Passive energy management through increased thermal capacitance

This paper investigates the potential of using passive energy management through increased thermal capacitance (ITC) on the building cooling load by circulating water through a piping system located in the building walls or ceiling and then through a water storage tank. The cooling load obtained from the application of the ITC on the building walls and the ceiling is compared with the cooling load of a reference building without ITC. The reference building, which is located in Atlanta, GA, as well as the building with the ITC are simulated using a transient building simulation software, TRNSYS, for the month of May. Several parameters that affect the performance of the proposed ITC are also analyzed, including the tank size, the mass flow rate of the working fluid, and initial working fluid temperature. In addition, the effect of the window-to-wall ratio was analyzed for the ITC case in the walls. It was found that as the window-to-wall ratio increases the amount of potential of the ITC to reduce the cooling load decreases. In general, results indicate that the application of ITC reduces the cooling load, with an application on the ceiling being the best scenario.