117 - Experimental setup to study thermal effects of phase change materials inclusion into building materials.

摘要

Building applications of phase change materials (PCM) and its contribution to energy efficiency are being studied. One of the most promising applications of thermal energy storage with phase change is the inclusion of microencapsulated phase change materials into building materials. It could be for external enclosure (increasing thermal inertia) or other applications inside the building (walls or furniture). Objectives and effects are different in each case, and it should be tested in order to corroborate that the effect is as were designed. Some new products are being introduced into the market. Thermal studies are needed to test them and to design properly its applications.At University of Zaragoza (Spain), an experimental setup based on energy balances used tomeasure stored energy in macroencapsulation of PCM was modified to measure thermal effectof phase change materials inclusion into different elements.Those tests are based on transitory heat conduction analysis on samples. A new methodology oftest combining heat capacity measurements and thermal effect tests and data analysis wasdeveloped to study thermal effect as a comparison between the same element with and withoutPCM. Some results are also presented in this conference [13].