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

该项目旨在开发新型高热质量结构热地板组件，提高存储和传输能量的能力。低能耗建筑通常具有高度隔热的立面、精心设计的采光和密闭建筑形式。然而，随着这些举措降低了能源使用量，进入的通风空气的空调在能源使用量中的比例变得明显更大。这为通过积极利用热团来进一步降低能源消耗提供了机会，但事实证明，在用户要求的可控性的情况下实现低能量舒适性是困难的。质量的存储容量和导热系数的限制限制了这类系统处理更高负载或极端温度的能力。通过在暴露的天花板表面和进风路径之间放置分配流体管道来解决空调功率的不足。作为进一步的改进，通过引入具有相变特性(PCM)的材料，可以利用PCM的潜相以最小的能量输入来增强响应。与传统系统相比，该系统具有以下优点：i)显著减少运行中的二氧化碳排放；ii)更强大的基于热质量的系统，能够与制冷剂空调系统竞争；以及iii)响应更灵敏的输送系统，能够根据居住者的需要提供更紧密的室内温度控制。

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.