The project is aimed to develop an innovative, energy-efficient, system to control the cooling, heating and humidity in buildings based on a novel, smart composite material (“THEMAC”) coupled with a heat pump using hybrid solar/air sources and direct expansion system.
The proposed project, THEMAC will address the barriers that hinder the widespread implementation of the technology— most notably, issues of flammability, high cost, sourcing from non-sustainable feedstock and unproven recyclability.
The system will respond to varying occupancy and diurnal/seasonal fluctuations in weather conditions, minimising the energy consumption of the heat pump.
THEMAC, comprising phase change material (PCM) and super water-absorbent (SAP) component, will be manufactured in the form of ceiling tiles/panels, and its composition adapted to different climatic conditions.
The THEMAC panel will store heat/coolth by the melting/freezing of the PCM, in part driven by the difference between day and night-time temperatures and in part by the heat pump, providing heat in winter and coolth in summer.
The research objectives include the selection and matching of PCMs, SAPs and additives to optimise THEMAC panel performance in the lab; designing and constructing THEMAC panels for field trials from which the system economic and environmental performance will be assessed and developing THEMAC panel manufacturing technology.
