The use of a latent heat storage system using phase change materials (PCMs) is an effective way of storing thermal energy and has the advantages of high-energy storage density and the isothermal nature of the storage process. PCMs have been widely used in latent heat thermal-storage systems for heat pumps, solar engineering, and spacecraft thermal control applications. The uses of PCMs for heating and cooling applications for buildings have been investigated within the past decade. There are large numbers of PCMs that melt and solidify at a wide range of temperatures, making them attractive in a number of applications. This paper also summarizes the investigation and analysis of the available thermal energy storage systems incorporating PCMs for use in different applications.

Review on thermal energy storage with phase change materials and applications

The present paper is the first comprehensive review of the integration of phase change materials in building walls. Many considerations are discussed in this paper including physical considerations about building envelope and phase change material, phase change material integration and thermophysical property measurements and various experimental and numerical studies concerning the integration. Even if the integrated phase change material have a good potential for reducing energy demand, further investigations are needed to really assess their use.

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A review on phase change materials integrated in building walls

Review of passive PCM latent heat thermal energy storage systems towards buildings’ energy efficiency

Use of microencapsulated PCM in concrete walls for energy savings

Thermal energy storage (TES) systems using phase change material (PCM) have been recognized as one of the most advanced energy technologies in enhancing the energy efficiency and sustainability of buildings. Now the research is focus on suitable method to incorporate PCMs with building. There are several methods to use phase change materials (PCMs) in thermal energy storage (TES) for different applications. Microencapsulation is one of the well known and advanced technologies for better utilization of PCMs with building parts, such as, wall, roof and floor besides, within the building materials. Phase change materials based microencapsulation for latent heat thermal storage (LHTS) systems for building application offers a challenging option to be employed as effective thermal energy storage and a retrieval device. Since the particular interest in using microencapsulation PCMs for concrete and wall/wallboards, the specific research efforts on both subjects are reviewed separately. This paper presents an overview of the previous research work on microencapsulation technology for thermal energy storage incorporating the phase change materials (PCMs) in the building applications, along with few useful conclusive remarks concluded from the available literature.

Development of phase change materials based microencapsulated technology for buildings: a review

Micro-encapsulated phase-change materials integrated into construction materials

Phase Change Materials, or briefly PCM, are a promising option for thermal energy storage, depending on the application also called heat and cold storage. Systematic investigations of PCM already started after the oil crises, and then in the late 1990s R&D on PCM intensified significantly. While there is still a large demand for R&D from basics to applications in many areas, this is not the case in general. This overview shows that PCM are already applied in a wide variety of commercial products, in many fields of application, in some at an early stage, but in others already as the standard. Some commercial products even exist already for many years, and not just in some niche application. Examples are applications in buildings, for logistics, specifically the cold chain, the human body etc. This overview shows that PCM are used in many commercial applications already, and in many fields. It thereby demonstrates their enormous potential, also in applications still needing significant R&D. 

PCM products and their fields of application - An overview of the state in 2020/2021

Phase-change materials (PCM) in buildings are considered a promising option to prevent overheating in warm seasons. Numerous studies have shown a noticeable improvement in thermal comfort through PCM, but in real applications they have often underperformed. User behaviour is often neglected as an important factor in determining PCM performance and might be a limiting factor. Another factor could be time-dependent degradation, which has also been scarcely researched so far. We used simulations within two case studies to investigate whether the PCM applications, each of which had been in operation for more than ten years, were still functioning from a technical perspective and what influence user behaviour had on their performance. We found that the PCM applications still had a positive influence on the thermal performance of the rooms, although the effect due to behavioural optimizations was significantly greater. The PCM was able to reduce the time of discomfort by 9–45% in the baseline scenario with real documented user behaviour in both rooms. Improved user practices increased the reduction in discomfort to 33–52%. For future studies evaluating PCM and its use, we recommend considering realistic user habits, as implementing optimal behaviour could lead to an overestimation of PCM performance and dissatisfaction with the technology.

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T. Haussmann

Papers

Micro-encapsulated phase-change materials integrated into construction materials

PCM products and their fields of application - An overview of the state in 2020/2021

Influence of User Behaviour on the Functioning and Performance of Passive Phase-Change Material Systems after More Than a Decade of Operation