Innovative Integration of Phase Change Materials and Conceptional Design of Test Cases – New Products for the Building Envelope

The building sector contributes to a great part of energy consumption and has a major impact on climate in Europe. Development of climate-friendly and energy-efficient products is required to reach low and net-zero energy buildings and to facilitate the energy transition. The building envelope is critical in defining the demand for space heating and cooling as well as ensuring thermal comfort and indoor environmental quality through proper ventilation. This paper presents the conceptual test cases integrating phase change materials (PCMs) in the building envelope. PCM absorbs, stores, and releases the heat energy in a controlled manner taking advantage of the temperature difference between night and day. Hence PCM can support the thermal management of the building by minimizing unwanted heat gains and losses while integrated into walls or support the energy efficiency of ventilation while supplying fresh air. Smart ventilated heat harvesting windows and multifunctional sandwich panels are developed within the EU-funded iclimabuilt project. Additionally, commercial air-guided PCM storages are presented as ready-to-install products for decentralized ventilation and heat recovery systems.