Simulation research on the dynamic thermal performance of a novel triple-glazed window filled with PCM

The window energy consumption plays an important role in the building energy consumption. Recent researches on the double-glazed window filled with PCM (DW + PCM) show that in summer, the released unwanted heat into the room in the discharge period of PCM in summer night is considerable as well as the overheating phenomenon from the completely melted PCM is non-ignorable, both of which have an adverse effect on the building insulation performance. In order to solve the problems, a configuration of triple-glazed window filled with PCM (TW + PCM) is proposed and the mathematical model is established in this paper. Through the simulation, the dynamic thermal performances of the TW + PCM are obtained. The results show that in typical sunny summer day, the temperature decrement factors are 0.75 and 0.63 respectively, and the energy consumption of TW + PCM is reduced by 21.30% and 32.80% respectively, compared with DW + PCM and triple-glazed hollow window (TW). In addition, the TW + PCM shows a good performance under the typical winter conditions. In conclusion, TW + PCM can avoid overheating phenomenon effectively and has advantageous performance on heat preservation and insulation.