Architectural
Institute of Japan
Translated Paper
Replacement model of phase change building
materials for heat load calculation
Mao Serikawa,1 Makoto Satoh2 and Masayuki Mae1
1
Graduate School of Engineering, The Univ. of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; 2Satoh Energy Research Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan
Correspondence
Mao Serikawa, Graduate School of Engineering, The Univ.
of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8654,
Japan.
Email: serikawa.mao@maelab.arch.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Funding Information
JSPS KAKENHI.
The Japanese version of this paper was published in
Volume 84 Number 759, pages 507-514, https://doi.org/10.
3130/aije.84.507 of Journal of Environmental Engineering
(Transactions of AIJ). The authors have obtained
permission for secondary publication of the English
version in another journal from the Editor of Journal of
Structural and Environmental Engineering (Transactions
of AIJ). This paper is based on the translation of the
Japanese version with some slight modifications.
Received January 31, 2020; Accepted February 24, 2020
doi: 10.1002/2475-8876.12148
1. Introduction
Phase change materials (PCMs) absorb and release a large
amount of heat during phase change. Therefore, PCMs may
contribute to room temperature stability and reduce heating
load by solar heat storage.1–4
When a designer considers installing PCM in a house, room
temperature or heat load calculations might be used to estimate
the effectiveness of PCM. Typical methods used for calculat-
ing PCM includes finite difference method, finite volume
method, and finite element method.5–7 Many previous studies
in Japan use these methods as well.8–10 It is often time con-
suming to simulate the room temperature or heat load of a
house containing PCM in its wall, ceiling, or floor, compared
with a house without PCM. This is because PCM must be
divided into thin layers in these methods. Meanwhile, dynamic
thermal characteristics are proposed for evaluating the thermal
heat storage performance of a wall, room, or building.11,12
However, this cannot be applied to PCM which heat capacity
changes depending on temperature.
In this study, a simplified calculation method that employs
the replacement model of PCM for a thermal storage wall is
proposed. In this model, PCM inside the wall is intended to be
replaced as two masses of PCM in spaces adjoining the wall
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© 2020 The Authors. Japan Architectural Review published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Architectural Institute of Japan.
Jpn Archit Rev | April 2020 | vol. 3 | no. 2 | 256–265
Abstract
Phase change materials (PCMs) may contribute to room temperature stability and
heat load reduction. This research proposes a method to calculate heat load using
a PCM replacement model for a thermal storage wall. Regarding the replacement
of PCM with internal thermal mathematical models, the replaced PCM tempera-
ture and room temperature are related. The method to replace PCM in adjoining
rooms is based on the heat transfer coefficient, heat transmission coefficient,
solar absorptance on the surface of a wall, ceiling, or floor, etc. We compare the
results of the proposed replacement model of room temperature and heat load
to a detailed heat load calculation.
Keywords
heat load calculation, PCM, room temperature
such that the calculation speed for the PCM is improved. In
addition, the response factor method could be integrated with
the calculation of PCM using the proposed method [Note 1].
This section describes the purpose of this study, which pro-
poses a simplified method to calculate room temperatures and
heat loads for a model house that comprising PCM in its ther-
mal storage wall, ceiling, or floor. The simplified calculation
method is proposed in Section 2. Regarding the replacement
of PCM with internal thermal mathematical models for adjoin-
ing spaces, we remark that the replaced PCM temperature and
room temperature are related. The proposed model assumes
that PCM absorbs solar radiation heat.
The calculation results of the replacement model are com-
pared with the results of the detailed difference method, and
the accuracy of the replacement model is confirmed. Section 3
describes the calculation conditions of the verification, and
Section 4 presents the verification result.
In this study, PCMs are assumed to store solar heat, not heat
supplied from a heating system. This implies that the phase
change temperature of PCMs is higher than the heating set
point temperature [Note 2]. However, in Section 3, we set case
study conditions, including PCM phase changes at lower tem-
peratures than the heating set point temperature, and we con-
firm the effect of not satisfying the preconditions.
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jar3
2. Proposal for the Replacement Model
The replacement model is proposed in this section.
Ideally, in this study, PCMs are assumed to store solar heat.
Therefore, the phase change temperature of PCMs is assumed
to be higher than the heating set point temperature such that
heat supplied from the heating system is not stored in PCMs.
2.1 Summary of the model
Figure 1 shows the schematics of the replacement model.
PCM is assumed to be installed in a wall, floor, or ceiling,
which, hereinafter, will be simply referred to as a wall.
In the replacement model, the PCM in the wall is distributed
into two adjoining spaces. The distributed PCM in the spaces is
called the replaced PCM and is treated as a thermal mass-like fur-
niture. The distribution rate indicates the rate of PCM distributed
to each space. The PCM is replaced by a virtual layer with little
heat capacity and the same resistance as the PCM layer such that
heat transmission through the wall can be considered. Solar radia-
tion into the space through windows is distributed to walls. In the
replacement model, absorbed solar radiation at the surface of the
wall containing the PCM is assumed to be distributed to the
replaced PCM, walls without PCM, and the space at the opposite
side of the wall containing the PCM. In other words, in the
replacement model, installing PCM results in the increase in the
heat capacity of the space and solar heat storage.
If PCM is installed in an outer wall, then the replaced PCM
of the outdoor space is disregarded because the replaced PCM
of the outdoor space does not affect the calculation result.
Although it is better to consider the heat storage of solar radia-
tion absorbed at the surface of the outer wall, solar radiation
absorbed at the surface of the outer wall is not assumed to
move directly to the replaced PCM inside because PCMs typi-
cally store heat inside a house. In this study, solar radiation
absorbed at the surface of the outer wall is regarded as increas-
ing the equivalent outdoor temperature.
2.2 Heat balance of the replaced PCM
The replaced PCM is assumed to absorb and release heat
depending on the temperature difference between the adjoining
space and PCM, as shown in Equation 1:


  transfer coefficient of the wall for the surface of space i [W/
d Cp Tpi
Tpi Tri  Tpi
ai
q
V
¼ þ Qpi ; (1)
dt Rpi
where ai is the distribution rate of the PCM to each space
adjoining the wall containing the PCM (-), q is the density of
the PCM (g/m3), V is the volume of the PCM in the wall (m3),
Tri is the temperature of the space i adjoining the wall
Figure 1. Schematics of a replacement model example
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SERIKAWA et al.
containing the PCM (°C), Tpi is the temperature of the
replaced PCM of space i (°C), Cp is the volumetric apparent
specific heat of the PCM as a function of Tpi [J/(m3
K)], Rpi is
the resistance between space i and the replaced PCM dis-
tributed in space i (K/W), and Qpi is the solar radiation amount
distributed to the replaced PCM in space i (W).
Qpi is treated as heat production inside the replaced PCM.
2.3 Distribution of solar radiation absorbed by the wall
Solar radiation absorbed by the wall containing PCM was dis-
tributed to the replaced PCM, walls excluding the wall con-
taining PCM, and the space opposite of the wall (Figure 2).
Solar radiation absorbed by walls not containing PCM was
regarded as heat production at the surface of the walls. Mean-
while, solar radiation absorbed by walls containing PCM was
distributed, as shown in Figure 2.
Solar radiation distributed to the space opposite of the wall
is determined under the assumption that the heat balance is
steady, ie, the absorbed solar radiation from space 1 to space 2
is regarded as the temperature increase in the equivalent tem-
perature ðqs1 =h1 Þ, shown in Equation 2; qs1 U=h1 in Equation 2
is equal to qs1;p2 in Figure 2 and regarded as heat production
in the replaced PCM of space 2.
  
qs1
qt1 ¼ U
ðTe1  OTw2 Þ ¼ U
OTw1 þ  OTw2
h1
qs1 U
¼ U
ðOTw1  OTw2 Þ þ ¼ U
ðOTw1  OTw2 Þ þ qs1;p2
h1
(2)
hci Tri þ hri Twi
OTwi ¼ ; (3)
hci þ hri
where qt1 is the heat transmission from space 1 to space 2 (W/
m2) based on the absorption of solar radiation on the surface
of space 1. i is the number for space (-) ði ¼ 1; 2Þ; qsi is the
solar radiation absorbed on the surface of space i (W/m2); qsi;pj
is the absorbed solar radiation distributed to the replaced PCM
of space j out of qsi (W/m2) ðj ¼ 1; 2Þ; U is the heat transmis-
sion coefficient of the wall [W/(m2
K)]; hi is the overall heat
(m2
K)]; hci is the convective heat transfer coefficient of the
wall for the surface of space i [W/(m2
K)]; hri is the radiation
heat transfer coefficient of the wall for the surface of space i
[W/(m2
K)]; OTwi is the operative temperature for the wall on
the surface of space i (not including solar radiation absorption)
(°C); Twi is the mean radiant temperature for the wall on the
surface of the space i (not including solar radiation absorption)
(°C); and Tei is the equivalent temperature for the wall on the
surface of the space i (including solar radiation absorption).
The absorbed solar radiation out of qs1 except qs1;p2 is dis-
tributed to the replaced PCM of space 1 and the walls of space
1 not containing PCM, as shown in Equation 4:
 
U
qs1;p1 þ qs1;r1 ¼ qs1  qs1;p2 ¼ qs1
1  ; (4)
h1
where qsi;ri is the absorbed solar radiation distributed to the
walls of space i not containing PCM out of qsi (W/m2).
The absorbed solar radiation distributed to space 1 out of qs1
except qs1;p2 is further distributed to the replaced PCM of
space 1 and the walls not containing PCM, depending on the
heat transfer coefficient and heat transmission coefficient, as
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Figure 2. Heat transfer and solar radiation distribution for the replacement model

shown in Equation 5. Based on the assumption that the opera- Although the ratio of solar radiation distributed to the
tive temperature of space

1 is equal
 to the representative tem- replaced PCM for each space changes hourly, depending on
perature of the PCM OTw1 ¼ Tp [Note 3], Equations 6 and 7 the solar radiation into the 2 spaces, the distribution rate
are derived. must be decided before the room temperature calculation or
  heat load calculation begins. Therefore, the distribution rate
U
 is determined by areas and directions of windows for each
qs1 1  ¼ h1
ðTs1  OTw1 Þ þ Up1
Ts1  Tp (5) space in advanced. Based on information regarding win-
h1
dows for each space, the total sum of the solar radiation
  amount absorbed at each surface of the wall containing
U h1
qs1;r1 ¼ h1
ðTs1  OTw1 Þ ¼ qs1 1  (6) PCM is calculated, and the total sum of the solar radiation
h1 h1 þ Up1
amount for the replaced PCM of each space was deter-
  mined.

 U Up1
qs1;p1 ¼ Up1
Ts1  Tp ¼ qs1 1  ; (7)
h1 h1 þ Up1
2.5 Resistance between the replaced PCM and the adjoining
where Upi is the heat transmission coefficient from the surface space
of space i to the center of the PCM [W/(m2
K)], Tsi is the sur- The resistance between the replaced PCM and the adjoining
face temperature of the wall containing PCM in space i (°C), space is determined by the resistance between the center of the
and Tp is the representative temperature of the PCM (°C). PCM and the space, the resistance between the surface of one
side and the space on the other side, and the total sum of solar
2.4 PCM distribution rate to adjoining spaces radiation amount absorbed by the replaced PCM. In terms of
Regarding the distribution rate of PCM to each adjoining the solar radiation to space 1, the resistance between space 1
space, PCM is divided into 2 spaces in proportion to the total and the center of the PCM is calculated using Equation 13,
sum of the solar radiation amount for the replaced PCM of and the resistance between the wall surface of spaces 1 and 2
each space [Note 4], as shown in Equations 8–12: is calculated using Equation 14:

  1 1
U Upi rp;r1 ¼ þ (13)
qsi;pi ¼ qsi 1 (8) h1 Up1
hi hi þ Upi

qsi U 1 1
qsi;pj ¼ ði 6¼ jÞ (9) rs1;r2 ¼  ; (14)
hi U h1

 where rp;ri is the resistance between space i and the center of

Qp1 ¼ A qs1;p1 þ qs2;p1 (10) the PCM (m2 K/W), and rsi;rj is the resistance between the

 wall surface of space i and space j (m2 K/W) ði 6¼ jÞ.
Qp2 ¼ A qs2;p2 þ qs1;p2 (11) In terms of the solar radiation to space 2, rp;r2 and rs2;r1 are
similarly calculated.
P
Qpi The resistance between the space and the replaced PCM per
ai ¼ P Pt 2 ; (12) area is calculated by the inverse numbers rpi;ri and rsi;rj
t j¼1 Qpj weighted by the total sum of solar radiation to the replaced
P PCM from each space. The resistance between the space and
where A is the area of a wall containing PCM (m2) and the replaced PCM is calculated considering the area of the
indicates the total sum of the target period. t wall containing PCM, as shown in Equation 15:
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P  P 
1 qsi;pi rpi;ri þ t qsj;pi rsj;ri
¼A
t
P P ði 6¼ jÞ: (15)
Rpi t qsi;pi þ t qsj;pi

The resistance between the space and the replaced PCM

must be determined before the room temperature calculation or
heat load calculation begins. Therefore, the solar radiation
amounts absorbed by the replaced PCM are decided in
advance, as mentioned in Section 2.4.

3. Materials and Methods

3.1 Verification method
The calculation results of 1728 cases calculated using the
replacement model were compared with the results of the
detailed difference method, which, hereinafter, will be referred
to as the detailed calculation, to confirm the accuracy of the
replacement model. In this study, the results of the detailed
calculation are considered to be accurate.
Annual heat load calculations were used for the verification,
and the results of room temperature and heat load were com-
pared.

3.2 Model house

Figure 3 shows the wooden model house used in the verification.13
The underfloor space, the space between the first and second
levels, and the attic space were treated as one space, respectively.
The boundary of insulation included the floors of the first floor,
the ceilings of the second floor, and the outer walls.
PCM was installed into one part of the floor, ceiling, or
outer walls in one room of the living room, child’s room, or
bedroom.
Table 1 shows the overall heat transfer coefficient of the
parts not containing PCM according to the insulation level.
The insulation level of the house is one of the parameters for Figure 3. Images of floor plan and cross-section of the model
verification. The overall heat transfer coefficient in Table 1 house13 for verification
was assumed to be 6.7 W/(m2
K) for the floor, 11.1 W/(m2
K)
for the ceiling, and 9.1 W/(m2
K) for the wall and window.
Table 2 shows examples of layer compositions. The layer
compositions shown in Table 2 correspond to the insulation Table 1. Overall heat transfer coefficient of parts
level of the Japanese energy efficiency standard in Section 3.4.
The insulator layer was disregarded in the case of no insulation Insulation level and overall heat transfer coefficient
in Section 3.4. The PCM layer was replaced with a virtual layer
1. No insulation 2. Insulation level that meets the energy
that had little heat capacity [1 kJ/(m3
K)] and the same resis-
Part [W/(m2
K)] efficiency standard [W/(m2
K)]
tance as the PCM layer in the replacement model. The wall con-
taining PCM was assumed to have a virtual finishing material Outer 2.57 0.53
with a relatively small heat capacity. Properties of PCM and the wall
finishing material were parameters for verification. The PCM Floor 3.40 0.48
was divided into five layers in the detailed calculation. Ceiling 2.43 0.24
Window 6.51 4.65
3.3 Schedule
The schedules of the number of persons, apparatus heat pro-
duction, lighting, ventilation, etc. were set based on a previous
study,14 which indicated the typical schedule of a Japanese The heating schedule depended on the room where PCM
family, ie, for 4-person family that used heating and cooling was incorporated. The heating time of the living room was rel-
intermittently in living spaces. atively long (14 hours on a weekday and 13 hours on a holi-
day), and that of the child’s room was short (3 hours on a
3.4 Cases for verification weekday and 10 hours on a holiday). The air conditioner in
Table 3 shows the cases for verification. The parameters were the bedroom was not operated for heating.
primarily related to the performance of the house and PCM In the replacement model, the phase change temperature of
[Note 5]. The total number of cases was 1728. the PCM was assumed to be higher than the heating set point
The insulation level was one of the parameters. One of the 2 temperature. However, for the verification, the phase change
levels had no insulation, and the other satisfied the Japanese temperature for some cases was the same as or lower than the
energy efficiency standard for residential buildings. heating set point temperature.
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Table 2. Examples of layer compositions

Thickness Conductivity Volumetric specific heat

Part Material mm W/(m
K) kJ/(m3
K)

Insulation level 2 (Table 4) Floor Not containing PCM Plywood 12 0.16 720
Insulatora 80 0.045 13
Containing PCM Finishing 10 Table 4 10
PCM 10 Table 4 —
Plywood 12 0.16 720
Insulatora 80 0.045 13
Ceiling Not containing PCM Gypsum board 10 0.22 830
Air spacea
Plywooda 9 0.16 720
Insulatora 107 0.028 40
Containing PCM Finishing 10 Table 4 10
PCM 10 Table 4 —
Air spacea
Plywooda 9 0.16 720
Insulatora 107 0.028 40
Outer Wall Not containing PCM Gypsum board 12 0.22 830
Insulator 66 0.045 13
Air space
Plywood 12 0.16 720
Containing PCM Finishing 10 Table 4 10
PCM 10 Table 4 —
Insulator 66 0.045 13
Air space
Plywood 12 0.16 720
a
PCM, phase change material. Gray shade indicates the parameters of the case study. Not contained in the ceiling and floor between the first
and second floors.

3.5 Properties of PCM C: Level 1, Parameter D: Level 1, Parameter E: Level 1,

Table 4 shows the properties of the PCM. The apparent volu-
metric-specific heat of the PCM was treated as a function of
its temperature, as shown in Figure 4. The temperature and
volumetric-specific heat of the PCM were determined based on
an iterative calculation in one step.
3.6 Other simulation conditions
Table 5 shows the simulation conditions.
Thirty percent of the solar radiation of the room through the
windows was distributed to the floor. The remaining was dis-
tributed to the walls, ceiling, and floor in proportion to their
areas. Regarding the replacement model, solar radiation was
distributed to the replaced PCM based on the distribution rates.
The PCM layer was replaced with a virtual layer that had
little heat capacity [1 kJ/(m3
K)] and the same resistance as
the PCM layer in the replacement model.
qsi;ri should be distributed to the air of space i, and the walls
of space i excluding the wall containing the PCM, depending
on the convective and radiation heat transfer coefficient. How-
ever, all of qsi;ri was distributed to the walls not containing the
PCM owing to the restriction of the heat load calculation pro-
gram used in this study.
4. Results
4.1 Comparison of a representative case of the replacement
model and the detailed calculation
4.1.1 Time series data of room temperature and heat flow
Figure 5 shows the calculation results of the representative
case (Parameter A: Level 2, Parameter B: Level 2, Parameter
Parameter F: Level 2, Parameter G: Level 1, Parameter H:
Level 3, and Parameter I: Level 1), which indicates a large
difference in the room temperature and heat load. The PCM
was installed in the floor of the living room. The room temper-
ature of the replacement model and the difference model indi-
cated the largest difference in the representative days shown in
the figure. The phase change temperature of the PCM was
higher than the heating set point temperature, implying that
this case was assumed to be the target for the replacement
model.
Figure 5B shows the room temperature of the living room.
The maximum difference between the replacement model and
the detailed calculation was 3.9°C on the night of January 14
to 15. This was a result of the replacement model predicting
that the solidification timing was later than that of the detailed
calculation as shown in Figure 5D. One of the factors causing
this error may be that the replaced PCM was not affected by
the heat transmission through the floor. For example, both the
PCM temperature of the replacement model and the detailed
calculations were stable on the evening of January 14. Subse-
quently, the solidification of the PCM started at approximately
0:00 on January 15, after the heating stopped, and ended at
approximately 3:30 in the detailed calculation. Meanwhile, the
solidification of the replaced PCM in the living room ended at
approximately 8:00. It was assumed that the replaced PCM
released little heat as the room temperature was stable at
approximately 20°C during the heating time, and it was not
affected directly by the low room temperature of the under-
floor space even after the heating had stopped. However, the
temperature trend is generally predicted by the replacement
model except for the timing of the end of solidification. Con-
cerning the difference in the annual room temperature between
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Table 3. Simulation cases

Parameter Level

A Insulation level 1 No insulation

2 Insulation level that satisfied the energy efficiency standard
B Solar heat gain coefficient of windows 1 0.2
2 0.8
C Room for PCM installation 1 Living room
2 Child’s room
3 Bedroom
D Building part for PCM installation 1 Floor
2 Ceiling
3 Outer wall
E Thermal resistance of finishing material 1 0.01 m2
K/W
2 0.1 m2
K/W
F Latent heat of PCM 1 100 MJ/m3
2 200 MJ/m3
G Thermal conductivity of PCM 1 0.1 W/(m
K)
2 0.5 W/(m
K)
H Phase change peak temperature of PCM (Tpeak) 1 18°C
2 20°C
3 22°C
I Phase change temperature range of PCM (DT) 1 1°C
2 10°C

Installed PCM volume 1. Living room (m3) 2. Child’s room (m3) 3. Bedroom (m3)

D 1. Floor 0.215 0.108 0.133

2. Ceiling
3. Outer wall (south) 0.073 0.039 0.070
PCM, phase change material.

Table 4. Properties of PCM

Unit Value or formula

3
Ql Latent heat J/m Table 3
Crol Volumetric Liquid phase kJ/(m3
K) 1000
Cros specific heat Solid phase kJ/(m3
K) 1000

Ts Temperature range Lowest °C = Tpeak  DT/2

Tl of phase change Highest °C = Tpeak + DT/2 Figure 4. Apparent specific heat for calculation

PCM, phase change material.

than that of the difference model, and it released a large

the replacement model and the detailed calculation, the errors
of 9 steps (0.02%) were no less than 3°C, and that of 227 steps
(0.43%) were no less than 2°C, among 52 560 total steps.
Although the difference was large occasionally, the number of
steps with a large error was limited, and the effect on the eval-
uation of thermal environment of the room may have been
limited as well.
Figure 5E shows the heat flow of the floor containing PCM,
calculated by the detailed calculation. It absorbed solar radia-
tion at the upper surface during the day and released heat
throughout the evening until the next morning. It always
releases heat at the lower surface in this period. Figure 5F
shows the heat flow calculated by the replacement model. The
replaced PCM in the living room absorbed solar radiation dur-
ing the day and released heat from the evening until the heat-
ing stopped. However, the amount of heat released was less
Jpn Archit Rev | April 2020 | vol. 3 | no. 2 | 261
amount of heat after heating stopped. Therefore, the timing of
solidification was late compared with that of the detailed cal-
culation.
Figure 5G shows the heating load of the living room, and
the loads indicate a similar trend.
4.1.2 Heating load
In this subsection, the heat loads of the replacement model and
the detailed calculation of the representative case are com-
pared.
Figure 6 shows the heat load every 10 minutes in 1 year.
The horizontal axis indicates the heat load of the detailed cal-
culation, and the vertical axis indicates that of the replacement
model. For some time, the replacement model underestimated
the load after the heating started, which indicated the time per-
iod when the heat load was temporally large. Meanwhile, the
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Table 5. Simulation conditions

Simulation conditions

Region Okayama City in Japan

Weather data Typical Year of Expanded AMeDAS
Weather Data15 (1995)
Program EESLISM for Windows 7.216 [Note 6]
Time step 10 min A
Heating and cooling
Period Heating: 11/4-4/21; Cooling: 5/30-9/23
Schedule Intermittent operation14
Temperature and Heating: 20°C
humidity setting Cooling: 27°C 60% (Bedtime: 28°C 60%)
Ventilation 0.5 ACH
Infiltration of underfloor 5.0 ACH
and attic space B
Solar reflectance of the 0.1
ground surface
Solar absorptance of outer 0.7
walls
Thermal emissivity of walls 0.9
Heat capacity of furniture 12.6 kJ/(m3
K)
(sensible heat)

model overestimated the load after the load became stable,

which implied that it was almost under 5 kW. The difference
in the annual heat load was 2%, which was relatively small.

4.2 Comparison of room temperature and heat load of all cases

In the preceding section, the trends of room temperature and
heat load were generally predicted by the replacement model
if the phase change temperature of the PCM was higher than D
the heating set point temperature. This section references all
cases.
Figure 7 shows the differences in the results between the
replacement model and the detailed calculation of 1782 cases.
The vertical axis indicates the maximum difference in the
room temperature in 1 year where the PCM was installed. The
horizontal axis indicates 1782 cases, which are ordered per the
E
parameters of A to I excluding H and ordered from Level 1
for each parameter in Table 4. The phase change temperature
of 22°C in the legend is higher than the heating set point tem-
perature. In addition, 18 and 20°C are not higher than the heat-
ing set point temperature and are not the target applied to the
replacement model; however, the results are shown for refer-
ence.
The maximum value in the cases of 22°C is 4.8°C in Fig-
ure 7, which is not small. Furthermore, the case of Figure 5
shows 3.9°C in the maximum temperature difference and a 2%
difference in the heat load. However, it is shown that the F
trends of the room temperature and heat load were predicted
by the replacement model in Section 4.1.1, although the timing
of the phase change could include errors.
Figure 8 shows the total heating load of the house in 1 year.
The horizontal axis indicates the heat load of the detailed cal-
culation and the vertical axis indicates that of the replacement
model. Regarding the cases of phase change temperature of
22°C, the results of the replacement model show values close
to the results of the detailed calculation. Regarding the cases
G
of phase change temperatures of 18 and 20°C, the accuracy of
the replacement model decreased. This was because the PCM Figure 5. Calculation result example of the case (phase change mate-
phase change temperature was not higher than the heating set rial [PCM] phase change temperature: 22°C, ’A–G’: labels for
each graph of the figure)
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Figure 6. Comparison of heat load between the detailed calculation
and the replacement model (case of Figure 5)
Figure 7. Maximum room temperature difference between the
detailed calculation and the replacement model
point temperature and heat from the heating system could be
stored in the PCM; therefore, the replacement model would
overestimate the heat load [Note 7].
Figure 9 shows the relationship between the error of the
room temperature and that of the heating load. The horizontal
axis value of Figure 9 is the same as the vertical axis value of
Figure 7, and the vertical axis value of Figure 9 is the differ-
ence in heat load between the replacement model and the
detailed calculation. Regarding the cases of phase change tem-
peratures of 18 and 20°C, both the room temperature and heat
load showed significant errors. Meanwhile, in the cases of
22°C, errors were few.
Figure 8. Comparison of annual heat load between the detailed calculation and the replacement model
Jpn Archit Rev | April 2020 | vol. 3 | no. 2 | 263
SERIKAWA et al.
Figure 9. Comparison of temperature difference and the heat load
between the detailed calculation and the replacement model
In this section, it is confirmed that if the phase change
temperature is not higher than the heating set point temper-
ature, then the replacement model shows reasonable accu-
racy.
5. Conclusions
A replacement model to calculate PCM in a wall as thermal
masses was proposed herein, and the accuracy of the model
was verified.
A model house was used for the verification, and the room
temperature and heat load were compared with those of the
detailed calculation by the difference method. It was confirmed
that the model generally reproduced the trend of the room tem-
perature in cases where PCMs of phase change temperature
higher than the heating set point temperature were applied to
the model. However, the replacement model occasionally pre-
dicted the timing of solidification later than that of the differ-
ence method.
This study addressed the case of one wall containing PCM.
In future studies, a method to replace PCM installed in multi-
ple walls should be discussed. Furthermore, a method to com-
bine the replacement model to the response factor calculation
should be proposed to improve the calculation speed.
SERIKAWA et al.
Acknowledgments
Part of this work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number
19H02295. The authors would like to express their gratitude to the
funding source.
Disclosure
The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
Notes
Note 1) For example, inputs are heat flux at the inner surface and
outer temperature of the outer wall. The output of the response factor
is the temperature of the inner surface. The air temperature of the room
is calculated by the difference method. In addition, Takeda17 proposed
a calculation method combining the finite difference method and
response factor method.
Note 2) Many studies have discussed the relationship between the set
point temperature of heating or cooling and the phase change tempera-
ture of PCMs. For example, Peippo et al.18 indicated that the effective
phase change temperature to generate a larger passive heat storage
amount is 1 to 3°C higher than the room temperature.
Note 3) Assume a condition in which a difference exists between the
operative temperature of space 1 ðOTw1 Þ and the PCM temperature
(Tp). If Tp is lower than OTw1 in the day time as a result of the heat
capacity of the PCM, then the replacement model overestimates qs1;r1
and underestimates qs1;p1 . However, overestimating qs1;r1 causes a tem-
perature increase in space 1, which causes heat to transfer from the air
to space 1 to the replaced PCM in space 1, and the effect of overesti-
mating is counteracted. Therefore, Tp is assumed to be equal to OTw1
for the simplification of the model.
Note 4) The reason that the distribution rates are decided to be in pro-
portion to the total sum of the solar radiation amount is as follows.
Suppose that the replacement model is applied to a thermal mass with
sensible heat, and the temperature increase in the thermal mass of each
space corresponds to Q1 =C1 and Q2 =C2 , separately, where C1 and C2
are the heat capacities of the thermal masses (J/K), and Q1 and Q2 are
the corresponding solar radiation amounts (J). Assuming that the tem-
perature of the heat capacity in the wall is stable, Q1 =C1 ¼ Q2 =C2 is
established, and the distribution rates are in proportion to the amount
of solar radiation.
Note 5) The correlation of properties between the existing PCMs and
the PCM in the verification is as follows. A thesis regarding PCMs
installed in walls19 states that the latent heat of organic PCMs is 120-
210 J/g. The latent heat of the verification (100, 200 MJ/m3) indicates
a close value to the lower and upper limit of organic PCMs, consider-
ing that the density of organic PCMs is slightly less than that of water.
The thesis19 also states that the heat conductivities of organic and inor-
ganic PCMs are approximately 0.2 and 0.5 W/(m
K), respectively. The
range of heat conductivity of the verification (0.1, 0.5 W/[m
K])
includes these values. The phase change temperatures of the verifica-
tion are virtual values. They are supposed to be lower than, the same
as, or higher than the heating set point temperature. Furthermore, the-
ses19–21 do not show organized information regarding the temperature
range of the phase change. Previous studies on the calculation of
PCMs indicate several values of the phase change temperature range,
for example, 0.5,22 0.8,9 2.0,8 4.0,1 5.0,4 and 6.0°C.23 The upper tem-
perature of the phase change range of the verification (10°C) indicates
a higher value than these. The lower temperature of the phase change
range of the verification is 1°C. The measurement method for the
phase change building materials states that the apparent specific heat
from the measurement result is indicated by 1°C.24 Therefore, 1°C is
the smallest value of range for the measurement.
Note 6) The calculation method of the heat load calculation program
is based on a backward difference method. Heat transfer at the surface
is calculated separated into convection and radiation. The radiation
heat transfer coefficient is calculated using the radiation heat exchange
coefficient, considering mutual radiation between the surfaces of the
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jar3
walls. The specific heat of the PCM is calculated by the apparent
specific heat model as a function of temperature. The temperature of
the current time step and the specific heat are determined by iterative
calculations. The specific heat from the previous step to the current
step is determined as the average of the specific heat corresponding to
each temperature being divided (100 divisions in the case study) in the
range from the previous temperature to the current temperature, as
shown in Figure A1.
Note 7) Under the circumstances that only one side space of the wall
containing PCM is heated, the temperature difference of both sides of
the wall may be large. If the phase change temperature of the PCM is
higher than the heating set point temperature, then the PCM is not
melted by the heat from the heating system. However, if it is lower,
the PCM located in the area where the temperature is higher than the
phase change temperature would melt. Solidification of PCM is likely
to occur in an uninsulated wall because of the effect of low tempera-
ture of the unheated space. However, under these circumstances, the
melting of the replaced PCM may be caused by the heat from the heat-
ing system. If the replacement model is applied to PCMs, the phase
change temperature of which is not higher than the heating set point
temperature, then the model would predict the PCM behavior incor-
rectly by overestimating the heat load.
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