See

discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224982769

Thermal performance of latent heat storage for

free cooling of buildings in a dry and hot
climate: An experimental study

Article in Energy and Buildings · April 2011

DOI: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2011.06.015

CITATIONS READS

24 111

2 authors:

Adeel Waqas Sivanappan Kumar

National University of Sciences and Technology Asian Institute of Technology
21 PUBLICATIONS 165 CITATIONS 140 PUBLICATIONS 2,041 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Technology Needs Assessment for Asia and CIS View project

Renewable energy technologies for integrated community farming system View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Adeel Waqas on 19 August 2014.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. All in-text references underlined in blue are added to the original document
and are linked to publications on ResearchGate, letting you access and read them immediately.
This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached
copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research
and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution
and sharing with colleagues.
Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or
licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party
websites are prohibited.
In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the
article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or
institutional repository. Authors requiring further information
regarding Elsevier’s archiving and manuscript policies are
encouraged to visit:
http://www.elsevier.com/copyright
 Author's personal copy

Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 2621–2630

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy and Buildings

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enbuild

Thermal performance of latent heat storage for free cooling of buildings in a dry
and hot climate: An experimental study
Adeel Waqas ∗ , S. Kumar
Energy Field of Study, School of Environment, Resources, and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Experimental studies on the Phase Change Material (PCM) storage unit for building ventilation in dry and
Received 7 April 2011 hot climates were conducted to determine its thermal performance. The PCM unit stored the night time
Received in revised form 21 May 2011 coolness and used it for cooling the hot ambient air during day time. The influence of air flow rate and
Accepted 12 June 2011
the inlet air temperature on cold accumulation in PCM during charging process and cold extraction from
the PCM during discharging process were analyzed. The air temperatures used for charging of PCM were
Keywords:
20o C, 22o C and 24o C, while during the discharging process, it was at 36o C, 38o C and 40o C. The air flow
Free cooling
rates considered for charging of PCM were 4 and 5 m3 /hr/kg of PCM. Experimental observations showed
PCM
Latent heat storage
that solidification of PCM was more sensitive to the charging air temperature compared to the air flow
Building ventilation rate. When the charging air temperature was reduced from 22o C to 20o C, ∼33% less time was needed
Cold storage to completely solidify the PCM. Moreover, when the charging temperature was increased from 22o C to
24o C, ∼52% more time was required by the PCM to complete the solidification process. Changing the air
flow rate from 4 m3 /hr to 5 m3 /hr reduced the solidification time period up to ∼16%.
© 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Summer nights in hot and dry climates are cooler compared to
the day temperatures, and in some cases, night temperatures are
well within the comfort temperature range. If this night coldness
is stored and utilized during day time to achieve comfort tempera-
tures in indoor space, mechanical ventilation/cooling can be either
totally eliminated during day time or at least can be limited only
to certain period of day time. Storing ambient air coolness during
the night, and supply it to indoor during the day time is known
as “Free Cooling” [1]. However, an efficient and reliable (thermal)
energy storage becomes necessary to ensure continuous opera-
tion of free cooling systems. Latent heat thermal energy storage
(LHTES) systems have many advantages due to their high-energy
storage densities and smaller temperature differences possible
as compared to sensible storage techniques. Latent heat thermal
energy storage materials or phase change materials (PCMs) absorb
and release thermal energy as they solidify and melt at (partic-
ular) constant temperature known as phase change temperature
[2–4]. PCMs, in free cooling applications, solidify during night time
absorbing cold from ambient air and release the absorbed cold to
Abbreviations: PCM, phase change material; HTF, heat transfer fluid.
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +66 2 524 8305; fax: +66 2 524 5439.
E-mail addresses: st106053@ait.ac.th, adeelwaqas@gmail.com (A. Waqas),
kumar@ait.ac.th (S. Kumar).
ambient air during hot day time and become liquid. Since, the
difference between night ambient temperature and day indoor
temperature is very small, PCMs operating within narrow tempera-
ture range [1–4], present the best storage option for free cooling. In
free cooling, PCM is solidified during night time by cool ambient air,
known as the “charging process”. The stored cold is extracted during
hot day time for cooling of the ambient air known as the “discharg-
ing process”. During discharging process, the storage material, PCM
is liquefied [5,6].
Free cooling system using PCM packed bed to reduce the ven-
tilation load of the building was studied by Takeda et al. [7]. They
observed that the ventilation load of the building could be reduced
up to 62%, using PCM with melting point of 25 ◦ C. In another study
by Naganao et al. [8] the cold stored in PCM during night time
reduced the cooling load of the building up to 92% using paraf-
fin PCM embedded under the floor in the form of granules. In
Beijing, China, PCM based free cooling technique enhanced the
comfort conditions of the building during day time by discharging
the 300 W cold in the living room [9]. Cylindrical PCM (RT20) stor-
age integrated into ventilation system of the building working on
free cooling principle provided more favorable comfort conditions
in the living space during hot day time [10] and reduced the size of
the mechanical ventilation system. PCM with melting point equal to
the average temperature of the hottest summer month was found
suitable for free cooling applications [11] for the European climatic
conditions. Aluminum fins attached to the rectangular PCM con-
tainer were observed advantageous to increase the thermal power

0378-7788/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2011.06.015
 Author's personal copy
2622 A. Waqas, S. Kumar / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 2621–2630
Nomenclature
cp air specific heat capacity of air (J/kg-K)
cp PCM specific heat capacity of PCM (J/kg-K)
ṁair1 air mass flow rate during charging process (kg/s)
ṁair2 air mass flow rate during discharging process (kg/s)
mPCM mass of the PCM (kg)
q̇charging heat transfer rate during charging process (J/s)
q̇discharging heat transfer rate during discharging process (J/s)
qinitial initial energy contained in PCM (J)
qcold abs amount of cold absorbed by PCM during charging
process (J)
qcold ext amount of extracted from PCM during discharging
process (J)
Tair-in air inlet temperature to storage unit (◦ C)
Tair-out air outlet temperature from storage unit (◦ C)
Tinitial initial temperature of PCM (◦ C)
Tm melting point of PCM (◦ C)
Tth threshold temperature
Greek letters
 latent heat (J/kg)
ε non dimensional cold
of the PCM cold storage during free cooling applications. PCM cold
storage filled with 3.6 kg of PCM (RT20) was able to cool down hot
the ambient air (∼27 ◦ C) to ∼24 ◦ C for about 2 h at an air flow rate
of 7.8 l/s [5]. A feasibility analysis of the PCM based free cooling
system was conducted by Zalba et al. [12]. They observed that free
cooling system needs an additional investment of 9%, with a pay
back period of 3–4 years, while electricity consumption was 9.4
times lower than the conventional air conditioner.
Charging air temperature and air flow rate through PCM stor-
age during charging process are the two key parameters affecting
the performance of the PCM based free cooling systems. Charging
temperature should be able to complete the solidification of PCM
and airflow rate should be selected in such a way that it acceler-
ates the solidification process [12,13]. The effectiveness of the PCM
based free cooling system in reducing the ventilation and cooling
load of the buildings during summer season is quite clear from the
above-mentioned studies [5–7,9–13]. Most studies on free cooling
of buildings have been conducted for climatic conditions where
the ambient temperatures are very low (=<20 ◦ C), while day time
temperatures are not high (<34 ◦ C), and the summer season lasts
for very short duration (few months) [5,10–12,14–16]. In certain
regions of the world (like South Asian summer) summer season
lasts for several months and during these months, ambient temper-
atures vary significantly during the whole summer season. For one
month, the charging temperatures may be low enough that PCM
is completely solidified while in few months the night tempera-
tures may not be low enough for complete solidification of PCM.
Similarly, during day time the ambient temperature may be high
(40 ◦ C) during some months, while in other months it may not be
very high (34 ◦ C). Therefore, it is important to know how the free
cooling system for the ventilation of buildings will function in dry
and hot climatic conditions. The variation of ambient (minimum
and maximum) temperatures during summer is shown in Table 1
for Islamabad-Pakistan [17].
An experimental study was conducted to find the applicability
of the PCM based free cooling option for cooling of buildings in dry
and hot summer conditions (Table 1). Specifically, the study was
designed to answer the following questions:
Table 1
Ambient minimum and maximum temperatures during summer season in
Islamabad-Pakistan.
Temperature (◦ C) May June July August
Maximum (ambient) 37.0 39.0 38.0 34.0
Minimum (ambient) 20.0 22.5 24.0 23.5
Source: Pakistan Meteorological Department [17].
Fig. 1. The experimental PCM storage unit used in the study.
• What will be the affect of ambient conditions (ambient air tem-
perature) on solidification of PCM, when the cold is absorbed by
PCM from ambient?
• How would the air (heat transfer fluid) flow rate affect the solid-
ification of PCM?
• What will be the affect of ambient (air temperature) conditions
during discharging of PCM when the absorbed cold is extracted
from PCM?
• Will it be feasible to utilize all the extracted cold from PCM for
space cooling purpose during the melting process of the PCM?
Commercially available PCM in the melting range of 28–29 ◦ C
was used as the storage material. The selected melting range of PCM
temperature falls into the comfort temperature range of the dry and
hot climates according to adaptive comfort criteria [18,19]. Accord-
ing to the findings of Fergus [18] and Fergus and Humprehys [19],
based on the adaptive thermal comfort principle, the occupants of
the buildings in dry and hot climatic conditions feel comfortable
even at higher temperature up to 30 ◦ C. Fergus [18] have also sug-
gested the relation to find the comfort temperature based on the
adaptive thermal comfort criteria. Since summer nights are short
and days are long, this effect was also considered during solidifica-
tion and melting of PCM.
The paper is organized as follows: the experimental setup and
parameters measured during experiment are described in Section
2. Section 3 discusses the procedure of the experiments. Section 4
discusses the thermal performance and heat transfer characteristic
of PCM storage unit. Experimental results are discussed in Sections
5 and 6. Section 7 presents the major conclusions.
2. Experimental setup
A prototype storage unit was fabricated and installed in a
controlled environmental chamber (to simulate the ambient con-
ditions of hot and dry climate) to study the performance of the
PCM storage unit. The evironmental chamber consists of an air-
conditioning unit (4.3 kW) to cool the chamber down to 10 ◦ C. This
could be controlled by a digital thermostat. A heating system of
2 kW capacity was used to heat the chamber up to 50 ◦ C, and was
controlled manually by the control unit located outside the cham-
ber. A dehumidifier controlled the humidity inside the chamber.
The PCM storage unit used for the experimental study was an
open air circuit type as shown in Fig. 1. Air enters the storage unit at
point 1 and leaves at 6 as shown in Fig. 1. A fan at point 2 forces the
 Author's personal copy

A. Waqas, S. Kumar / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 2621–2630 2623

Table 2 Table 4
Parameters measured during experiment. Experimental study details.

Measured parameters Type of experiment Experiment details

Air temperature at storage unit inlet
1: Charging process till complete solidification of PCM
Air temperature at storage unit outlet
1a. Influence of charging air inlet temperature on solidification of PCM
Wet bulb temperature at storage unit inlet
Charging air inlet temperature Air temperature selected for the
PCM temperature
charging of PCM were 20 ◦ C, 22 ◦ C
Air velocity at storage unit outlet
and 24 ◦ C
Charging time period Till complete solidification
Air flow rate 4 m3 /h/kg of PCM
air through the storage unit. A variable voltage regulator (point 3) 1b. Influence of air flow rate on solidification of PCM
is used to control the speed of fan. Air temperature was measured Charging air inlet temperature Air temperature selected for the
charging of PCM were 20 ◦ C, 22 ◦ C
at point 4 (inlet air temperature) and at point 6 (exit air temper-
and 24 ◦ C
ature). PCM temperature was measured at point 5. Environmental Charging process time period Till complete solidification
chamber temperature humidity and the air flow rate through the Air flow rate 5 m3 /h/kg of PCM
storage unit were controlled from a control panel located outside 2: Limited hours charging and discharging process
the environmental chamber (point 7). 2a. Charging process
Air inlet temperature Air temperature selected for the
PCM was encapsulated in the containers of the galvanized steel charging of PCM were 20 ◦ C, 22 ◦ C
(0.5 m × 0.5 m × 0.01 m) as shown in Fig. 2. Liquefied PCM at the and 24 ◦ C
temperature of 40 ◦ C was filled in the galvanized steel containers Charging time period Six hours
using the filling port. Filling of the PCM was carried out in a humid- Air flow rate 5 m3 /h/kg of PCM
2b. Discharging process
ity controlled chamber to avoid the humidity effects on PCM. Three
Discharging air inlet temperature Air temperature selected for the
PCM containers in the PCM storage of total length of 1.5 m were discharging of PCM are 36 ◦ C, 38 ◦ C
used. and 40 ◦ C
The parameters measured during the experiment are described Discharging time period Ten hours
in Table 2. Air temperature at the inlet to storage unit and at the Air flow rate 1.3 m3 /h/kg of PCM

exit of storage unit (Fig. 1) was measured by per-calibrated K-type

thermocouples, which were directly connected to the data logger.
Digital data logger recorded and stored the temperature at every The details of the experiments conducted are tabulated and
5 min interval. Air flow rate was measured at the exit of the storage explained in Table 4. Firstly, the influence of the charging air tem-
unit by a digital anemometer. perature (1a, Table 4) and the air flow rate (1b, Table 4) on complete
The physical data of PCM like melting point, density, etc. along solidification of PCM was studied. From the observations of above
with the properties of heat transfer fluid is provided in Table 3. The experiments appropriate air flow rate was chosen and charging
PCM used was a salt hydrate. process was carried out for 6 h (2a, Table 4) while the discharging
process was carried out for 10 h (2b, Table 4). These experiments
provided information about the influence of the short nights and
3. Experimental procedure long days during summer season on solidification and melting of
the PCM.
The terms used in the following discussions are summarized
below.
Charging process refers to the solidification process of PCM. Air 4. Thermal analysis of PCM storage unit
at temperature lower than the PCM freezing point is passed through
PCM storage unit which removes the heat from the PCM, changing The experimental results were analyzed to find the:
PCM from liquid to solid phase.
Discharging process refers to the process in which the cold i.Amount of cold absorbed by PCM during charging process;
absorbed in PCM during charging process is extracted by air (heat ii.Cold extracted during discharging process;
transfer fluid). Air initially at higher temperature than the melting iii.Cold extracted till threshold temperature;
point of PCM is passed through the storage unit that extracts the iv. Number of hours available till threshold temperature was
cold from the PCM. reached;
Threshold temperature (TTh ) [20] is defined as the temperature v. Influence of the air flow rate on cold extraction during discharg-
of the cooled air from the PCM storage that can be used for the ing process.
building ventilation during discharging process.
Heat transfer rate between air and PCM during charging process
and discharging process was calculated using the measured values
Table 3
Physical properties of PCM and air. of air temperature at the inlet and exit of storage unit. For all the
experiments, humidity in the environmental chamber was main-
Physical properties of PCM and air
tained between 30% and 40% to reflect the ambient conditions of
Commercial name of PCM SP29 (rubitherm GmbH) hot and dry climate.
Phase change temperature (melting) 29 ◦ C Initially, before charging the PCM, the temperature of PCM was
Phase change temperature (freezing) 28 ◦ C
∼33 ◦ C, which is above its melting point. The total energy contained
Density of PCM 1380 kg/m3
Latent heat of PCM 180 kJ/kg in PCM is defined by Eq. (1) which is the sum of sensible energy and
Specific heat of PCM 2.30 kJ/kg-K latent heat of the PCM [5,6]:
Thermal conductivity 0.6 W/m K
Mass of PCM ∼13.0 kg qinitial (J) = mPCM [(Tinitial –Tm )cP PCM + ] (1)
Density of air 1.15 kg/m3
Specific heat of air 1005 J/kg-K In Eq. (1), “Tinitial ” is the initial temperature of PCM in liquid state,
Dimensions of PCM container (L × W) ∼(1.50 m × 0.50 m) “Tm ” is the melting point of PCM, “cp PCM ” is the heat capacity of the
Source: Rubitherm GmbH (www.rubitherm.com). PCM, and “” is the latent heat of the PCM.
 Author's personal copy

2624 A. Waqas, S. Kumar / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 2621–2630

Fig. 2. (a) PCM in the liquid phase for filling in the PCM capsule. (b) PCM capsule.

• Charging process
Knowing the inlet and exit temperatures of air and the air flow
rate, the heat transfer rate between air and PCM during charging
process was determined using the following relation [5,6]:
q̇charging (J/s) = ṁair1 cp-air (Tair-out − Tair-in )
The amount of cold transferred from air to PCM charging pro-
cess is defined by Eq. (3) [5,6]:
 t
qcold abs (J) = ṁair1 cp-air (Tair-out − Tair-in )dt
0 
Non dimensional cold (ε) absorbed by the PCM is the ratio
between the the cold absorbed by PCM during certain time period
and the initial energy of PCM (before the start of the solidification
process). “ε” suggests how much cold has been absorbed by PCM
during charging process within a given time period.
qcold abs
Cold absorbed by PCM = ε =
qinitial
if
Cold absorbed by PCM is less than initial energy,
then ε < 1
Cold absorbed by PCM is equal to initial energy of PCM
(PCM is solidified), then ε = 1
Cold absorbed is more than initial energy of PCM,
then ε > 1 (PCM is solidified and includes
sensible energy)
During solidification process of the PCM, epsilon (ε) in Eq. (4)
can be greater than “1” due to the accumulation of the cold in
PCM in the form of sensible energy when the temperature of the
PCM starts dropping below the melting temperature after PCM is
solidified.
• Discharging process
During the discharging process, the heat transfer rate between
(2)
air and PCM is calculated from Eq. (5).
q̇discharging (J/s) = ṁair2 cp-air (Tair-in − Tair-out ) (5)
The cold extracted from PCM by hot air within the discharging
(3) time period is calculated as follows [5]:
t
qcold ext (J) = ṁair2 cp-air (Tair-in − Tair-out )dt (6)
0
• Efficiency of cold extraction till threshold temperature is reached
The cold execrated during discharging process till threshold
temperature (TTh ) was calculated using Eq. (7).
Cold extracted at threshold temperature (%)
Amount of cold extracted till thershold tempetarture
= (7)
Total amount of cold extracted during discharging process
(4)
5. Results and discussions
Cool air is used to solidify the PCM, which was initially in liquid
state at a temperature higher than its melting point. Cool air enters
the storage unit takes the heat energy contained in liquid PCM and
exits at the end of storage unit. As a result, PCM starts changing
phase from liquid to solid [12]. The charging process was carried

Fig. 3. (a) Air inlet and outlet temperature from storage unit. (b) Cold accumulated in PCM.
 Author's personal copy

A. Waqas, S. Kumar / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 2621–2630 2625

Fig. 4. (a) Air outlet temperature during charging process. (b). Sub cooling (figure (a) is magnified).

out until the entering air and exit air from storage unit are at the
same temperature for the analysis. This means that there is no heat
exchange between the entering cool air and the PCM, and that the
PCM is completely solidified according to Eq. (4).
5.1. Influence of charging air temperature on solidification of the
PCM
To find the influence of charging air temperature on the solid-
ification of PCM, inlet air temperatures of 20 ◦ C, 22 ◦ C and 24 ◦ C at
an air flow rate of 4 m3 /h/kg of PCM [15,16] were used for charging
of PCM.
The air temperature profiles at the inlet and the outlet of the
storage unit during charging process is shown in Fig. 3a. The outlet
air temperature was equal to ∼20 ◦ C within ∼10 h when the charg-
ing air temperature was 20 ◦ C showing that PCM was completely
charged and is in solid phase according to Eq. (4). It took about ∼13 h
and ∼19 h, respectively for the PCM to be completely charged when
the charging air temperatures were 22 ◦ C and 24 ◦ C (Fig. 3a). Dur-
ing charging process, sub cooling of ∼1.7 ◦ C to 2.2 ◦ C was observed
shown in Fig. 3a (which is explained in detailed in Fig. 4). After
sub-cooling, the air outlet temperature profile became relatively
constant. This was the time period when PCM was exchanging its
latent heat with air. The air temperature then dropped sharply
showing that the latent heat exchange process was complete and
now the PCM was absorbing the sensible energy.
The cold accumulated in PCM during the charging process is
shown in Fig. 3b, calculated using Eq. (4). In all the experiments,
at the end of the each experiment, the cold accumulated in PCM
(ε) was more than 1.0, indicating that the PCM had been solidified

Fig. 5. Cold accumulated in PCM at varying air flow rates.

 Author's personal copy
2626 A. Waqas, S. Kumar / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 2621–2630
Fig. 6. Influence of air flow rate and charging temperature on complete solidification
of PCM.
completely and some part of cold accumulated in PCM was in the
form of sensible energy. At higher charging temperature (24 ◦ C), the
PCM solidification time period was prolonged compared to lower
charging temperature (20 ◦ C). In addition, at lower charging tem-
peratures, more cold was stored in PCM within a given time period
compared to the higher charging temperatures (Fig. 3b).
• Sub-cooling during charging process
Sub-cooling of 1.5–2.2 ◦ C was observed during the charging pro-
cess shown in Fig. 4b. Sub cooling is due to the salt hydrate nature
of the PCM. Observations from Fig. 4b show that at lower charging
temperature (20 ◦ C) sub-cooling diminished in very short period
of time (0.5 h) but as the charging air temperature was increased
(24 ◦ C), the sub cooling became significant and lasted for a longer
time period (∼2.3 h) [21]. Therefore, from Fig. 4b, for small differ-
ence between charging air temperature and freezing temperature
of PCM, the sub-cooling affect could be more significant [21]. Due to
the salt hydrate nature of PCM, sub cooling cannot be completely
eliminated from the PCM but can be reduced to minimum using
some additives [21,22]. At higher charging temperatures, solidifi-
cation time period of PCM was prolonged [23] but the results clearly
illustrates that the sub-cooling effect must be taken into account
which can be critical during solidification of PCM specially at higher
charging temperatures.
5.2. Influence of air flow rate on solidification of PCM
Experiments were conducted to observe the affect of the air flow
rate on solidification of PCM during charging process. As the night
time is limited, the air flow rate was enhanced for the maximum
utilization of cold ambient conditions [23].
Fig. 5 shows that increasing the air flow rate from 4 to 5 m3 /h/kg
of PCM reduced the solidification time period of the PCM. At the
charging air temperature of 20 ◦ C, the PCM solidification (ε = 1.0)
time period was reduced to ∼6.5 h (from ∼7.8 h in Fig. 5a) when
air flow rate was changed from 4 to 5 m3 /h/kg of PCM. Similarly,
when the charging temperature was 22 ◦ C (Fig. 5b), at higher air
flow rate, the solidification time period was reduced to ∼9 h (from
10.5 h). Therefore, using higher air flow rates, the night conditions
can be utilized more efficiently and more cold can be stored in PCM
within a given time period.
The combined affect of air flow rate and the charging air tem-
perature is shown in Fig. 6. The observations from Fig. 6 show that
charging air temperature plays a vital role during the solidifica-
tion process of the PCM. When charging temperature was changed
from 22 ◦ C to 20 ◦ C (10% change of temperature) ∼33% less time
Fig. 7. Cold accumulated in PCM during 6 h of charging.
was needed for complete solidification of PCM while changing the
temperature from 22 ◦ C to 24 ◦ C (10% change of temperature) 52%
more time was needed to complete solidification of PCM at the air
flow rate of 5 m3 /h/kg of PCM. This was due to the fact that as the
charging air temperature (24 ◦ C) gets closer to PCM melting point
more time is required to complete the solidification of PCM com-
pared to lower charging air temperature (20 ◦ C). Sub cooling is also
one of the reasons that became more dominant at higher charging
temperature. Therefore, PCM solidification was more sensitive to
charging air temperature and the degree of sub-cooling compared
to the air flow rate.
5.3. Charging and discharging of PCM for limited time period
Experiments of charging and discharging of PCM at limited time
period were also conducted. Charging of the PCM was carried out
for 6 h while discharging was carried for 10 h.
5.3.1. Charging of PCM for limited time period
PCM was charged at an air flow rate of 5 m3 /h/kg of PCM at air
inlet temperatures of 20 ◦ C, 22 ◦ C and 24 ◦ C. These are the tempera-
tures that normally occur during night time in dry and hot climates
shown in Table 1. The air outlet temperatures during charging pro-
cess are shown in Fig. 4a.
During 6 h of charging period, the maximum quantity of cold
was accumulated in PCM when the charging air inlet temperature
was 20 ◦ C (ε ∼ 1.0) shown in Fig. 7. At the charging air temperature
of 22 ◦ C and 24 ◦ C, the cold absorbed by PCM (ε) was 0.65 and 0.4,
respectively (Fig. 7). It was observed that very less quantity of cold
was absorbed in PCM at 24 ◦ C (ε ∼ 0.4). This was mainly due to the
sub cooling, that out of 6 h of charging time period, for about 2.3 h
PCM was in sub cooling process (Fig. 4b). Thus, for maximum uti-
lization of cooler night ambient conditions (free cooling purpose)
PCM with no sub-cooling or with minimum sub cooling should be
chosen.
5.3.2. Discharging of PCM
Discharging of PCM was carried out at the at the air flow rate
of 1.3 m3 /h/kg of PCM which was approximately four times less
than the air flow rate during charging process [10,11,14]. Air inlet
temperatures during discharging time period were maintained at
36 ◦ C, 38 ◦ C and 40 ◦ C. These are the temperatures that normally
occur during day time in dry and hot climates (Table 1).
The air temperature at the exit of storage unit during discharg-
ing process is shown in Fig. 8. The affect of the cold absorbed,
during charging process, can be seen clearly. Higher the absorbed
 Author's personal copy

A. Waqas, S. Kumar / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 2621–2630 2627

Fig. 8. Air outlet temperature from the storage unit during discharging process. (a) Discharging air temperature: 36 ◦ C. (b) Discharging air temperature was 38 ◦ C.

cold during the charging process, more dominant is the latent
heat affect during the discharging process. When PCM was com-
pletely solidified (ε = 1.0), latent heat effect was more dominant
in the entire discharging process (Fig. 8a and b). However, when
the cold absorbed was very low or PCM was not solidified com-
pletely (ε = 0.65 and 0.4), latent heat effect played a very little role.
This can be seen in Fig. 8a and b when PCM was charged at 24 ◦ C
(ε = 0.4) and discharged at 38 ◦ C. The latent heat effect lasted for 3 h
and 2 h, respectively. It was observed that during discharging pro-
cess, at higher discharging temperature latent heat effect was less
dominant and the storage was discharged in shorter time period
compared to the lower discharging temperature.
5.3.3. Cold extracted from PCM during discharging process
The cold extracted at discharging temperatures of 40 ◦ C and
36 ◦ C is compared and shown in Fig. 9. The amount of the cold
extracted from PCM during discharging process was calculated
using Eq. (6).
The amount of cold extracted at discharging temperature of
40 ◦ C in a given time period was more compared to the cold
extracted at discharging air temperature of 36 ◦ C. This was mainly
due to higher heat transfer rate at higher discharging temperature
[24] shown in Fig. 10. For example, at ε = 1.0 almost 33% more cold
was extracted at discharging temperature of 40 ◦ C (Fig. 9a) com-
pared to the discharging temperature of 36 ◦ C (ε = 1.0) within the
10 h time period (Fig. 9b).
Another observation from both Fig. 9a and b is that the whole
amount of cold had been extracted which was absorbed at charging
temperature of 24 ◦ C (ε = 0.4) in a shorter time period. This can be
seen in Fig. 10a which shows the heat transfer rate at discharging
temperature of 40 ◦ C and 36 ◦ C for ε = 0.4 during discharging pro-
cess. The heat flux was at minimum levels within 6.5 h and 8.5 h at
discharging temperature of 40 ◦ C and 36 ◦ C (Fig. 10a), which accord-
ing to Eq. (5), means that air entering to storage unit exits almost at
the same temperature and there is no obvious change in the tem-
perature of air as it passes through the storage unit. This indicates
that the accumulated cold had been extracted from storage and
there is no more heat transfer between the hot inlet air and the
PCM.
Observations from Fig. 10 illustrate that at higher discharging
temperature heat flux reached the minimum value in short time
period showing that melting process of PCM was completed earlier
at higher discharging temperature compared to the lower discharg-
ing temperature [23,24].
It can be concluded from Figs. 9 and 10 that more cold was
extracted at higher discharging temperatures compared to the
lower discharging temperature within 10 h of the discharging pro-
cess. Moreover, at higher discharging temperature, storage was
discharged in a shorter time period compared to the lower dis-
charging temperature.
A summary of the above discussion on limited hours charging
and discharging of PCM is presented in Table 5. Considering 38 ◦ C as

Table 5
Cold absorbed and extracted during charging and discharging process at reference temperature (Tref ) 38 ◦ C.

No. Air inlet Cold absorbed Air inlet temperature Cold extracted %Age of cold %Age change in
temperature during 6 h (MJ) during discharging during period (MJ) extracted during extracted cold
during (◦ C) discharging
charging (◦ C)

1 20.0 ± 0.5 ∼2.33 (ε = 1.0) Tref + 2 ∼1.50 64.4 +11.9

22.0 ± 0.5 ∼1.46 (ε = 0.65) ∼1.10 75.0 +2.8
24.0 ± 0.5 ∼0.90 (ε = 0.40) ∼0.68 75.0 0.0

2 20.5 ± 0.5 ∼2.33 (ε = 1.0) Tref (38 ± 0.5) ∼1.34 57.5 –

22.5 ± 0.5 ∼1.46 (ε = 0.65) ∼1.08 74.0 –
24.5 ± 0.5 ∼0.90 (ε = 0.40) ∼0.68 75.0 –

3 20.5 ± 0.5 ∼2.33 (ε = 1.0) Tref − 2 ∼1.12 48.1 −16.4

22.5 ± 0.5 ∼1.46 (ε = 0.65) ∼0.96 65.7 −11.1
24.5 ± 0.5 ∼0.90 (ε = 0.40) ∼0.68 75.0 0.0
 Author's personal copy

2628 A. Waqas, S. Kumar / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 2621–2630

Fig. 9. Cold extracted from PCM during discharging time.

Fig. 10. Heat transfer rate during discharging process.

the reference discharging temperature (Tref ), the affect of Tref ± 2 ◦ C
on cold extraction during discharging process is analyzed.
For all the discharging temperatures (Tref and Tref ± 2 ◦ C) a large
difference during cold extraction process can be observed in Table 5.
Cold was extracted from a completely solidified PCM (ε = 1.0) and
from partially solidified PCM (ε = 0.65 and 0.4). For example, when
discharging temperature was Tref + 2 ◦ C and ε = 1.0 (Table 5), the cold
extracted was about ∼64% while for the same discharging tem-
perature at ε = 0.65 and 0.4, the cold extracted was about ∼75.5%.
This shows that the cold can be extracted for longer duration from
completely solidified PCM compared to the partially solidified PCM.
A more obvious difference between the completely solidified
PCM and partially solidified PCM can be observed when the dis-
charging temperature was changed to Tref − 2 ◦ C (Table 5). At this
discharging temperature, when ε = 1.0, only 48.1% of the cold was
extracted during 10 h while for ε = 0.65, corresponding values was
65.7% and for ε = 0.4, 75% of the stored cold was extracted. At ε = 0.4
for all discharging temperature (Tref and Tref ± 2 ◦ C), ∼75.0% of cold
was extracted. Therefore, for completely solidified PCM cold can be
extracted for much longer duration compared to partially solidified
PCM.
Fig. 11 explains the temperature pattern of the extracted cold
during discharging process from a completely and the partially
solidified PCM at discharging temperatures of 36 ◦ C, 38 ◦ C and 40 ◦ C
(Fig. 11a–c). From Fig. 11c it can be seen that, when PCM was
charged at 24 ◦ C (ε = 0.40) and discharged at 40 ◦ C a major por-
tion of cold was extracted at higher temperature (31.5–35.0 ◦ C).
This shows that cold absorbed at higher charging temperature
(24 ◦ C) was extracted at higher temperature compared to the
cases when PCM was charged at 22 ◦ C (ε = 0.65, Fig. 11b) and
at 20 ◦ C (ε = 1.0, Fig. 11a) where the extracted cold was at low
temperature.
6. Threshold temperature analysis
Fig. 11 shows that during the discharging process the cold
was extracted from PCM in certain temperature range instead
of a single defined temperature. Therefore, a threshold tempera-
ture (TTh ) is defined and analyzed to observe how much cold was
recovered from PCM during discharging process that can be used
for space ventilation. Threshold temperature considered for the
present study is ∼30.5 ◦ C which is considered to be the upper limit
of the comfort temperature in dry and hot climate according to the
adaptive comfort criteria [18,19,25,26].
The cold extracted during discharging process till threshold
temperature was calculated using Eq. (7). It can be seen from
 Author's personal copy

A. Waqas, S. Kumar / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 2621–2630 2629

Fig. 11. Cold extracted at threshold temperature.

Fig. 12b that almost ∼93% of cold was extracted at the thresh-
old temperature when ε was 1.0 at the discharging temperature
of 36 ◦ C. The extracted cold reduced to ∼75% and ∼65% when ε was
0.65 and 0.40, respectively (the same discharging temperature). It
shows that only ∼93%, ∼75%, and ∼65% of the extracted cold could
be used for space ventilation at the discharging temperature of
36 ◦ C from the completely solidified and partially solidified PCM,
respectively.
When the discharging temperature was changed from 36 ◦ C
to 38 ◦ C or 40 ◦ C, only ∼76% and ∼65% of the extracted cold
(ε = 1.0) was at the threshold temperature and the rest of the
extracted cold was at the higher temperature than threshold
temperature which could not be used for space ventilation.
Fig. 12 shows that from the completely solidified PCM (ε = 1.0),
a major portion of the cold was extracted at the defined thresh-
old temperature and can be used for space ventilation. The
partially solidified PCM (ε = 0.65 and 0.40) can also provide
cold at threshold temperature but the duration and quantity
of the extracted cold is less compared to completely solidified
PCM.

Fig. 12. (a) Available hours till thresh hold temperature. (b) Cold extracted till threshold temperature.
 Author's personal copy
2630 A. Waqas, S. Kumar / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 2621–2630
7. Conclusions
An experimental investigation of free cooling of buildings in
hot and dry climatic conditions was carried out by charging and
discharging a commercially available PCM in the melting range of
28–29 ◦ C. The experimental results indicate that the PCM storage
can be used to keep the hot air within the defined tempera-
ture limits during day time by releasing the cold stored in PCM
during night time. Lower ambient temperatures and higher air
flow rate are observed advantageous to complete the solidifica-
tion of the PCM within short time period compared to the lower
air flow rate and higher ambient temperature during night time.
During discharging process cold extracted from the completely
solidified PCM, at lower air flow rate was observed advanta-
geous in keeping the hot air within the defined temperature
limit compared to the cold extracted from partially solidified
PCM. Some main findings of the experimental study are as
follows:
• The most important parameter affecting the solidification of
PCM is the charging air inlet temperature. Higher air flow rate
will be beneficial for accumulation of maximum cold in PCM
during charging process keeping in view the short summer
nights.
• It is observed that if the charging air temperature is not lower than
the sub cooling temperature (especially for salt hydrate PCMs),
the solidification of the PCM will not be initiated. Higher air flow
rate will not be beneficial also, when charging air temperature is
not lower than the sub cooling temperature during solidification
process of the PCM.
• During discharging process, at higher inlet air temperatures more
cold is extracted from PCM in the given time period as com-
pared to the lower discharging temperature due to the higher
heat transfer rate and more heat losses.
• Threshold analysis shows that although major portion of cold is
extracted at the defined temperature limit, which can be used for
space ventilation, but some portion of cold is released at higher
temperature that may not be used for space ventilation.
Acknowledgement
Author would like to express his gratitude to Higher Educa-
tion Commission of Pakistan (HEC) for financing and supporting
the whole study.
References
[1] V. Raj, R. Velraj, Review on free cooling of buildings using phase change mate-
rials, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 14 (2010) 2819–2829.
View publication stats
[2] X. Wang, Y. Zhang, W. Xiao, R. Zeng, Q. Zhang, Review on thermal performance
of phase change energy storage building envelope, Chinese Science Bulletin 54
(2009) 920–928.
[3] H. Ibrahim, A. Ilinca, J. Perron, Energy storage systems—characteristics
and comparisons, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 12 (2008)
1221–1250.
[4] M. Farid, M. Khudhair, K. Razack, S. Al-hallaj, A review on phase change energy
storage: materials and applications, Energy Conversion and Management 45
(2004) 1597–1615.
[5] V. Butala, U. Stritih, Experimental investigation of PCM cold storage, Energy
and Buildings 41 (2009) 354–359.
[6] U. Stritih, V. Butala, Energy saving in building with PCM cold storage, Interna-
tional Journal of Energy Research (2007) 1532–1544.
[7] S. Takeda, K. Naganao, T. Mochida, K. Shimakura, Development of a ventilation
system utilizing thermal energy storage for granules containing phase change
material, Solar Energy 77 (2004) 329–338.
[8] K. Nagano, S. Takeda, T. Mochida, K. Shimakura, T. Nakamura, Study of a floor
supply air conditioning system using granular phase change material to aug-
ment building mass thermal storage, Energy and Buildings 38 (2006) 436–
446.
[9] K. Yanbing, J. Yi, Z. Yinping, Modeling and experimental study on an innova-
tive passive cooling system—NVP system, Energy and Buildings 35 (2003) 417–
425.
[10] C. Arkar, B. Vidrih, S. Medved, Efficiency of free cooling using latent heat storage
integrated into the ventilation system of a low energy building, International
Journal of Refrigeration 30 (2007) 134–143.
[11] S. Medved, C. Arkar, Correlation between the local climate and the free-cooling
potential of latent heat storage, Energy and Buildings 40 (2008) 429–437.
[12] B. Zalba, J. Marin, L. Cabeza, H. Mehling, Free-cooling of buildings with phase
change materials, International Journal of Refrigeration 27 (2004) 839–849.
[13] J. Turnpenny, D. Etheridge, D. Reay, Novel ventilation cooling system for reduc-
ing air conditioning in buildings. Part I: testing and theoretical modelling,
Applied Thermal Engineering 20 (2000) 1019–1037.
[14] C. Arkar, S. Medved, Free cooling of a building using PCM heat storage integrated
into the ventilation system, Solar Energy 81 (2007) 1078–1087.
[15] A. Lazaro, P. Dolado, J. Marin, B. Zalba, PCM–air heat exchangers for free-cooling
applications in buildings: empirical model and application to design, Energy
Conversion and Management 50 (2009) 444–449.
[16] A. Lazaro, P. Dolado, M. Marín, B. Zalba, PCM–air heat exchangers for free-
cooling applications in buildings: experimental results of two real-scale
prototypes, Energy Conversion and Management 50 (2009) 439–443.
[17] PMD, Pakistan Meteorological and Climatological Data processing centre (PMD)
(2009).
[18] N. Fergus, Adaptive thermal comfort standards in the hot-humid tropics, Energy
and Buildings 36 (2004) 628–637.
[19] N. Fergus, M. Humphreys, Adaptive thermal comfort and sustainable thermal
standards for buildings, Energy and Buildings 34 (2002) 563–572.
[20] M. Rosen, I. Dincer, Thermal Energy Storage: Systems and Applications, 2nd ed.,
John Wiley & Sons Inc., West Sussex, 2010.
[21] E. Günther, H. Mehling, S. Hiebler, Modeling of subcooling and solidification
of phase change materials, Modelling and Simulation In Materials Science and
Engineering 15 (2007) 879–892.
[22] E. Günther, H. Mehling, M. Werner, Melting and nucleation temperatures of
three salt hydrate phase change materials under static pressures up to 800 MPa,
Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics 40 (2007) 4636–4641.
[23] E. Halawa, W. Saman, Thermal performance analysis of a phase change thermal
storage unit for space heating, Renewable Energy 36 (2011) 259–264.
[24] W. Saman, F. Bruno, E. Halawa, Thermal performance of PCM thermal storage
unit for a roof integrated solar heating system, Solar Energy 78 (2005) 341–349.
[25] J. Nicol, Climatic variations in comfortable temperatures: the Pakistan projects,
Energy and Buildings 30 (1999) 261–279.
[26] J. Nicol, I. Raja, Indoor thermal comfort: the Pakistan study, Energy for Sustain-
able Development 3 (1997) 50–60.