Thermal performance analysis and thermal environment creates effect of a novel solar hot-air phase change bed

Abstract

Comprehensive heating provides a comfortable indoor but consumes significant energy. Temporal-spatial partitioned heating can meet differentiated thermal demands while reducing energy consumption. A novel solar hot-air phase change bed heating system has been proposed for achieving temporal-spatial partitioned heating. Theoretical analysis models have been established to study the heat transfer process of the hot-air phase change heating bed, and numerical simulations have been conducted to analyze its thermal performance and creation of a comfortable environment. The results demonstrate that at the end of the heat storage, the bed board temperature increased by 1.5 °C for every 5 °C increase in the wind temperature. The maximum temperature difference of the bed board reached 6.1 °C under three different wind speed schemes. During heat release, the bed board heat flux was affected by the phase change material heat storage difference, and the maximum temperature difference of the bed board reached 4.3 °C ∼ 6.7 °C under different schemes. After the first cycle, both indoor and bed board temperature were higher than the initial values. During the daytime, there was excessive heat indoors, and the maximum environmental temperature exceeded the comfortable range by 8.7 °C. At night, the bed was covered with a high-temperature layer, and the bed surface temperature was uniformly distributed, remaining in the thermal comfort zone for 3.8 h to 5.1 h. The research results provide a basis and guidance for utilizing solar hot-air phase change beds to improve differentiated thermal demands.