Analysis of natural cooling of building using phase change materials

Abstract

Natural cooling of building roof using Phase Change Materials is attempted Three kinds of roofs named as RCC WC and PCM are analysed numerically using ANSYS FLUENT finite volume based software The numerical procedure has been validated with scale model experimental results The RCC roof is made of Reinforced Cement Concrete of 150 mm thick WC roof has 150 mm thick RCC with 100 mm thick weathering coarse laid over it The PCM roof has Hollow Clay Tile laid over RCC About 240 kg m2 of PCM is filled in the HCT and the ends are closed The analysis has been started on 1st March and proceeded for 365 days ie upto 28th February For each month the atmospheric temperature and solar radiation measured are used The problem is solved as two dimensional transient heat conduction problems with phase change in the PCM region The analysis has revealed that the thermal inertia of roof is very high moderate and the lowest with PCM WC and RCC roofs respectively Accordingly the thermal response to external climatic variation is slow moderate and fast with PCM WC and RCC roofs respectively The damping of external climatic variation is moderate with WC roof and very high with PCM roof