Heat Mass Transfer (2016) 52:2747–2757

DOI 10.1007/s00231-016-1783-8

ORIGINAL

Experimental investigation on the thermal performance of heat

storage walls coupled with active solar systems
Chunyu Zhao1,2 · Shijun You1 · Chunying Zhu2 · Wei Yu2 

Received: 9 March 2015 / Accepted: 18 February 2016 / Published online: 22 February 2016
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016

Abstract  This paper presents an experimental investi- List of symbols

gation of the performance of a system combining a low- A Wall or plate area (m2)
temperature water wall radiant heating system and phase h Heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K)
change energy storage technology with an active solar q Heat flux (W/m2)
system. This system uses a thermal storage wall that is t Temperature (K)
designed with multilayer thermal storage plates. The heat U  Outdoor comprehensive heat transfer coefficient
storage material is expanded graphite that absorbs a mix- (W/m2 K)
ture of capric acid and lauric acid. An experiment is per- Xn(j) Coefficient of heat absorption of the inner surface
formed to study the actual effect. The following are stud- of the envelope (m)
ied under winter conditions: (1) the temperature of the Yn(j) Coefficient of heat transmission (m)
radiation wall surface, (2) the melting status of the thermal Zn(j) Coefficient of heat absorption of the outer surface
storage material in the internal plate, (3) the density of the of the envelope (m)
heat flux, and (4) the temperature distribution of the indoor ɛ Surface emission rate
space. The results reveal that the room temperature is con- ϕ Angle factor
trolled between 16 and 20 °C, and the thermal storage wall λ Thermal conductivity (W/m2 K)
meets the heating and temperature requirements. The fol- ρ Radiation absorption coefficient
lowing are also studied under summer conditions: (1) the σ Blackbody radiation coefficient (W/m2 K4)
internal relationship between the indoor temperature distri- τ Time (s)
bution and the heat transfer within the regenerative plates
during the day and (2) the relationship between the outlet Subscripts
air temperature and inlet air temperature in the thermal b Blackbody
storage wall in cooling mode at night. The results indicate i, n, k Serial number of the maintenance structure
that the indoor temperature is approximately 27 °C, which rw Radiation wall
satisfies the summer air-conditioning requirements. w Storage wall

1 Introduction

* Chunyu Zhao Haze is an increasingly serious issue in China, e.g., north-

langfangzcy@163.com ern China was under haze almost the entire winter in 2013.
1 An important source of pollution is the small boilers used
School of Environmental Science and Engineering,
Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China for heating during winter in rural areas; therefore, develop-
2 ment of a clean method for heating is required. Solar heat-
Department of Architectural Engineering, North China
Institute of Aerospace Engineering, Langfang 065000, ing, an ideal source of low-grade thermal energy, is attract-
Hebei Province, China ing increasing attention. The collection, conversion, and

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2748 Heat Mass Transfer (2016) 52:2747–2757

storage of solar energy are interrelated factors of a solar The objective of this paper is to combine a hot water
heating system. Therefore, the natural combination of these radiation heating system in the wall with a low-tempera-
three factors is the key to realizing an efficient heating sup- ture, phase-change energy storage technology; this imple-
ply. Because of the good thermal performance [1] and wind mentation of active solar energy is in its early stages. The
resistance of vacuum tubes, they are widely used for solar work described in this paper involves the study of phase-
thermal collection and heat conversion. Considering the change heat storage and release and an analysis of the
temperature range provided by a solar heating system, the dynamic operational characteristics of the system under
heating system terminal usually combines phase change winter heating conditions. Here, the heating mode is a
storage equipment with a low-temperature radiant heating novel, energy saving, low-carbon releasing process that
system for heat storage and heat release. provides both economic and social value.
Many scholars are studying the application of heat stor-
age materials in buildings; in particular, phase change
material (PCM) storage has been described in various refer- 2 Experimental setup
ences. Important applications and advances of PCM mate-
rials and heat transfer have recently been reviewed [2–9]. Because there are many factors that affect the actual heat
Currently, radiant floors or wall heating systems are storage of the phase change wall, which will affect the
being widely used in many countries. The advantages of a indoor temperature, an experiment is set up to determine
radiant floor heating system include high-efficiency utiliza- the actual effect.
tion of indoor space and no requirements for cleaning. The As shown in Fig. 1, the heat source uses one hundred
system does not produce noise, cause drafts, or use ducts vacuum tubes, each with a diameter of ϕ58 and a length of
[10]. 1.8 m, horizontally placed in the east–west direction.
Athienitics performed an analysis of the thermal proper- As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the room used for the
ties of concrete regenerative radiant floor heating systems test is part of an existing house. The room size is
and considered system application problems (e.g., the tem- 3.6 m × 2.5 m × 2.35 m, with 0.1-m thick polystyrene
perature of the surface of the floor, the temperature change
caused by the change of the indoor designed temperature,
and overheating caused by solar radiation) and measures
to address such problems [11]. Hokoi and Kuroki [12]
studied the effect of a phase change thermal storage floor
that absorbs solar radiation and analyzed the heat storage
and release process of wall and phase change material; the
results of such studies established the criterion for the opti-
mal phase transition temperature.
For appropriate transition temperatures, PCMs also
provide cooling in summer. Free cooling involves a PCM
undergoing solidification at night and melting during the
day in both cases by natural convection. Free cooling is
feasible in climates where a considerable temperature
difference exists between day and night. A free cool-
ing system requires heat transfer augmentation on the
air and PCM side. The ventilation cooling is essential in
cases of small temperature differences, e.g., a few degrees
[13]. Stetiu and Feustel [14] reported that the use of a
PCM wallboard coupled with mechanical night ventila-
tion in office buildings offers the opportunity for system
downsizing in climates where the outside air temperature
drops below 18 °C at night. In climates where the outside
air temperature remains above 18 °C at night, the use of
a PCM wallboard should also be coupled with discharge
mechanisms.
Zhang et al. [15] investigated the thermophysical proper-
ties of free-cooling buildings, suggesting that it is possible
to select suitable building envelope materials. Fig. 1  Experimental solar device

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Heat Mass Transfer (2016) 52:2747–2757 2749

Fig. 2  Schematic diagram of
the experimental system

Fig. 3  Schematic diagram of the room

board used for the insulation of the floor, roof and exterior
wall and 0.04-m thick polystyrene board used for the door
insulation. The windows are three-layer insulation glass
units using break bridge aluminum.
This system uses a wall as the thermal storage carrier;
the design is a multi-layer system consisting of five thermal
heat storage plates, which solves the problem of insulation
heat dissipation. The dimensions of the internal four-layer
thermal storage plates are 2.4 m × 1.8 m × 0.3 m, as shown
in Fig. 4. For convenience of packaging and to strengthen
the heat storage plates, each plate is divided into four parts,
and a mixture of lauric acid and capric acid is used inside.
In consideration of the use of the system in both winter
and summer, the material transition temperature of the heat
storage plate from the 2nd layer to the 5th layer is 26 °C
(refer to the lowest temperature at night in North China).
The material transition temperature of the outermost layer
is 35 °C. To overcome the disadvantage of the low thermal
Fig. 4  Thermal storage plate
conductivity of fatty acids, expansion graphite is added to
the fatty acid to increase the thermal transmission index
and to reduce the time for thermal storage. Coils of pipe
are laid inside the thermal storage plates. The pipe external
diameter is De16, and the length of pipe is 0.1 m.
Between the plates are the flow channels, which promote
the heat exchange via airflow; the channel width is 0.015 m,
the air input is at the top, and the air return is at the bottom.
Measuring points for the average temperature are
arranged on each of the maintenance constructions. Meas-
uring points are also placed at the indoor air outlet and
return air inlet, both indoor and outdoor. Constantan

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thermocouples (±0.5 °C) are used to test the tempera- The convective heat transfer coefficient of the outer plate
ture of each point, and a temperature recorder records (hwi) and the radiative heat transfer coefficient (hrw,n) can be
the temperatures. The solar radiation is measured using a obtained from:
JTR-05 solar radiation recorder produced by Beijing Jian
Tong Limited Company. The heat flux change is measured hwi = 1.31(twi − tr ) 3
1
(3)
using a JTR-01 type surface heat flux meter from Beijing
Jiantong Environment Co., Ltd. Heat meters are installed
hrw,n = 4σ εwi εin ϕw,n (tr + 273)3 (4)
to measure the heat flux and temperature change of the
flow into and out of the heat storage wall. Infrared radia- The heat flux of the wall (qcwi(τ)) is then obtained from the-
tion images are recorded every 30 min using a Fluke ti-100 oretical calculations.
infrared radiometer.
Because the haze in North China during the winter of 2014 3.1.2 The heavy maintenance structure surface
was serious, the test time was difficult to select. February
8 to February 10, 2014 was a period of clear days and was The heavy envelope can store heat because of the heat
selected as the test period. During the test period, the follow- storage capacity. Therefore, the heat balance equation
ing were continuously recorded for both the thermal storage within the envelope surface of the heat storage capacity
plate surface and the internal heat plate: indoor temperature, is:
solar radiation, heat flow changes, and melting conditions. 7
The summer test was performed from June 28 to June 30,
�
hrn,k Aik [tik (τ ) − tin (τ )] + hw,n Ain [tr (τ ) − tin (τ )]
2014 to record the distribution of the indoor temperature, k=1
the temperature of the inlet and outlet for both indoor and + hrw,n (τ )Ain [twi (τ ) − tin (τ )]
outdoor conditions, and the interior temperature condition.  
n n
(5)
� �
= Zn (j)tin (τ − j) − Yn (j)ton (τ − j)Ain
j=0 j=0
3 Mathematical model
The convective heat transfer coefficient of the heavy
To predict the temperature of the room, an energy con- maintenance (hwn) and the radiative heat transfer coeffi-
servation method can be used to establish a mathematical cient (hrn,k) is obtained from:
model under the winter and summer conditions.
1
hwn = 1.31(twn − tr ) 3 (6)
3.1 Winter conditions
hrn,k = 4σ εni εik ϕn,k (tr + 273)3 (7)
3.1.1 The surface of the outer thermal storage plate
The coefficients of heat transmission (Yn(j)) and absorp-
The water flowing in the outermost thermal storage plate tion (Zn(j)) of the outer surface of the envelope can be
provides the heat to the heat storage material and simulta- obtained by the frequency–domain regression method.
neously bears the heat load of the room; the internal plates
are in a heat charge state. The heat exchange between the 3.1.3 The light maintenance structure surface
plates and the outermost plate can be ignored. Only the
heat transfer between the indoor air and the outer thermal Windows and doors are light–weight constructions without
storage plate is considered, and the energy balance of day considering regenerative effect; therefore, the inner surface
and night is different and is expressed as: of the balance equation for the window is:
c 7
qwi (τ )Awi = hwi Awi [twi (τ ) − tr (τ )] 
7
hrn,k Aik [tik (τ ) − tin (τ )] + hw,n Ain [tr (τ ) − tin (τ )]

k=1
+ hrw,n Ain [twi (τ ) − tin (τ )] (day) (1)
n=1 + hrw,n (τ )[twi (τ ) − tin (τ )]Ain
= Uin [tin (τ ) − tsa (τ )]Ain (8)
c
qwi (τ )Awi = hwi Awi [twi (τ ) − tr (τ )]
The convective heat transfer coefficient (Uin) is obtained
7
 from
+ hrw,n Ain [twi (τ ) − tin (τ )]
n=1 n hwind
Uin = (9)
(2) n + hwind
 
+ hwo Awi two (τ ) − tf (τ ) (night)

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Heat Mass Transfer (2016) 52:2747–2757 2751

3.1.4 The outer structure surface of the heavy maintenance 7

�
hrn,k Aik [tik (τ ) − tin (τ )] + hw,n Ain [tr (τ ) − tin (τ )]
The thermal transfer of the outer surface of the heavy main- k=1

tenance needs to consider the solar effect, convection and + hrw,n (τ )Ain [twi (τ ) − tin (τ )]
thermal conductivity. The balance equation is:
 
n n
(16)
� �
  = Zn (j)tin (τ − j) − Yn (j)ton (τ − j)Ain
�n n
� j=0 j=0
 Xn (j)ton (τ − j) − Y (j)tin (τ − j)Ain
j=0 j=0 3.2.3 The light maintenance structure surface
r
+ hwind [ton (τ ) − tsa (τ )]Ain = qon (τ )Ain (day) (10)
The equation is the same as in winter conditions and is
  expressed as:
�n n
�
7
 Y (j)tin (τ − j) − Xn (j)ton (τ − j)Ain 
j=0 j=0
hrn,k Aik [tik (τ ) − tin (τ )] + hw,n Ain [tr (τ ) − tin (τ )]
= hwind [ton (τ ) − tsa (τ )]Ain (night) (11) k=1
+ hrw,n (τ )[twi (τ ) − tin (τ )]Ain
(17)
qron (τ)is obtained from = Uin [tin (τ ) − tsa (τ )]Ain
 
r
qon (τ ) = ρσ (tr + 273)4 − (ton + 273)4 (12) Uin can be obtained from
n hwind
The heat absorption coefficient of the outer surface of Uin = (18)
the envelope (Xn(j)) is obtained by the frequency–domain n + hwind
regression method. 3.2.4 The outer structure surface of heavy maintenance

3.1.5 Indoor air heat balance equation The equation is the same as in winter conditions and is
expressed as:
The indoor air heat balance equation is expressed as:
 
7
 �n n
�
hwi Awi [tr (τ ) − twi (τ )] = hwn Ain [tin (τ ) − tr (τ )] (13)  Xn (j)ton (τ − j) − Y (j)n tin (τ − j)Ain
n=1 j=0 j=0
r
+ hwind [ton (τ ) − tsa (τ )]Ain = qon (τ )Ain (19)
3.2 Summer conditions

3.2.1 The heat storage plates qron (τ) is obtained from

 
r
In summer, during the day, the indoor air cycles between qon (τ ) = ρσ (tr + 273)4 − (ton + 273)4 (20)
the indoor air and the heat storage plates. Heat is absorbed
from the indoor air, and the internal heat board is in a heat 3.2.5 Indoor air heat balance equation
charge state. At night, heat is released to the outer air, so
the energy balance is expressed as: The equation is the same as in winter conditions and is
c expressed as:
qwi (τ )Awi = hwi Awi [twi (τ ) − tr (τ )] (day) (14)
7

c
qwi (τ )Awi = hwi Awi [twi (τ ) − to (τ )] (night) (15) hwi Awi [tr (τ ) − twi (τ )] = hwn Ain [tin (τ ) − tr (τ )] (21)
n=1
3.2.2 The heavy maintenance structure surface
The mathematical models can be solved by the Gauss–
The equation is the same as in winter conditions and is Seidel iteration method.
expressed as:

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4 Results and discussion
4.1 Winter conditions
From February 9th to 11th, 2014, the weather condi-
tions were good, and the test was conducted under typical
weather conditions. The solar radiation on the 2nd day was
lower than that of the 1st day, and it changed from sunny to
cloudy in the afternoon on the 2nd day, which resulted in
the fluctuation of solar radiation. Solar radiation is received
on the vacuum tube vertical to its direction, as shown in
Fig. 5.
As shown in Fig. 6, the water temperature and solar
radiation distribution are nearly synchronous and are sine
shaped. A slight delay of water temperature increase with
solar radiation is observed because the heat absorbed
by the thermal storage wall is limited to a certain period,
after which the additional heat from solar energy is used
to increase the water temperature in the system. There-
fore, when the solar radiation reaches the peak, the sys-
tem water temperature is still increasing to its peak value.
The water temperature is the same for the water supplied
and the water returned when the pump cycle starts. With
the increase of the solar radiation, the heat collected by the
vacuum tube increases, and the water temperature gradu-
ally increases and starts to store heat in the thermal storage
plates, causing the temperature difference between the sup-
plied and returned water to increase. When solar radiation
reaches its peak point, the temperature difference between
the supplied and returned water is 5.6 °C.
During the test, because the thermal storage plates are
enclosed, it is difficult to access the measuring point, so an
infrared radiometer is used to determine the melting con-
dition of the internal material according to the change of
the infrared radiation field of the outboard thermal stor-
age wall. All objects at temperatures >0 K emit infrared
Fig. 5  Solar radiation recorded on February 9th–10th, 2014
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Heat Mass Transfer (2016) 52:2747–2757
Fig. 6  Supply and return water temperature
radiation: the higher the temperature is, the stronger the
emitted infrared radiation is, which can be measured using
an infrared radiometer. Therefore, the change of the infra-
red radiation from the thermal storage plate can be used as
an indirect means to determine the condition of the tem-
perature field. The temperature of the phase transition inter-
face is equal to the phase change temperature. The inter-
face phase transition temperature is gradually reduced to
the phase transition temperature from the coiled pipe to the
phase transition temperature of the interface, and the tem-
perature variation is relatively high. At the low tempera-
ture side, the temperature of the phase transition interface
decreases to ambient temperature, and the change is rela-
tively small. The distinct partition displayed on the image
is reasonable.
As shown in Fig. 7, before 11:30 a.m., because the tem-
perature of the coiled pipe is lower than the phase transition
temperature, the inner phase transition material appears in
the form of sensible heat storage, and the extra heat is dis-
persed indoors. After 11:30 a.m., when the temperature of
the water heated by solar thermal energy exceeds the phase
transition temperature, the heat is stored in the thermal stor-
age material as latent heat. Extra heat is transferred to the
indoor area through radiation and convection. The infrared
images taken in the figure are for a typical period of heat
storage in straight–long pipe sections during the day. With
the change of the phase interface, the temperature distri-
bution is slightly different; nevertheless, the change of the
interface temperature can be seen clearly. The temperature
distribution differed little in the infrared images at the end
because the end of the heat storage process corresponds to
an increase of temperature in the section far from the coiled
pipe.
Figure 8 shows that the images taken locally on the ther-
mal storage plate are clearer than those from a single pipe.
Heat Mass Transfer (2016) 52:2747–2757 2753
Fig. 7  PCM melting infrared
image
Initially, the temperature inside the thermal storage plates
is nearly uniform, as apparent in the infrared image. At
10:30 a.m., the temperature of the water inside the thermal
storage plate increases. As a result, the temperature differ-
ence increases between the water and the other parts of the
thermal storage plate.
The difference in the infrared image between the sur-
rounding area and the coiled area varies greatly. After
12:30 p.m., with the growth process of the melted bound-
ary line, the contrast between the surrounding and the
coiled area increases. Eventually, the boundary line moves
outward; as the temperature in the surroundings gradu-
ally increases, the infrared plot gradually decreases and
becomes blurred, which indicates the change of phase of
the internal phase transition material.
The outermost layer of the indoor thermal storage
plates directly affects the indoor environment, as well as
the heat distributed through the indoor air convection and
its radiation to each wall. As seen from Fig. 9, the outer-
most thermal storage plate represents the typical working
conditions. The measurement point for the heat flux is in
the middle of the two coils, enabling the entire heat stor-
age transfer process to be seen. On February 10, the heat
flux increased slightly after 8:00 a.m. when the pump was
turned on, increasing the temperature of the supply water.
Because the phase transition boundary of the internal ther-
mal plate has not reached the interior area, the temperature
fluctuated slightly. At approximately 2:00 p.m., a sudden
rise in the heat flux value was observed, which indicates
that the phase transition boundary layer reached the mid-
dle boundary of the two coils, i.e., the thermal storage
stage turned to the sensible thermal storage stage. The
continuous increase of the sensible temperature inside the
thermal storage material resulted in an increase of den-
sity of heat flux throughout the material, which reached
its peak value at approximately 6:00 p.m., i.e., when the
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2754
Fig. 8  Storage thermal plate
melting infrared image
water temperature peak reached the middle. Subsequently,
the heat release stage began, starting with the sensible
heat releasing stage. At approximately 10:00 p.m., when
the heat released from the thermal storage plate is not suf-
ficient to manage the indoor temperature, the fan is pow-
ered on, and the heat is released from the thermal storage
sandwich in the form of convective heat transfer. Because
heat is exchanged from air convection between thermal
storage plates, the heat flux is towards the outside of the
outer plate. The heat flux values of the external board
appeared to fluctuate. After a certain time, the fans no
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Heat Mass Transfer (2016) 52:2747–2757
longer stopped, and the internal thermal storage material
gradually solidified and started to release heat, causing the
thickness of the freezing zone to gradually decrease. The
heat flux density decreases with time. At approximately
4:00 a.m., the latent heat release stage ended, the sensi-
ble heat release stage began, and the heat flux gradually
declined. When the sun rises in the morning, the next cycle
begins.
The indoor temperature responses at five measure-
ment points are shown in Fig. 10. When the sun rises, the
water temperature in the system starts to increase. As the
Heat Mass Transfer (2016) 52:2747–2757 2755
Fig. 9  Heat flux on the outermost layer of the thermal storage plates
Fig. 10  Indoor temperature change with time at different heights
under winter condition
temperature of the supplied water increases, the heat from
the thermal storage sandwich is extracted.
The operation of the fan in the morning enables the heat
released from the inner thermal storage plates to be sent
indoors via the air flow created by the fan; as a result, the
indoor temperature gradually increases. When the indoor
temperature increases to 18 °C, the fan automatically
switches off, which leads to a steep increase of the temper-
ature. Meanwhile, the radiation effect of the outer layer of
the thermal storage plates continues to supply heat, which
leads to a continuous increase of the indoor temperature,
and the internal thermal plate enters into the fully thermal
storage stage. Part of the heat is transferred from the outer-
most part of the plate to the indoor region, and part of the
heat stored remains in the board. After 10:00 p.m., when
the heat exchange from the outermost thermal storage plate
Fig. 11  Comparison of the experimental and calculated values under
winter condition
Fig. 12  Indoor temperature change with time at different heights
under summer condition
is not sufficient to support the indoor heat load, the indoor
fan is turned on. The fan forces air in from the bottom inlet,
which exchanges heat with the internal thermal storage
plate; this heat is sent out by the air circulation caused by
the fan, thus increasing the indoor temperature. This stage
is represented by the fluctuations in the figure. After a cer-
tain time, when the internal thermal storage plate cannot
provide a sufficient amount of heat, the fans remain on,
thereby forcing indoor air exchange heat with the thermal
storage plates, as indicated by the decline stage in the fig-
ure. Due to the heat storage effect in the maintenance sys-
tem organization and the thermal storage plate, the temper-
ature decreased slowly. Although the temperature was not
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2756
Fig. 13  Comparison of the experimental and calculated values under
summer condition in daytime
high (the minimum temperature was 15 °C), because this
decrease occurred during the night, the low temperature is
in a comfortable range.
As shown in Fig. 11, the fan is open because of the auto-
matic apparatus setting in the morning, so the experimen-
tal value is higher than the calculated value. When the fan
starts running,, the calculated values are slightly higher
than the experimental values because of the water sensible
heat capacity in the system. In general, the experimental
results agree well with the mathematical model, indicating
that the model is accurate.
4.2 Summer conditions
In addition to the function of heating in winter, tempera-
ture moderation can also be achieved in the room via the air
temperature difference between day and night in the sum-
mer. As shown in Fig. 12, beginning in the morning, the
outdoor solar radiation and outdoor temperature increase,
thereby increasing the cooling load, and the room tempera-
ture increases. Because the test room is oriented from east
to west, during the period of approximately 3:00–4:00 p.m.,
the exposure in the west caused a significant increase in
cooling load. The cooling load then decreases, and the
indoor heat is stored inside the thermal storage plates.
Because the phase transition temperature of the thermal
storage material was 26 °C, when the room temperature
increased to above 27 °C, the fan was turned on, enabling
the indoor heat to be stored in the thermal storage plate via
indoor air cycling. Therefore, the temperature remained at
approximately 27 °C, which indicates that the heat stor-
age effect of the thermal storage materials enables heat to
be stored. At approximately 8:00 p.m., the indoor fan was
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Heat Mass Transfer (2016) 52:2747–2757
Fig. 14  Inlet and outlet temperature of experiment and calculated
change with time under summer night condition
turned off, and the outlet was closed. Subsequently, the
indoor temperature increased slightly because the outdoor
heat load delayed the response. Eventually, the temperature
decreased to the minimum temperature. In the test period,
after the indoor outlet is closed, the room window was
closed. If the window is open and the outlet is not closed,
then the indoor temperature will be similar to the outdoor
temperature, thereby enabling cooling in the evening.
As shown in Fig. 13, the calculated values do not agree
with the experimental values. If the windows of the room
are west facing, the sun’s strong radiation forms a cooling
load through the window in the afternoon, but in the math-
ematical model, the heat gain through the windows is not
considered. Therefore, a slight deviation of the calculated
values can be understood.
As shown in Fig. 14, when the outdoor temperature is
below 26 °C, the system switches into the night cooling
mode of the interior thermal storage wall. The outdoor fan
and the outdoor air inlet open; as the outdoor temperature
decreases, low temperature air enters the thermal storage
wall through the inlet and exchanges heat with the thermal
storage plate before being expelled to the outdoors through
the outlet after its temperature increases. As shown in the
figure, after 8:00 p.m., the inlet and outlet are both open; as
the inlet air temperature decreases, the heat inside the walls
slowly releases into the air at night. After 8:00 a.m. the next
morning, when the outdoor temperature begins to increase,
the indoor heat storage stops, and the indoor cooling mode
starts during the day. In the evening, the only regenerative
heat exchange is between the board and the outdoor air.
The process is simple; therefore, the calculated values are
in good agreement with the experimental values.
Heat Mass Transfer (2016) 52:2747–2757 2757
5 Conclusions
We demonstrated the novel use of a phase change material
constructed of an expanded graphite skeleton as a frame-
work to absorb fatty acids in a thermal storage wall com-
bined with an active solar system to provide heating, espe-
cially for large-scale scenarios.
Under winter conditions, in addition to providing the
heat load in daytime via the active solar heating system, the
heat from solar energy during the day is stored in the ther-
mal storage material for night use. The thermal storage pro-
cess includes sensible heat storage and latent heat storage.
During the thermal storage process, the outer plate provides
the indoor heat supply. During the test, the indoor tempera-
ture was in the range of 15–20 °C in conditions with good
sunshine. Although the minimum temperature is 15 °C,
because of the use of radiation heating and because peo-
ple in rural areas usually wear thick clothes when leaving
the room, the minimum temperature is quite comfortable in
practice. The heating supply method of active solar heating
combined with thermal storage walls is suitable for supply-
ing the heat to a single building; the phase transition tem-
perature of thermal storage material of 26 °C is appropriate
for the heating supply requirements in winter.
In summer conditions, when the indoor temperature
exceeds the phase transition temperature of 26 °C, heat is
stored in the thermal storage material via air circulation.
Based on the measurements, the daytime indoor tempera-
ture can be controlled to approximately 27 °C, resulting
in good thermal comfort in the room. At night, the heat
exchange between the outdoor low-temperature air and the
thermal storage plate results in heat being released to the
outside environment. Therefore, the thermal storage mate-
rial with a phase transition temperature of 26 °C is suitable
for moderating the heat load for summer days and nights.
Acknowledgments  This work is supported by the Scientific
Research Youth Foundation of the Universities in Hebei Province by
Fund No. QN20131180.
Compliance with ethical standards 
Conflict of interest  The authors declare that they have no conflict
of interest.
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