Photothermal performance of plastic greenhouse embedded with phase change materials in translucent envelopes: A dynamic experimental study

An adaptable facade can be a translucent envelope with phase change materials (PTE) integrated into the typical plastic greenhouses to respond to dynamic changes in temperature and daylight. Unlike opaque constructions integrated with phase change materials (PCM), PTE can act as a governor to coordinate light and thermal per-formance. This paper conducts an experimental investigation on the photothermal performance of plastic greenhouses integrating PTEs. The integration of PTEs requires an evaluation between the different melting temperatures of PCM (PW-18#, PW-25#, PW-28#) and seasons (transition, autumn, winter) rationally design plastic greenhouse featuring tunable indoor daylight and air temperature. The cross-seasonal analysis and thermal environment evaluation are also carried out. The results show that plastic greenhouses with PTEs substantially tune thermal energy storage/release and attenuate indoor daylight. In a separate seasonal inves-tigation, it is observed that PTEs with PW-28# produced adjustable average air temperatures of 26.4 degrees C and lowered daylight levels of 10,245 lx, making them desirable during transitional seasons. Likewise, PTEs with low melting temperatures are advantageous because of the reduced outside temperature and daylight. According to the cross-seasonal investigation, PTEs with high melting temperatures find it difficult to sustain long-term operation because of the inadequate degree of phase transition cycle. PTEs have the advantage of rebuilding the internal thermal environment and increasing the upper layer's distance from the ground by 2.4 degrees C. Finding the best states to build a low-cost, easily replaceable passive heating system for plastic greenhouses can be made easier with the help of the understanding of the built-in PTEs.