Description

Buildings account for approximately 40% of the nation’s total energy demand1. About 39% of total primary building energy consumption can be attributed to losses through building envelope. Therefore, building envelope load reduction plays a key role to minimize building heating and cooling load, and building electricity consumption. Phase change material (PCM)-based thermal energy storages have re-gained increased attention in recent years, in particular, for a peak load shifting of grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEBs). To simulate PCMs and facilitate the performance studies of PCM-based system using the whole building simulation program, EnergyPlus, two PCM modules have been added to EnergyPlus: the single curve model and the dual curve hysteresis model. Different from the single curve model, the dual curve model allows the melting/ freezing process to follow different curves. The proposed dual curve model is useful to represent the hysteresis effect better compared with the existing EnergyPlus model. Our study found that the current hysteresis model in EnergyPlus has problems modeling the partial transition process. A static two-phase model is used to replace the current hysteresis model, and this is implemented by modifying EnergyPlus source code. Validation simulations has confirmed that our new model could successfully model the partial transition process.

Product Details

Published:

2023

Number of Pages:

10

Units of Measure:

Dual

File Size:

1 file , 4.1 MB

Product Code(s):

D-AT-23-C088

Note:

This product is unavailable in Russia, Belarus