Investigation of the effect of using phase changing materials at building walls on heat gain and loss

Due to the rapid depletion of priority energy resources in the world, all countries, especially developed and developing countries, are developing certain methods to control the need for energy and to use energy more efficiently. In our country, this energy consumption is increasing every year in houses and other areas, especially in industry. Especially in residential buildings, this consumption goes to heating and cooling needs. Heat insulation is an important parameter for more efficient use of energy. There are many thermal insulation materials on the market. Phase changing materials (PCM) is an insulation material which will be an alternative to these thermal insulation materials. In this study, heating and cooling loads for summer and winter climatic conditions were investigated numerically in ANSYS by using PCM instead of insulation on building exterior walls facing different directions. Considering the climatic data of Elazığ province, it was assumed that the outer surface of the building wall was exposed to sunlight and outdoor temperatures varying for 24 hours and the inner surface was in contact with room air at constant temperature. For this purpose, 6 different wall models were determined and analyzed. As a result, temperature fluctuations on the outer surface are minimized on the inner surface by using PCM. In addition, it has been observed that using PCM reduces the heating and cooling load compared to the uninsulated wall in summer and winter conditions.