Simulation Model for Cooling Panels with Integrated Latent Thermal Storage System

This Thesis focuses on the development of an experimentally validated equation based simulation model of a cooling panel with integrated latent thermal storage system for utilization in Nearly Zero-Energy Buildings (NZEB) buildings. Development of such model is necessary in order for this technology to achieve industry-readiness.

The Thesis is composed of a literature review and an experimental study.

The literature review focuses on NZEB requirements in the European Union (EU) member countries, previous research in the field of passive cooling technologies and latent thermal storage systems. The passive cooling technologies described in the literature review are considered potential cooling energy sources to be coupled with the researched cooling panel. A combination of these technologies may be used to address overheating issues in NZEB buildings.

The experimental study is focused on the development and validation of the aforementioned cooling panel simulation model. The numerical model is developed by using dynamic simulation software IDA ICE and is composed of sub-models written in Neutral Model Format (NMF). The simulation model is validated against experimental measurements carried out in a test chamber that was developed specially for this study. Moreover, a comparative study is carried out where the results generated by the developed and validated simulation model are compared against a previous CFD simulation study results acquired by a different research team.

The accuracy of the results generated by the simulation model when compared with experimental measurements is a maximum deviation of 2.2 °C and a root mean square error of 1.01 °C. The results indicate that the accuracy reached by the simulation model is equal or higher than reported in other similar studies, therefore the accuracy is considered suitable for energy, thermal comfort and cooling load simulation in whole building scale simulation studies.

The experimental study also provides several limitations for the proposed simulation model that shall be respected in order to reach the accuracy claimed in this study.