Temperature Control in (Translucent) Phase Change Materials Applied in Facades: A Numerical Study
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Phase Change Material
2.2. Measurements for Model Validation
2.3. Simulation Model Test
- Gravity was modeled not as a separate volume force but as the built-in option of included gravity. Furthermore, the density was specified not as a constant but as a temperature dependent variable as shown in Figure 2.
- The density, specific heat and dynamic viscosity functions of the PCM were all modeled with continuous second derivative smoothing.
- Furthermore, the boundary conditions were different. In our model, we exposed the PCM block to a heat flux of 300 W/m2 instead of an imposed temperature of 313 K. The mesh and time stepping was also set specifically for these new simulations. The boundary on which the radiation flux was set was opaque for the radiation while the PCM itself was transparent on spectral band in liquid state.
- The walls exposed to radiation or an imposed temperature had a no slip condition instead of a slip condition better matching the results from our physical measurements (see Section 3.1).
2.4. Simulation Methodology
2.4.1. Overall Simulation Methodology
2.4.2. Simulation Settings and Boundary Conditions
2.4.3. Mesh Sizing and Solver Settings
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Results of the Measurements (PMMA Container Willed with 12 × 12 × 3 cm3 of PCM)
3.2. Simulation Step 1 (Single Block of PCM25 10 × 10 cm2)
3.3. Simulation Step 2 (Single and Segmented Blocks of PCM25 3 × 20 cm2)
3.4. Simulation Step 3 (Segmented Block of PCM23-29 3 × 20 cm2)
3.5. Comparison of the Average PCM Temperatures
3.6. Limitations of This Study
4. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Property | Setting/Value |
---|---|
Ambient temperature | 293.15 K |
Ambient abs. pressure | 1 atm. |
Ambient rel. humidity | 0 |
Wind velocity | 0 m/s |
Initial values | T = 293.15 K |
Property | Setting/Value |
---|---|
Compressibility | Compressible flow (Ma < 0.3) |
Turbulence model | None |
Gravity | Included |
Reference pressure level | 1 atm. |
Reference temperature | 293.15 K |
Reference position | x = 0 m y = 0 m |
Initial values | ux = 0 m/s uy = 0 m/s p = 0 Pa |
Compensate for hydrostatic pressure approximation | |
Wall conditions | No slip |
Inner wall conditions | If they exist: No slip |
Neglect internal term (Stokes flow) |
Step | Sample | Tmin (°C) | Tmax (°C) | Tmax − Tmin (°C) | Tav (°C) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2 | single block of PCM25 3 × 20 cm2 | 23.0 | 48.4 | 25.4 | 36.0 |
2 | segmented block of PCM25 5 × 3 × 4 cm2 | 24.0 | 43.9 | 19.9 | 33.9 |
2 | segmented block of PCM25 10 × 3 × 2 cm2 | 24.6 | 43.1 | 18.5 | 34.3 |
3 | segmented block of PCM23-29 5 × 3 × 4 cm2 | 26.5 | 39.3 | 12.8 | 32.9 |
Step | Sample | Tmin (°C) | Tmax (°C) | Tmax − Tmin (°C) | Tav (°C) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2 | single block of PCM25 3 × 20 cm2 | 42.6 | 58.5 | 15.9 | 50.2 |
2 | segmented block of PCM25 5 × 3 × 4 cm2 | 42.9 | 59.0 | 16.1 | 50.6 |
2 | segmented block of PCM25 10 × 3 × 2 cm2 | 43.2 | 59.3 | 16.1 | 50.9 |
3 | segmented block of PCM23-29 5 × 3 × 4 cm2 | 43.1 | 59.1 | 16.0 | 50.7 |
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Tenpierik, M.; Wattez, Y.; Turrin, M.; Cosmatu, T.; Tsafou, S. Temperature Control in (Translucent) Phase Change Materials Applied in Facades: A Numerical Study. Energies 2019, 12, 3286. https://doi.org/10.3390/en12173286
Tenpierik M, Wattez Y, Turrin M, Cosmatu T, Tsafou S. Temperature Control in (Translucent) Phase Change Materials Applied in Facades: A Numerical Study. Energies. 2019; 12(17):3286. https://doi.org/10.3390/en12173286
Chicago/Turabian StyleTenpierik, Martin, Yvonne Wattez, Michela Turrin, Tudor Cosmatu, and Stavroula Tsafou. 2019. "Temperature Control in (Translucent) Phase Change Materials Applied in Facades: A Numerical Study" Energies 12, no. 17: 3286. https://doi.org/10.3390/en12173286