An innovative PCM Storage System to enhance Building Energy Autonomy: Experimental and numerical characterization

Abstract

Even if the use of renewable energy sources towards autonomous buildings is promising, it is facing a fundamental issue: the shift between energy production and heating energy demand. We propose in this paper a thermally controlled storage solution using phase change materials integrated in the building walls. Its main advantage lies in the ability to activate on-demand the thermal discharge by ventilating the phase change materials. A test bench has been manufactured. Tests were performed which proved the feasibility of overnight storage with morning discharge allowing an internal air temperature increase of 5°C. Simulations based on experimental results showed that an integration in real buildings with photovoltaic energy production allows to significantly increase the building energy autonomy. If the improvement is important for all types of buildings, it showed larger absolute improvements for weakly insulated buildings than for buildings with an efficient insulation.