Influence of PCM application in an office building in brazilian climates
Among other benefits, Phase Change Materials (PCMs) can increase comfort hours in buildings with low thermal inertia. Thus, it is essential to analyze the PCM's intrinsic properties, installation factors, and overall climatic parameters. Research pieces concerning PCM incorporation parameters are comparatively less frequent in tropical climates than in temperate and high-latitude climates. This paper strives to investigate the influence of PCMs on user thermal comfort for a naturally ventilated office building in five cities in three Brazilian Bioclimatic Zones. The study employed EnergyPlus for thermal simulations assuming varying building orientations, selective ventilation, PCM's phase change temperatures, layer installation, and thicknesses. The materialincorporation increased user thermal comfort by 26% to 33% compared to the base case, with no PCM, exhibiting the best results for Brazilian Bioclimatic Zones 1 and 4. The parameters with the greatest influence on the adaptive thermal comfort increase were the phase change temperatures between 21°C and 28°C, inner layer installation, mean outdoor temperatures close to 19°C, and solar irradiance above 4000 W/m².Keywords: PCM,EnergyPlus,thermal inertia,adaptive thermal comfort,office.Among other benefits, Phase Change Materials (PCMs) can increase comfort hours in buildings with low thermal inertia. Thus, it is essential to analyze the PCM's intrinsic properties, installation factors, and overall climatic parameters. Research pieces concerning PCM incorporation parameters are comparatively less frequent in tropical climates than in temperate and high-latitude climates. This paper strives to investigate the influence of PCMs on user thermal comfort for a naturally ventilated office building in five cities in three Brazilian Bioclimatic Zones. The study employed EnergyPlus for thermal simulations assuming varying building orientations, selective ventilation, PCM's phase change temperatures, layer installation, and thicknesses. The materialincorporation increased user thermal comfort by 26% to 33% compared to the base case, with no PCM, exhibiting the best results for Brazilian Bioclimatic Zones 1 and 4. The parameters with the greatest influence on the adaptive thermal comfort increase were the phase change temperatures between 21°C and 28°C, inner layer installation, mean outdoor temperatures close to 19°C, and solar irradiance above 4000 W/m².Keywords: PCM,EnergyPlus,thermal inertia,adaptive thermal comfort,office.
Among other benefits, Phase Change Materials (PCMs) can increase comfort hours in buildings with low thermal inertia. Thus, it is essential to analyze the PCM's intrinsic properties, installation factors, and overall climatic parameters. Research pieces concerning PCM incorporation parameters are comparatively less frequent in tropical climates than in temperate and high-latitude climates. This paper strives to investigate the influence of PCMs on user thermal comfort for a naturally ventilated office building in five cities in three Brazilian Bioclimatic Zones. The study employed EnergyPlus for thermal simulations assuming varying building orientations, selective ventilation, PCM's phase change temperatures, layer installation, and thicknesses. The materialincorporation increased user thermal comfort by 26% to 33% compared to the base case, with no PCM, exhibiting the best results for Brazilian Bioclimatic Zones 1 and 4. The parameters with the greatest influence on the adaptive thermal comfort increase were the phase change temperatures between 21°C and 28°C, inner layer installation, mean outdoor temperatures close to 19°C, and solar irradiance above 4000 W/m².
Keywords: PCM,EnergyPlus,thermal inertia,adaptive thermal comfort,office.
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