Experimental investigation and numerical analysis of energy efficiency building using phase changing material coupled with reflective coating
Rajasree Shanmuganathan, Manigandan Sekar, T. R. Praveenkumar, Arivalagan Pugazhendhi, Kathirvel Brindhadevi
Abstract
Summary With growing population in India, utilization of natural energy plays a significant role in reducing the space and resource constraints. Also, due to climate change and urbanization, future generation in the cities is mainly affected by overheating. One way to reduce the use of artificial energy is to decrease the thermal conductivity of the buildings by introducing phase changing materials (PCM). PCM reduces the energy requirements and peak temperature of the buildings. The main focus of this study is to reduce artificial energy in buildings by employing cool roof strategies. Initially, the conventional room was tested and it is compared with PCM and room with PCM‐reflecting coating. The parameters which influence the thermal stress in buildings such as, transition temperature, latent heat, thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, PCM thickness, and absorption coefficient are measured and compared. PCM with insulated coating shows lower thermal conductivity than conventional buildings and PCM incorporated buildings. On the other hand, after 90 days of weathering PCM with reflective coating roof showed 15% less thermal conductivity than conventional roof. The results showed that, there is a temperature difference on cool roof and delay time for the peak temperature between models is beyond 2 hours compared to conventional roof. The effect of PCM layer thickness with insulated coatings on the thermal performance of roof is relatively good compared with conventional roof. Maximum temperature and heat flux values were recorded at 3.30 pm for all the absorption coefficient values except 0.7.