Energy performance of a ventilated double skin facade with PCM under different climates

New policies are being promoted worldwide to reduce the energy consumption for space heating and cooling in the building sector. As a new technology to achieve this objective, phase change material (PCM) panels were installed in a new type of ventilated facade to reduce the consumption for space heating and cooling. During winter, the PCM increases the heat storage capacity of the system exposed to solar radiation, while during summer the system can be used as a cold storage unit or as a night free cooling device. The potential of the system to provide energy benefits in the heating period has been demonstrated experimentally under Mediterranean-continental climate conditions, on the other hand, limited benefits were found during the cooling season. The aim of this study is to determine the potential and suitability of this system to operate for cooling purposes, under different weather conditions around the world. In order to accomplish this objective, an own developed numerical model, based on finite control volume approach, was developed and validated against experimental data. The numerical tool is also used to improve the design and to select the most appropriate schedule of the system under the different analysed weather conditions.