Energy Demand Reduction in Nearly Zero-Energy Buildings by Highly Efficient Aluminium Foam Heat Exchangers

Abstract

The capability periodically to store and release the latent heat of phase transition during melting and solidification of Phase Change Materials (PCMs) has been currently the main subject of interest with regard to cost reduction efforts for cooling, heating of interiors and Domestic Hot Water (DHW) necessary for the operation and maintenance of adequate thermal comfort in new modern as well as old renovated residential buildings. The main principle of PCMs facilities to reduce significantly the energy consumption in the building industry of the future is based on the ability of thermo-active heat exchangers to absorb and later to dissipate into the surroundings excessive heat which can be easily obtained from renewable sources (e.g. solar energy, geothermal heat, etc.) directly in a building or in its immediate vicinity. Smart interior tiling and furnishing systems can provide high energy efficiency by stabilizing the room temperature at a level ensuring sufficient thermal comfort basically governed by the thermal conductivity and heat exchange area between ceiling (respectively also wall and floor if necessary) heat exchangers (radiators) and the heat storage medium in the form of PCMs. Unfortunately, most conventional building materials, e.g. aerated concrete, bricks, gypsum, ceramic tiles, etc. are particularly characterized by very low thermal conductivity, which disadvantages them to be used for these purposes. However, highly porous metallic material such as aluminium foam prepared by powder metallurgy [10, 11] is on the contrary excellently heat conductive, which predisposes it to be used for light-weight design of supporting structure of very energy efficient indoor as well as outdoor thermo-active heat exchangers for building industry of the future. This contribution points to the possibility to apply aluminium foam for both the novel innovative roofing system to cover pitched roofs and the interior ceiling panels, with the minimum energy demands for maintaining the sufficient thermal comfort in future nearly Zero-Energy Buildings (nZEBs).

Phase Change Materials Reinforced with Aluminium Foam for Latent Heat Storage

“…That is why PCMs can store even ten times more heat per unit volume in comparison with conventional sensible storage materials such as water, masonry, rock or concrete (Fig. 2) [4]. The significant enhancement of heat storage capability of PCM in comparison with conventional building materials is clearly shown in Fig.…”

“…PCM reduces the overall heat flow across the insulation between building interior and attic floor and so increases the time shifting of the peak-hour loads. The lightweight thermal mass components complemented by the feature of latent heat storage to PCM with a melting point in the range from 23 to 28 °C are therefore an unavoidable means contributing to the reduction of costs related to maintaining of sufficient thermal comfort [4].…”

Research progress and trends on the use of concrete as thermal energy storage material through bibliometric analysis

“…13b highlights that cluster #1 and #2 have a strong bond, being both clusters the major topic of research. Only three cluster of authors (Frantisek et al [49], Xu et al [48] and Jin et al [50]) are dealing with cluster #3 and just one in cluster #4 (Evangelista et al [51]).…”

The Effect of Foaming Agents on the Thermal Behavior of Aluminum Precursors

“…Cellular materials, such as metal foams, recently have been attracting considerable attention due to their specific structure and unique properties [1][2][3][4]. Because of good energy absorption, they can be used for crash-boxes in road and rail vehicles or to reduce vibrations in various machines [1,5,6].…”