Open Access

ARTICLE

Performance of a Phase Change Material Battery in a Transparent Building

Peter van den Engel^1,*, Michael Malin², Nikhilesh Kodur Venkatesh¹, Luigi Antonio de Araujo Passos¹

1 Delft University of Technology, Delft, 2600 GA, The Netherlands
2 CHAM, Bakery House, London, SW19 5AU, UK

* Corresponding Author: Peter van den Engel. Email:

Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing 2023, 19(3), 783-805. https://doi.org/10.32604/fdmp.2022.021962

Received 15 February 2022; Accepted 14 July 2022; Issue published 29 September 2022

Abstract

This research evaluates the performance of a Phase Change Material (PCM) battery integrated into the climate system of a new transparent meeting center. The main research questions are: a. “Can the performance of the battery be calculated?” and b. “Can the battery reduce the heating and cooling energy demand in a significant way?” The first question is answered in this document. In order to be able to answer the second question, especially the way the heat loading in winter should be improved, then more research is necessary. In addition to the thermal battery, which consists of Phase Change Material plates, the climate system has a cross-flow heat exchanger and a heat pump. The battery should play a central role in closing the thermal balance of the lightweight building, which can be loaded with hot return or cold outdoor air. The temperature of the battery plates is monitored by multi-sensors and simulated by the use of PHOENICS (Computational Fluid Dynamics) and MATLAB. This paper reports reasonable agreement between the numerical predictions and the measurements, with a maximum variance of 10%. The current coefficient of performance for heating and cooling is already high, more than 27. There is scope for increasing this much further by making use of the very low-pressure difference of the battery (below 25 Pascal), low pressure fans and the ventilation system as a whole.

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