April 2010
Intermediate to advanced
760 pages
22h 53m
English
M.M. Farid and A. Sherrif, University of Auckland, New Zealand
This chapter reports on recent research conducted on the use of phase change materials (PCM) for thermal comfort and heating and cooling peak load shifting in buildings. The objective here is to show experimentally and through a computer simulation that PCM impregnated in building materials can provide thermal energy storage benefits. Paraffin (RT20) has been used as the PCM because of its desirable thermal and physical attributes including its melting temperature of 20–22 °C, which is close to human comfort temperature. The PCM was impregnated into gypsum wallboards to produce an efficient ...