RESEARCH ARTICLE

Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 17 June 2005, p. 41-46

A STUDY ON THERMAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PHASE CHANGE MATERIAL (PCM) IN GYPSUM BOARD FOR BUILDING APPLICATION

ROZANNA, D * ; SALMIAH Ahmad** ; CHUAH, T.G. * ; MEDYAN, R * ; THOMAS CHOONG, S.Y * ; SA'ARI, M *

ABSTRACT

Using fatty acids as phase change materials (PCMs), it is possible to store a large amount of thermal energy in a small mass and with a narrow temperature transition. Passive solar heating and cooling can be done by three methods – simple immersion, direct incorporation and encapsulation. This study investigated the effect of using a lauric-stearic acids eutectic mixture at 75.5:24.5 w/w as PCM in gypsum board. The eutectic mixture had a melting point of 34.1ºC and latent heat of 171.1 kJ kg-1 respectively. Gypsum boards were immersed 1 hr in PCM and the thermal characteristics before and after immersion were investigated. The 12.5 mm board absorbed 38.0% PCM and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) showed that the melting point and latent heat were 34.0ºC and 50.28 kJ kg-1 , respectively. For 6 mm board, PCM absorption was 39.2% with the melting point of 34.0ºC and the latent heat of 52.87 kJ kg-1 . From the results, the thermal characteristics of the PCM-gypsum boards were similar to those of the PCM.

KEYWORDS:


* Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia,
43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor,
Malaysia.
E-mail: dewi medyan@yahoo.com

** Malaysian Palm Oil Board,
P. O. Box 10620,
50720 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.