Development of Actively Controlled Ceiling Panel with Incorporated Phase Change Materials

In the scope of this paper a novel actively controlled ceiling panel cooling system is developed. The ceiling panel consists of phase change materials and metal fins. In recent years phase change materials (PCM) have been extensively researched in different application areas, starting from product packaging and clothing to wide variety of applications within the buildings for temperature fluctuation reduction. In most cases PCM are used to achieve effective passive cooling by enhancing the thermal capacity and thermal inertia of buildings who are made of lightweight constructions. These systems although are effective for temperature fluctuation reduction, they don’t provide comfortable indoor climatic conditions, because often too high temperatures are reached and additional cooling loads need to be operated to overcome this shortcoming. To achieve more comfortable indoor climate conditions and to lower the indoor temperature a mathematical model is developed to examine the phase change temperature influence on the temperature profile on the ceiling panel surface.