Experimental Investigation of The Optimal Location of PCM Capsules in a Hollow Brick Wall

Abstract

In this paper, an experimental investigation of the integration of PCM capsules as insulation material into the outer or inner rows of hollow brick to find out the optimum location of the PCM capsules that give the best thermal performance of a wall. A test model consists of two identical cubical rooms was designed and fabricated to test the wall with and without PCM in a natural outdoor condition in Diwaniyah city in Iraq during the summer. The results show that the PCM will reduce the temperature of the inner side of the test wall and test room by 2.7℃ for the PCM capsules in the inner row while the reduction in both the inner surface temperature and the room due to the use of the capsules in the outer row was 1.9℃. The time lag for the two cases was 1 hour. So that, the inner row location of PCM is the optimum location.

Keywords

• phase change material (pcm)
• thermal insulation
• time lag
• and decrement factor