Experimental and numerical analyses on thermal performance of different typologies of PCMs integrated in the roof space

The study investigates the thermal performances of Phase Change Materials (PCM) integrated in a roof space to be used as a residential attic in Torino, Italy. Three different solutions were applied to a roof continuously monitored under summer climatic conditions. The roof was divided into three portions, one, the bare roof, representing the reference case without PCMs, the other two integrating two PCM's typologies with different melting/solidification temperatures range.

A numerical model was furthermore developed implementing the equivalent capacitance numerical method to describe the substance phase transition and the measured data set were used for its validation. The study demonstrates that PCM-enhanced components are a promising solution toward a higher thermal performance efficiency in roof attic spaces during the summer season.

Experimental results showed a reduction of the ongoing heat peak load between 13% and 59% depending on the PCM typology, highlighting that to reach the expected performance the proper PCM type should be carefully selected.