Solar Energy Storage in Building Structure for Solar Space Heating

A research project is conducted to investigate the thermal performance of a PCM wall for solar space heating. The south wall of the sample room is designed as PCM Trombe wall made of, from inside to outside, insulation, brick, plaster in which encapsulated PCM is buried, air gap and novel designed triple glass glazing. According to early analysis, the results are very promising. Preliminary results from the monthly analysis show that the ratio of the solar energy benefit to heat load of the room is 70%, 41% and 14% percent in October, November and December of the year 2009, respectively. This means that PCM Trombe wall can meet 70% percent of the heat load in October, 41% percent in November and so on. On the other hand, Overall efficiency of the PCM Trombe wall is 30%, 27% and 24% for the same months.