Use of Phase-Change Materials as Passive Elements for Climatization Purposes in Summer: The Portuguese Case

Abstract

Comfort conditions and energy savings obtained using phase-change materials (PCMs) on a typical Portuguese family house, in summer, are analyzed for three different locations in the country: Interior-North (Bragança), center (Coimbra) and interior-South (Évora). Assessment of the effectiveness of PCM is based on the simulation results obtained using the “ESP-r” software package. Results show that comfort temperature conditions can be increased and energy needs for cooling can be reduced to roughly one half using PCM. Nighttime ambient temperature shows to be of major relevance, as PCM need to undergo the liquid-solid phase change during the night.

Keywords:

• Energy savings
• Cooling season
• Phase-change materials
• Portuguese case
• Thermal comfort