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Title:
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Simulation-based optimization of PCM melting temperature to improve the energy performance in buildings
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Author:
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Saffari Tabalvandani, Mohammad; Gracia Cuesta, Alvaro de; Fernàndez Camon, César; Cabeza, Luisa F.
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Notes:
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Globally, a considerable amount of energy is consumed by the building sector. The building envelope can highly influence the energy consumption in buildings. In this regard, innovative technologies such as thermal energy storage (TES) can help to boost the energy efficiency and to reduce the CO2 emissions in this sector. The use of phase change materials (PCM), due to its high heat capacity, has been the centre of attention of many researchers. A considerable number of papers have been published on the application of PCM as passive system in building envelopes. Researches have shown that choosing the PCM melting temperature in different climate conditions is a key factor to improve the energy performance in buildings. In the present paper, a simulation-based optimization methodology will be presented by coupling EnergyPlus and GenOpt with an innovative enthalpy-temperature (h-T) function to define the optimum PCM peak melting temperature to enhance the cooling, heating, and the annual total heating and cooling energy performance of a residential building in various climate conditions based on Köppen-Geiger classification. Results show that in a cooling dominant climate the best PCM melting temperature to reduce the annual energy consumption is close to the maximum of 26ºC (melting range of 24ºC-28ºC), whereas in heating dominant climates PCM with lower melting temperature of 20ºC (melting range of 18ºC-22ºC) yields higher annual energy benefits. Moreover, it was found that the proper selection of PCM melting temperature in each climate zone can lead to notable energy savings for cooling energy consumption, heating energy consumption, and total annual energy consumption.
The work is partially funded by the Spanish government (ENE2015-64117-C5-1-R (MINECO/FEDER) and ENE2015-64117-C5-3-R (MINECO/FEDER)). The authors would like to thank the Catalan Government for the quality accreditation given to their research group GREA (2014 SGR 123). GREA is certified agent TECNIO in the category of technology developers from the Government of Catalonia. This project has received funding from the European Commission Seventh Framework Program (FP/2007-2013) under Grant agreement Nº PIRSES-GA-2013-610692 (INNOSTORAGE) and from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 657466 (INPATH-TES). Alvaro de Gracia would like to thank Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad de España for Grant Juan de la Cierva, FJCI-2014-19940. |
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Subject(s):
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-Passive cooling
-GenOpt
-Building energy simulation
-PCM optimum melting |
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Rights:
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cc-by-nc-nd (c) Elsevier, 2017
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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Document type:
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Article
Article - Accepted version |
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Published by:
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Elsevier
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