Low carbon buildings using activated thermal mass of structural components for efficient heat transfer and energy storage for comfortable indoor climates.

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The project aims to develop novel high thermal mass structural thermal flooring componentswith increased ability to store and transfer energy.Low energy buildings frequently feature highly insulated facades, carefully designed daylighting & airtight building forms. However, as these initiatives drive down energy usage, theconditioning of the incoming ventilation air becomes a significantly larger proportion of theenergy usage.This presents an opportunity to further reduce the energy consumption by actively usingthermal mass, but achieving low energy comfort with the controllability users require hasproved difficult. The limitations of storage capacity & thermal conductivity of the mass, haverestricted the ability of such systems to deal with higher loads or extreme temperatures.This lack of conditioning power is solved by positioning a distribution fluid pipe between theexposed ceiling surface and the incoming air path. This maximises the ability of the system toquickly influence the temperature of the occupied space.As a further improvement, by introducing materials with phase change properties (pcm), theresponse can be enhanced with minimal energy input by using the latent phase of the pcm.The system offers benefits over traditional systems including i) significant reduction inoperating CO2 emissions, ii) More powerful thermal mass based systems able to competewith refrigerant air conditioning systems & iii) A more responsive delivery system able toprovide closer indoor temperature control as desired by occupants.