Work

Assessing indoor air temperature of glazed window filled with phase change material under hot summer conditions

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Glazed windows have a negative thermal behaviour in desert location buildings, influencing the indoor thermal comfort. This research assesses the indoor thermal improvement of a cubicle with a glazed window, loaded with a phase change material (PCM) layer, experimentally examined at a desert location in various directions. Two cubicles were constructed from polystyrene sheets, loading PCM in a double-pane window (PCMW) in one of them, while the other cubicle was delivered with a single-pane window (SPW) for comparison. The indoor temperature improvement of cubicles was evaluated and comparatively assessed in terms of the average indoor temperature reduction, average temperature fluctuation reduction, thermal load levelling reduction and average heat gain reduction. Compared to the cubicle equipped with the SPW, the indoor temperature assessment exhibited significant thermal improvement in the cubicle with PCMW in all directions. Quantitatively, PCMW reduced the average indoor temperature and average temperature fluctuations by up to 6.38 ºC and 10.14 ºC, respectively, over the SPW-combined cubicle. Moreover, a reduction in the thermal load levelling and average heat gain by up to about 32% and 77%, respectively, was attained for the PCMW-based cubicle, indicating a noteworthy improvement in the indoor thermal comfort. However, the PCMW showed negative thermal behaviour during the heat-releasing phase, affecting the indoor temperature noticeably at nighttime. These outcomes underscore the remarkable thermal improvement of implementing PCMW to shave, shift and smooth indoor air temperature swings throughout the day, contributing to developing thermally effective building envelopes in desert locations.

Source: Next Materials

DOI: 10.1016/j.nxmate.2026.103124

Authors: Waleed Khalaf Jabbar, Sameer F. Hamad, Qudama Al-Yasiri, Mohammed Alktranee, Ahmed Alshara

Institutions: Southern Technical University, University of Wasit, University of Misan

Language: English

Topic: Phase Change Materials Research

Subfield: Mechanical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Affordable and clean energy, Climate action, Sustainable cities and communities

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,280