Experimental Investigation of the Impact of PCM Containment on Indoor Temperature Variations

In view of growing concerns on climate change and temperature extremes, there is a need to explore novel methods that provide thermal comfort in architecture. Latent heat thermal energy storage with phase change materials (PCM) has been widely researched in last decades in the field of energy technology and proved beneficial for reduction and shifting of the thermal loads and improving the overall thermal storage capacity of building components. Although a variety of PCM containments have been investigated for indoor cooling applications, the examples of exposed, design-oriented macro-encapsulations are rare. This paper presents a study of visible, suspended ceiling encapsulations for passive cooling, made of glass and novel bio-based PCM. The aim is to provide an overview of correlations between basic containment geometries and their thermal behavior that serves as a base for the further design of custom-made PCM macro-encapsulations. An experimental set-up of test boxes is developed for thermal cycling and a comparative analysis of the thermal performance of varied PCM encapsulation geometries. The study concludes that the containments with the large exchange surface and the small thickness offer an optimal material distribution for the temperature reduction in the box. Based on experimental results, suggestions are made on further formal strategies for the design of cooling elements for local thermal regulation.