GET, LLC, through MCR Guam Inc., is proud to be associated with PhaseChange Partners
and PhaseChange Energy Solutions. Since
the 2013 American Institutes of Architects Expo in Denver back in June there
has been much that the Sales team led by Director Rob Morton can be proud of. Recent meetings getting BioPCM into different markets and projects all across
the Nation and other initiatives into the Pacific Rim is keeping things
interesting for this "old-new product". Hence, this blog post asks
the simple question: what are phase change materials and how does this thing
work?
The answer is a bit more simple
than you may think.
Phase change materials, as the name implies, are simply
materials that change from one phase to another at a designated set point.
One of the most common phase change materials that we all
encounter on a daily basis is water. At 32 degrees F, or 0 degrees C, water
transitions from one phase to another. When water transitions from ice to
liquid water, or from water into ice, energy is stored and released in each
direction. This energy is in the form of latent heat storage. Water is very
efficient in its ability to store latent heat, but the temperature at which it
makes its transition is not very friendly to human habitation. Phase Change
Energy Solutions has taken this same concept of storing and releasing energy
through phase change materials but has moved the transition temperature up the
scale from 32 degrees to the mid 70's Fahrenheit.
PhaseChange Energy Solutions products add thermal mass to any
structure giving it the ability to hold designated temperatures for much longer
lengths of time. When objects with different temperatures come together they
move toward reaching thermal equilibrium.
Think of when we open our front doors in the summertime, hot
air comes rushing into the house. Conversely, when we open that same door in
the wintertime, the exact opposite happens. Our nice comfortable, warm air goes
rushing out. Likewise when we place ice
into a beverage, the ice immediately starts this same process. Heat inside the
liquid is absorbed by the ice. As the beverage cools, the ice in turn melts
resulting in phase change. Any heat above 32 degrees will be absorbed into the
ice until all of the ice is completely melted.
The same thing happens at a larger scale inside homes and
commercial structures. When the walls and ceilings of a structure are designed
to be 73 degrees Fahrenheit, they work to help condition the interior
temperature of the structure. When the heat load inside the structure begins to
rise during the day, as the temperature gets above 73 degrees, that added heat
will transition or be absorbed into the walls and ceilings which are cooler.
This continues to happen throughout the day until the phase change material is
completely transitioned (just like the ice in the glass). The heat is captured
or stored in the phase change material and is given back as the temperature of
the day begins to drop. Since the walls and ceilings are designed to be 73
degrees, the material will transition back to its designed temperature and will
work very hard to maintain that temperature at night, just as it does during
the day.
If you use PhaseChange Energy Solutions M51 material in your
building, this process is equivalent to having a 51 Btu air conditioner in
every square foot of wall and ceiling space during the day and a 51 Btu heater
in every square foot of wall and ceiling space during the night time hours.
We'll continue to explore this issue and product further in future
blog posts.
For more on how GET,LLC through our friends at MCR Guam Inc and PhaseChange Partners can assist you
with your energy reduction and thermal mass design needs, please check out www.phasechange.com,
drop us a line, or give us a call.