Thermal performance of a typical residential Cyprus building with phase change materials

Abstract

This work investigates the thermal performance of a typical building in Cyprus, and the effect of application of a particular passive technology (phase change material or PCM) with the aim of reducing indoor air temperatures and energy supplied for the cooling season. Phase change materials for passive building applications are an emerging technology and have not been tested for the buildings of Cyprus, either by computer simulation or practical application. In this paper, the effect of incorporating a phase change material wallboard with a phase change temperature of 26? was investigated by simulation in Energy Plus. Four scenarios were considered for the same building geometry, each having different constructions. Two construction styles were used: perforated clay brick walls with reinforced concrete slabs and cellular concrete block walls with cellular concrete slabs. Each construction style was used in two different thicknesses. Simulations were carried out for the city of Larnaca for the cooling season only (May-October). The results showed that with this particular phase change material product, indoor air temperatures and cooling energies supplied to the building could be reduced by up to 1.7? and 14.0%.Practical application: Sensible heat storage in building fabric is usual practice in Cyprus, as traditional building materials are thermally heavy. This paper will have practical impact as it introduces application of PCMs, a new method for storing heat in the buildings of Cyprus in much lighter way, where the weight is significant constraint due to earthquake load.