2.1. Microencapsulated PCM development
the occupant comfort zone reduces the inside peak temperature of
building. As per the results of that study, PCM-incorporated gypsum There are problems with the existing mPCMs available in the
boards are a promising strategy to achieve energy reduction goals in market. The shells can be smashed during the mixing process with
buildings. Han and Taylor simulated the inter-building effect to assess rough components of the concrete. In the scanning electron microscopy
the thermal energy impact within spatially proximal buildings by em- (SEM) image of a commercial mPCM in concrete shown in Fig. 3, the
bedding PCMs in building envelopes (Han & Taylor, 2016). The simu- smashed and broken shells can be observed. The resulting PCM leakage
lations were carried out with different building networks and different can deteriorate the concrete mix properties and consequently the
PCM settings. The results indicated that considerable improvements (up building structure durability built with it. The paraffinic PCMs used in
to 17%) of annual HVAC energy consumption reduction could be the commercial products can also increase the flammability, especially
achieved when PCM-embedded building envelopes were used in the
control building. TES technologies and control approaches for solar
cooling was reviewed by Pintaldi et al. (Pintaldi, Perfumo,
Sethuvenkatraman, White, & Rosengarten, 2015). Different designs
were reported for thermal storage media and system and suitable op-
tions for solar cooling applications. They also focused on high efficiency
solar cooling applications using PCMs with melting temperature in the
range of 60–250 °C. Diurnal thermal analysis of microencapsulated
PCM-concrete composite walls was carried by Thiele, Sant, and Pilon
(2015). Microencapsulated PCM concrete in building envelopes were
used to reduce the energy consumption and costs. The results revealed
that adding microencapsulated PCM to concrete could reduce the
maximum heat flux through the composite wall subjected to diurnal
sinusoidal outdoor temperature and solar radiation heat flux. This
analysis can provide a framework for other researchers who work on
PCM composite walls in various climates and seasons and to take ad-
vantage of time of use electricity pricing.
Solar energy potential through TES in Slovenia and Turkey were
investigated by Stritih et al. (2013). An overview of the energy situa- Fig. 3. Broken and smashed shells shown for a commercial mPCM in concrete
tion, solar energy potential and thermal energy storage concepts and mix.

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Fig. 4. SEM image of the mPCM developed at Çukurova University. Fig. 5. SEM image of the crushed concrete specimen with mPCM.

after leaking through the broken shells.

A new robust mPCM durable enough to be mixed with concrete was
developed at Çukurova University. A fatty acid mixture (capric acid and
myristic acid) with melting range of 20–28 °C and latent heat of 148 kJ/
kg was used as the core material of the microcapsules. Emulsion poly-
merization technique was used to encapsulate the core material with
methyl methacrylate co-monomer as the shell material. Fig. 4 shows the
SEM image of the microcapsules.
The average particle diameter of microcapsules is 400–850 nm. In
comparison to the commercial microcapsules in the market, this new
mPCM is about 50% smaller in size.

2.2. Concrete mix

For thermal enhancement and increasing the thermal mass of con-
crete, 10%w mPCM was added. The optimum dosage of mPCM was
determined based on the results from compressive strength and thermal
tests of concrete specimens according to the standards. Table 1 shows
the composition of the used concrete mixture.
Fig. 5 shows a SEM image of the crashed concrete specimen with
mPCM. It can be observed that mPCMs remain in their geometry and
the shells were intact after being mixed in the concrete. The image also
shows that crystal structures expected in hardened concrete structures
are not affected by the addition of mPCM. The hexagonal shaped
crystals surrounding microcapsules observed here are for calcium hy-
droxide also known by its mineral name portlandite (Cellat, Beyhan,
Kazanci, Konuklu, & Paksoy, 2017).
2.3. Composite wall
Fig. 6. Schematic view of the composite wall.
layer process (Fig. 7).
The composite walls were used to build a test cabin to measure the
thermal performance under real climate conditions on the field. Fig. 8
shows thermal images of the cross section of the composite concrete
panel at noontime. In Fig. 8(a), the inside surface of the test cabin is
about 5 °C colder than the reference panel shown in Fig. 8(b) due to the
solar heat storage by the layer with mPCM facing the inside of the test
cabin.
The composite wall with mPCM developed at Çukurova University
can be recommended for use in near zero building applications.
Moreover, renewable energy integration can be optimized by passive
solar energy storage which does not need any additional mechanical
energy input.

A composite panel with dimensions of 2 × 2 m2 and a thickness of
0.12 m which included the mPCM was developed in cooperation with
an industrial partner, KAMBETON – a prefabricated concrete panel
producer. Fig. 6 shows a schematic view of the composite wall, which is
made up of two layers. The first layer is made up of concrete only,
whereas the second layer is made up of concrete with mPCM. The
composite wall is prepared with an automatic manufacturing layer-by-
3. TRNSYS type for building simulation
TRNSYS software contains a database with many wall types which
can be chosen with different compositions and materials. However, the
available database does not contain any walls with PCM. Therefore, a
new wall type (TYPE 101) with PCM was developed and added to
TRNSYS software by a team at Helsinki University of Technology (HUT)

Table 1
Composition of concrete mix for 1 m3.
PCE* (kg) PCM (kg) 0–3 crushed fine aggregates 5–10 crushed fine aggregates 10–20 crushed aggregates Cement (kg) Water (kg)
(kg) (kg) (kg)

Concrete without mPCM 6.7 0 1552 628 547 675 302

Concrete with 10%w 6.7 129.1 1324 536 467 675 295
mPCM

* PCE: Polycarboxylic ether.

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Fig. 7. Manufacturing process of the composite wall: left – steel structure, right – finished wall.

Fig. 8. Thermal image of the cross section of concrete panel taken at noontime (a) composite wall with mPCM (b) wall without mPCM.

Fig. 9. Simulation model in TRNSYS software with Pcm_Wall (Type 101).

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Fig. 10. 3D PCM- mesh principle.
Fig. 11. Specific heat capacity of a PCM as a function of temperature, lique-
faction (solid line) and solidification (dashed line) between the temperature
range of T1 to T2.
Fig. 12. The data flow between the Type 19 and Type 101 in TRNSYS software.
(Ahmad, Bontemps, Sallée, & Quenard, 2006) (Fig. 9).
A new component has been added to the type model single room in
TRNSYS software and TRNSYS TESS library was updated. The space
had dimensions of a typical office. It consisted of a 3-dimensional
9 × 9 × 9 node structure as shown in Fig. 10. In Type 101 (wall with
PCM), the thickness of the half of the wall has to be set. The module
simulates only one part of the wall and assumes that the wall is
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homogeneous.
The 3D PCM mesh presented in Fig. 10 was used in the inner wall
and consisted of a plane, running from the interior to the centre of the
entire wall. Assuming the same temperature for the adjoining rooms,
the transition of the heat flux across the plane was neglected (k = 9).
Moreover, the whole PCM-wall was assumed to be homogenous in the
direction of i and j; therefore, the heat flux transition to the outer side of
the net occurred between the indoor air and the inner plane of the mesh
(k = 1). The model considered the convective and radiant cooling
loads, as well as heat flow between nodes. For each node, the properties
of the material (e.g. concrete, PCM, or mixtures of materials) were
determined. In order to ensure the stability of the wall component, a
time step of 300 s has been chosen. The latent heat of the PCM was
considered using the effective heat capacity method, which is a non-
isothermal phase change process. In non-isothermal phase change, the
material changes its phase in a temperature interval (T1, T2).
PCM – mesh:
The effective heat capacity of the material can be expressed by Eq.
(1):
ΔH
cEFF = + cP
(T2 − T1) (1)
Using the effective heat capacity method, the melting and solidifi-
cation of the PCM can be described with Eq. (2):
TMPCM : TMELT − 0,5⋅TDIFF < TM < TMELT + 0,5⋅TDIFF (2)
TCPCM : TCRIST − 0,5⋅TDIFF < TC < TCRIST + 0,5⋅TDIFF (3)
Fig. 11 shows the specific heat capacity of the material as a function
of temperature.
Fig. 12 shows the data flow between blocks in TRNSYS. TYPE 19
calculated room temperature and radiation energy supplied to the wall
surface. The calculated data were then sent to TYPE 101 to calculate the
wall temperature, based on which the heat flow between the wall and
the room was calculated.
3.1. General data used for simulation
Simulation analysis was performed in TRNSYS 15 software. The
purpose of the simulation was to determine the suitability of different
PCM materials according to the thermal accumulation capacity of the
building. Therefore, different PCM materials were used for the analysis,
which can be located in various filler walls, in our case rock wool and
polyurethane. The PCM materials used were: SP22A4 (Rubitherm),
SP20A19 (Rubitherm), RT20 (Rubitherm), here density for Solid-S and
Liquid-L are different and presented in Table 7 and C21 (Climator).
Simulation of the office was made with whether data for Ljubljana (test
reference year), Slovenia (Fig. 13), for the last week of June.
3.2. Room properties used for simulation
A typical business office was selected for the numerical simulation.
The volume of the office was 28.2 m3, the floor and ceiling surface was
9.72 m2, and the window surface was 1.84 m2. All dimensions are
shown in Fig. 14.
Wall properties of materials used for numerical simulation are
shown in Tables 2–6.
For building filler, Trimoterm panels were used for simulation as
shown in Fig. 15, with PCM at inner side of the panel. The PCM
thickness was changing through the simulation.
The window was made of PVC and had a glass thickness of 44 mm.
U value of the window was 0.75 W/m2K.
Explanations of the labelling methodology presented in the pictures
are below:
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Fig. 13. Outdoor temperature and solar radiation for the last week of June in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Table 4
Ceiling and floor properties.
Material Thickness Thermal Density Specific heat
conductivity capacity
3
[mm] [W/mK] [kg/m ] [J/kgK]

Surface material 10 0.05 150 840

Plaster 10 1.2 2000 840
Reinforced 79 1.7 2400 920
concrete
Air gap 107 0.026 1.2 1000
Reinforced 79 1.7 2400 920
concrete
Plaster 10 1.2 2000 840

Table 5
Inner heat gains.
Heat source (8.00–16.00 h) Heat gain [W]

PC in printer 200
Fig. 14. Room properties used for numerical simulation. Lights (15 W/m2) 145
Person 75
Radiative heat gains 199.5
Table 2
Convective heat gains 220.5
Outer wall properties.
Material Thickness Thermal Density Specific heat
conductivity capacity
[mm] [W/mK] [kg/m3] [J/kgK]

Facade material 85 1.4 2200 940

Glass wool 140 0.037 80 840
Reinforced 100 1.7 2500 840
concrete
Plaster 5 1 1800 840

Table 3
Inner wall properties.
4. Simulation results
Material Thickness Thermal Density Specific heat
conductivity capacity Fig. 16 shows the variation of the indoor temperature for different
[mm] [W/mK] [kg/m3] [J/kgK]
PCM types and amounts using wool as the wall material. Comparing
Sheet 1 1 1800 840 with and without PCM results, it is evident that the greatest difference
Building filler 150 Table 7 Table 7 Table 7 in the ambient temperature was reached in 5 days for PCM RT20 100%
Sheet 1 1 1800 840 PCM. According to the figure, the difference is about 14.5 °C.
The simulations were carried out also for whole June. From Fig. 17
it is clear that the room air temperature at the end of the 8 days dropped
below 24 °C, but a closer look shows that the PCM began to cool down
until the beginning of the 10th day, about a 24-h delay. This is due the
low thermal conductivity of the PCM. The 24 h could be reduced by

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Table 6
Properties of building fillers used in simulations.
PCM type Basic data: PCM type Basic data:

SP 22A4 Melting Tem. 24 °C SP 20A19 Melting Tem. 20 °C

Crystallization Tem. 22 °C Crystallization Tem. 18 °C
Latent heat 165 kJ/kg Latent heat 130 kJ/kg
Density 1380 kg/m3 Density 1380 kg/m3
CP 2500 J/kgK CP 2500 J/kgK
Thermal conductivity 0,6 W/mK Thermal conductivity 0,6 W/mK

RT 20 Melting Tem. 21,7 °C C21 Melting Tem. 21 °C

Crystallization Tem. 18,3 °C Crystallization Tem. 20 °C
Latent heat 212 kJ/kg Latent heat 122 kJ/kg
Density S/L 780/745 kg/m3 Density 1450 kg/m3
CP 1800/2400 J/kgK CP 3600 J/kgK
Thermal conductivity 0,18/0,19 W/mK Thermal conductivity 0,5–0,7 W/mK

Table 7 polyurethane panels. At first glance, the difference is not big, but if this
Properties of used materials. difference is translated into percentages, we see that this is not insig-
λ [W/mK] CP [J/kgK] ρ [kg/m3]
nificant 22%.

Aluminium 203 940 2700

Wool TVF1 0,040 840
PU Plate 40 0,035 1380
increasing the thermal conductivity of the PCM or PCM composite, and
mainly with the night ventilation with a much higher degree of air
exchange where the PCM can be cooled in a shorter time.
4.1. The influence of parameters (parametric analysis)
In order to conduct the parametric study, all parameters were fixed
except only one, which varied depending on the amount of cooling
energy.
The investigated parameters were:
• Material of wall: wool (V) and polyurethane panel (PU),
• Type of PCM: SP22A4, SP20A19, RT20 and C21
• Percentage of the PCM: SP22A4 70% of PCM (30% AL) V, SP22A4
100% PCM V, SP22A4 70% of PCM (30%) of V, and SP22A4 25% of
PCM (75% V) V
4.1.1. Effect of wall material on cooling energy
To assess the impact of the wall material on the cooling energy, all
parameters were fixed including the proportion of the PCM, the PCM
type, the degree of ventilation and the volume of the space. However,
the variable parameter was the wall material, which was wool or
polyurethane plate. When the wall material changed, the amount of
absorbed energy varied considerably, which is shown in Fig. 18. The
difference in the absorbed energy was 12.09 kWh/day. This can be at-
tributed to the difference between thermal conductivity of wool and
4.1.2. Effect of PCM TYPE ON COOLING ENERGY
16
40 Fig. 19 shows the impact of the PCM type on the cooling energy
with the wall material of wool. To assess the impact, all parameters
were fixed except for the variable parameter, which was the type of
PCM, namely SP22A4, SP20A19, RT20 and C21.
It was concluded that the amount of cooling energy was most af-
fected by PCM’s latent heat and its melting temperature. As shown in
Fig. 19, PCM SP22A4 saved the maximum amount of cooling energy,
since it had the second largest storage capacity (latent heat of 165 kJ/
kg) together with the highest melting temperature, i.e. 24 °C.
4.1.3. Effect OF PCM proportion ON COOLING ENERGY
Fig. 20 shows the influence of the PCM proportion on the cooling
energy for the wall material of wool. To assess the impact, all para-
meters were fixed except the PCM proportion. From Fig. 20 it is evident
that the proportion of PCM had a significant impact on the amount of
cooling energy.
Because the proportion of PCM is indirectly determined by the mass
of PCM, it represents the latent heat capacity. It should be considered
that the more the amount of PCM, the more energy can be saved.
However, as found out from simulations, this does not always apply.
The amount of PCM is not the only factor that affects the amount of
stored energy. It was found that the thermal conductivity had a sig-
nificant impact on the amount of cooling energy.
5. Conclusions
All new buildings must be nearly zero-energy buildings by 2020 and
all new buildings occupied and owned by public authorities must be
NZEB after 2018. These targets are set in the European Member States

Fig. 15. Trimoterm FT INVISIO (left), Window Schüco CORONA SI82 (right).

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Fig. 16. Internal temperature of the room depending on the different types and amount of PCM.

Fig. 17. Interior temperatures for the month of June, the type of PCM SP22A4.

Fig. 19. Effect of type of PCM in the cooling energy in the material of the walls
of wool.

Fig. 18. The influence of the wall material on the cooling energy.
according to the EU directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings.
It is a huge challenge to achieve these goals and new solutions have to
be implemented in the field of energy saving and storage.
Phase change materials (PCMs) have received much attention as an
alternative for energy saving and storage. The energy demand for
heating buildings and thus CO2 emissions can be reduced by latent heat
storage in PCMs. Lately, different concepts of PCM integration in
building envelopes are emerging namely built-in walls, ceilings, floors,
as a thin layer or large storage tanks. In order to create new PCM in-
tegrated building components, a solar thermal façade system with ap-
propriate PCM has to be chosen.
Featured products indicate that the area of latent energy storage in
the last ten years have seen considerable progress. There is a huge

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Fig. 20. The influence of the proportion and kind of PCM to the cooling energy.
technological advancement in the PCM themselves, their encapsulation,
as well as in the manufacturing of various composite materials.
Currently, PCMs are available as commercial products, which greatly
facilitate their further use for various purposes.
Featured applications suggest that there are two different concepts
to protect the indoor environment against space overheating or over-
cooling. First, preventing heat into buildings by integration of a PCM
which can absorb it before it reaches the space (blinds and glass façade
with integrated PCM), and second plasters with PCM which collect heat
when it is in place.
In this study influence of the thermal accumulation of the building
wall (with PCM) in summer (June) time was analysed. In winter time
the most important parameter in the building wall is thermal trans-
mittance and not thermal accumulation, because of outside tempera-
ture which is low and does not changes a lot during day-night time,
therefore heat is transferred out of the building. Thermal accumulation
of the building wall in this case is not so important like in summer. In
the simulation with TRSYS software, used PCM materials were chosen
on the basis of available data of PCMs and accumulated knowledge
about the PCM materials. The main criteria for PCM selection was low
flammability (meeting class B1 requirements), and thus suitable for real
commercial use, especially in business and production buildings.
Based on the results, it can be concluded that:
• The cooling requirements are affected by the wall material. The
difference in cooling between the material wall of wool and poly-
urethane was 12.09 kWh/day. It should be noted that the wall was
viewed as a whole, and not just the separate PCM layer.
•
To properly select the type of PCM, it is necessary to consider the
meteorological conditions in which the PCM wall is located. This is
not only important for the desired room temperature, but also be-
cause the PCM must be cooled down during the night. This can only
happen if the ambient temperature is below the melting temperature
of the PCM.
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