New phase-change material components for thermal management of the light weight envelope of buildings

• An alveolar floor filled with the composite was built to study storage capabilities.
• Heat transfer of a floor panel submitted to a heat-up ramp follow by a cool-down ramp was studied.
• Temperatures and heat fluxes have been measured and analyzed.
• Comparison with reference floor panel was presented.
• Results show the enhancement of the inertia of the floor panel filled with the PCM.

This work proposes the improvement of the energy performance of hollow concrete floor panel through the insertion of a phase change material (PCM) in enclosures of the floor panel in order to significantly increase the thermal inertia of the wall. The PCM is a shape-stabilized polymer composite PCM containing 85% of paraffin, with a latent heat of melting of 110 kJ/kg and a melting point at about 27 °C. This article shows first, the design and development of the floor panel including PCM, then presents the methodology of the experimental tests that were conducted to study the thermal performance of the floor panel. The obtained results were discussed and finally the most relevant conclusions are presented, as well as future basis of the investigation.