Establishment and experimental verification of PCM room's TRNSYS heat transfer model based on latent heat utilization ratio

The aim of the present work is to set up an apparent specific heat capacity phase change heat transfer model and a new TRNSYS component (Type272). A PCM (phase change material) room model is established by combining Type272 and some TRNSYS components (Type 56, 109, 16, 69, 33, and Type 65). The latent heat utilization ratio (a) is proposed in Type272 which treats the melting and the solidification process, respectively. To validate the new model, a full-scale experiment room installed with PCM panels is built, and two different working conditions (passive/active cool storage condition) are set up. It is found that both the trend and the simulation data of the model are agreed well with the experiment results. In the two different conditions, the MREs (mean relative error) between the simulated and the measured data are less than 3% and 7.59%, respectively, and the consistent match degree lies between 90.10% and 98.81%. The new model, with simplicity, adaptability and practicality, can accurately simulate indoor temperature and the surface wall temperatures. Our work provides an effective tool to optimize the design of the PCM room by simulating different kinds of PCMs, locations, and different combinations with cold and heat source. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.