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In the current energy and environmental context it is imperative to implement systems based on renewable energy sources in order to reduce energy consumptions worldwide. Solar collectors are studied by many years and many researchers are focusing their attention in order to increase their efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Water solar collectors are often implemented for domestic hot water, heating or industrial processes and already have a place on the market. A promising system which is not yet widely known is represented by air solar collectors that could represent an efficient way to use the solar energy with a lower investment cost, a system that can be used in order to preheat the fresh air required for heating, drying, or to maintain a minimum temperature during winter. This paper presents a comprehensive literature review on air solar collectors used mainly in buildings, acting as a solar wall. Air solar collectors are roughly classified into two types: glazed and opaque. The present study comprises the solar collector classification, applications and their main parameters with a special focus on opaque solar collectors.

Summary This paper deals with an experimental and numerical study of the effect of PCM incorporation into a building's wall on indoor air temperature. The macro‐encapsulated PCM was integrated into the vertical wall of a laboratory test cell. Another test cell that lacks the PCM was considered the reference. Measurement of the air temperature inside the test cells shows the PCM role to delay heat transfer through the wall as well as to decrease the indoor air temperature peak. Furthermore, a numerical model was built and experimentally calibrated and validated. Numerical simulation results show that many factors should be studied before the incorporation of the PCM, mainly its position, type and layer thickness. Compared to insulation materials used in building, PCM can be used as smart insulation material due to its low thermal conductivity and as a phase shifter leading to a passive temperature control.

Buildings sector has one of the highest potential regarding the reduction of greenhouse gases emissions, as being responsible for more than 40% of energy consumption worldwide. This is why, in order to achieve indoor thermal comfort, it is mandatory to use energy-efficient systems. Materials acting as thermal energy storage (TES) represents one of the most effective strategy that can be implemented and nowadays, many studies are focusing their attention on latent heat storage, respectively on phase changing materials (PCM) which can embed a large embed a high quantity of energy, unlike classic materials acting as thermal mass. This purpose of this paper is to experimentally investigate the charge and discharge processes for an organic PCM (RT35 paraffin) macroencapsulated in an aluminium rectangular cavity which was placed first in a horizontal position and after in a vertical position. After several experimental campaigns conducted we determined that the vertical position enhance the heat transfer because of the natural convection which occurs inside the cavity. Therefore, the charging time is lower in case of the vertical cavity and the temperature measured inside and on the surface is higher.