Thermal efficiency of PCM filled double glazing units in Egypt

Abstract

Recent research has been focusing on using various media in glazing cavities to minimize heat transfer through translucent elements of buildings. During this study, the thermal efficiency of a Phase change material (RT28HC) glazed unit was experimentally investigated compared with that filled with air in dry arid region. Then, the effect of PCM thicknesses on the thermal efficiency of double-glazing unit (DGU) was investigated using Fluent software including internal temperature, temperature time lag, total transmitted energy, and liquid fraction. The results indicated that the effect of using PCM on room temperature is high. The internal layer's peak temperature time lag in PCM-filled DGU was around 5 h than common DGU. Also, increasing the PCM thickness can effectively improve thermal performance parameters till thickness 30 mm, and more thickness can reverse the variation trend. Hence, these outcomes could contribute to the thermal regulation of highly glazed buildings in dry arid region of Egypt.

Keywords

• PCM
• DGU
• PCM thicknesses
• Building
• Thermal efficiency
• Finite element analysis