Modeling of phase change material peak load shifting [An article from: Energy & Buildings]

This digital document is a journal article from Energy & Buildings, published by Elsevier in 2007. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
This paper addresses potential peak air conditioning load shifting strategies using encapsulated phase change materials. The materials being considered here are designed to be installed within the ceiling or wall insulation to assist in delaying the peak air conditioning demand times until later in the evening. To assist in understanding the behavior of this material, an idealized model has been developed which uses the one-dimensional diffusion equation driven by time varying temperature functions imposed at the boundaries. In developing the model, the phase change temperature is a critical parameter, as is the latent heat of melting. These variables are treated parametrically. Other variables such as the characteristic ambient temperature variations and the thermostat set point are varied relative to the phase change temperature. Comparisons are made to the temporal variations of the heat flows without the application of the phase change material to those with the phase change material.