Investigating the application of phase change materials in building walls and comparing it with conventional walls in hot and dry climate and cold and mountainous climate

Arezoo Ali abbaszadeh rezaii¹

1) Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Technical and Vocational University (TVU), Tehran, Iran. Email:

IOI Code : AACZ-ABGDKF
Publication : The 5th International Conference on Seismic Retrofitting(5icst.ir)
Abstract :
    The building sector accounts for a large share of global energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The building envelope, particularly the walls, plays a key role in determining the heating and cooling loads. Phase change materials (PCMs), with their ability to store latent heat at an almost constant temperature, are an emerging technology that can improve the thermal performance of walls. In this paper, first the fundamentals of phase change materials and the methods of integrating them into building walls are reviewed. Then, the most important experimental and simulation studies in two climates—hot and dry (Yazd) and cold and mountainous (Hamedan and Tabriz)—are examined and compared. The research findings indicate that in hot and dry climates, PCM with a melting point of 24–26 °C, with a thickness of 2–4 cm, placed on the inner side of the wall, can reduce indoor temperature by up to 3.2 °C and improve energy consumption by up to 41.8%. In cold and mountainous climates, PCM with a melting point of 20–22 °C, with a similar thickness but placed on the inner side of the wall (close to the living space), reduces heating energy consumption by up to 53.30%. The main difference in PCM performance between these two climates is due to the dominant nature of cooling loads in hot climates and heating loads in cold climates. Finally, design recommendations for each climate and future research directions are presented.

Keywords : phase change materials building walls hot and dry climate of yazd cold and mountainous climate energy consumption optimization thermal comfort