Modeling PCM Phase Change Temperature and Hysteresis in Ventilation Cooling and Heating Applications

Applying phase change material (PCM) for latent heat storage in sustainable buildingsystems has gained increasing attention. However, the nonlinear thermal properties of the materialand the hysteresis between the two-phase change processes make the modelling of PCM challenging.Moreover, the influences of the PCM phase transition and hysteresis on the building thermal andenergy performance have not been fully understood. This paper reviews the most commonly usedmodelling methods for PCM from the literature and discusses their advantages and disadvantages.A case study is carried out to examine the accuracy of those models in building simulation tools,including four methods to model the melting and freezing process of a PCM heat exchanger.These results are compared to experimental data of the heat transfer process in a PCM heat exchanger.That showed that the four modelling methods are all accurate for representing the thermal behaviorof the PCM heat exchanger. The model with the DSC Cp method with hysteresis performs thebest at predicting the heat transfer process in PCM in this case. The impacts of PCM phase changetemperature and hysteresis on the building energy-saving potential and thermal comfort are analyzedin another case study, based on one modelling method from the first case study. The building inquestion is a three-room apartment with PCM-enhanced ventilated windows in Denmark. The studyshowed that the PCM hysteresis has a larger influence on the building energy consumption than thephase change temperature for both summer night cooling applications and for winter energy storage.However, it does not have a strong impact on the yearly total energy usage. For both summer andwinter transition seasons, the PCM hysteresis has a larger influence on the predicted percentageof dissatisfied (PPD) than the phase change temperature, but not a strong impact on the transitionseason average PPD. It is therefore advised to choose the PCM hysteresis according to whether itis for a summer night cooling or a winter solar energy storage application, as this has a significantimpact on the system’s overall efficiency.