Annual energy saving potential for integrated application of phase change envelopes and HVAC in Western China

Abstract Recently, the application of the phase change materials (PCMs) in buildings has attracted more and more attention. To the authors’ knowledge, little information is available in the opening literature on the integrated application of phase change envelopes (PCE) and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems (HVAC). For this purpose, the integrated application of PCE and HVAC are investigated based on EnergyPlus 8.6 on a typical residential building. The analysis is conducted in Kunming, Lhasa, Xi’an, Chengdu and Urumchi. Firstly, the effects of three different phase change temperature (PCT) on the energy savings of the HVAC buildings are analyzed for a whole year. Then, the optimal PCT are selected according to the annual energy savings. Meanwhile, the influence of the climate conditions on the energy saving rate are carefully analyzed. Lastly, the energy saving rate is also studied for both cooling and heating periods to evaluate the energy saving performance. These results highlight the potential of PCE in the HVAC buildings to decrease the energy consumption in Western China.

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