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Laboratory Thermal Testing of PCM-Enhanced Building Products and Envelope Systems

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PCM-Enhanced Building Components

Part of the book series: Engineering Materials and Processes ((EMP))

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Abstract

A great variety of organic and inorganic phase change materials (PCMs) with stable thermo-physical properties are available and have been used worldwide in heat storage applications. In buildings, both sensible and latent energy accumulation can occur in the external envelope as well as in the internal building fabric. It is well known that one of the effective ways for energy performance improvements and cost reduction of PCM applications in buildings is PCM optimization. This process is usually associated with a proper selection of PCM thermal characteristics, PCM quantity, and its location within the building structure. As expected, this requires an excellent understanding of thermal performance characteristics. Hence, the key interest is focused today on relatively inexpensive and easy-to-use testing methods for determination of thermal characteristics of PCM-based products or systems. This chapter is mainly focused on laboratory-scale thermal-testing methods for PCMs, PCM-enhanced building products, and building envelope systems containing PCMs.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The Biot number is a dimensionless quantity, which determines a magnitude of the temperature differences across an analyzed sample, while it is heated or cooled over the time. It was named after the French physicist Jean-Baptiste Biot (1774–1862).

  2. 2.

    http://www.taurus-instruments.de/en/products/hotbox-test-stations/taurus/tdw-4040-thermal-resistance-of-brickwork.html?cat=19&cHash=9272b7b5e8ee54ec1ae8903418149687

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems CSE, 5 Channel Center Street, Boston, MA, 02210, USA

    Jan Kośny

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  1. Jan Kośny
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Correspondence to Jan Kośny .

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Kośny, J. (2015). Laboratory Thermal Testing of PCM-Enhanced Building Products and Envelope Systems. In: PCM-Enhanced Building Components. Engineering Materials and Processes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14286-9_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14286-9_4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-14285-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-14286-9

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